Language-specific Insights

fear (of God)

The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that are translated as “fear (of God)” (or: “honor,” “worship,” or “respect”) is translated as “to have respect/reverence for” (Southern Subanen, Western Highland Purepecha, Navajo (Dinė), Javanese, Tboli), “to make great before oneself” (Ngäbere), “fear-devotion” (Kannada — currently used as a description of the life of piety), “those-with-whom he-is-holy” (those who fear God) (Western Apache) (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel), “revere God” (Lalana Chinantec), “worship God” (Palantla Chinantec) (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), “obey” (Chichewa) (source: Ernst Wendland), “having/showing respect (for God)” (Makonde) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext), or with a term that communicates awe (rather than fear of an evil source) (Chol) (source: Robert Bascom).

Bullard / Hatton (2008, p. 8) say the following about this concept: “As the writer of Proverbs states in 1:7, ‘The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.’ (…) ‘The fear of the Lord,’ that is, human fear of God, is an exceptionally difficult concept to express, at least in English. Other languages may have more appropriate terms. The idea probably is rooted in the most ancient days when people were indeed afraid of any deity. But in Israel the concept of fearing God was transformed by God’s revelation into a much fuller idea. Basically, as used in the Bible, the fear of God refers to the proper attitude of reverence and awe before the Holy One. To fear God is to recognize one’s own place as a mere mortal before the Creator, one’s place as a sinner before the Judge, one’s place as a child before the Father, one’s place as the recipient of God’s love. It thus involves submission, repentance, trust, and grateful love toward the One who is fearsome in holiness, in justice, in power that both protects and punishes, and in love. Using the word “fear” is sometimes as good as we can do, but often we will alternate that word with terms like ‘reverence’ or ‘awe.’”

See also fear of the LORD (Isa 11:2) and complete verse (Genesis 22:12) et al.

glorify God

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The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “glorify God” in English is rendered as “wake God up” in Guerrero Amuzgo.

Other translations are “say that God is very great” (Central Tarahumara), “say how good God is” (Tzotzil), “speak about God as good” (Tzeltal), “give God a great name” (Highland Puebla Nahuatl), “give God highness” (Kipsigis), “take God out high” (in the sense of “to exalt”) (Huautla Mazatec), “make great / exalt” (Toraja-Sa’dan, Javanese), “lift up God’s brightness” (Kpelle), “show God to be great” (Central Pame), “make God shine” (Wayuu), “make God’s name big” (Huastec), “make God important” (Isthmus Zapotec) (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida), or “say to God: You are of good heart” (Huichol) (source: Nida 1964, p. 228).

In Waama this is translated as “make God’s name big.” (For the translation into Waama, five categories of verb doxazo and the noun doxa were found that were all translated differently, see glorify (reveal God’s or Jesus’ glory to people)).

In Shipibo-Conibo it is translated as “brag about God” (“This may strike some at first as being an unspiritual approach, but it surely is Pauline, for Paul used the word ‘to brag’ when he declared his confidence in Jesus Christ and in the salvation of the world which God wrought through His Son.”) (Source: Nida 1952, p. 162)

See also Let us praise his glory! (image).

right mind / sound-minded

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The Greek that is rendered as “in his right mind” or “sound-minded” in English is translated in the following ways:

  • Amganad Ifugao: “his mind had returned”
  • Tojolabal: “his heart was sitting down”
  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “his head was healed”
  • Javanese: “with a clear mind again”
  • Indonesian: “come to his senses” (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Marathi: “come to his cleanness/purity”
  • Ekari: “his thoughts having become right”
  • Sranan Tongo: “his intelligence having-become clean again”
  • Batak Toba: “having-mind”
  • Tae’: “settled his mind”
  • Balinese: “settled/fixed” (source for this and five above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Mairasi: “had well-split vision” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Noongar: “straight inside his head” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “his thinking was proper” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “his mind returned back” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Kölsch (publ. 2017): “talk reasonable again”

blaspheme, blasphemy

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “blasphemy” or “blaspheme” is translated in various forms:

came to himself / came to his senses

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The Greek in Luke 15:17 that is translated as “he came to himself” or “he came to his senses” is (back-) translated in a number of ways:

  • Sranan Tongo: “he came to get himself”
  • Tzeltal: “his heart arrived”
  • Thai (translation of 1967): “he sensed himself” (implying realization that he had done wrong)
  • Kekchí: “it fell into his heart”
  • Tagalog: “his self came back”
  • Yaka, Chuukese, Pohnpeian: “he came to wisdom (or: became wise)”
  • Kituba: “he understood himself”
  • Uab Meto: “his heart came to life again”
  • Kaqchikel: “he came out of his stupor”
  • Lomwe, Yao: “he was turned, or, aroused (as from sleep), in his heart”
  • Javanese: “he became-aware of his own condition”
  • Kele: “he thought again about his affair” (source for all above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Mairasi: “his own liver’s sky split” (In Mairasi, the liver is the seat of emotions) (source: Enggavoter 2004)

deny oneself

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The Greek that is translated with “deny himself” or “deny oneself” is according to Bratcher / Nida “without doubt one of the most difficult expressions in all of Mark to translate adequately.” These are many of the (back-) translations:

council

The Greek that is translated as “council” or “Council” in English is (back-) translated in a variety of ways:

differing language registers for Psalm 2

In the 1852 translation of the Psalms into Javanese by Johann F.C. Gericke, the translator attempted to highlight the different voices and sections of the psalm by using different language styles or sociolects of Javanese. Ngoko , a “top-down” register, was used when senior people communicated to people junior in age or rank, and kromo , a “bottom-up” and more ornate register, was used to address superiors and elders. According to Gericke (quoted in Solleveld, cited below) “If one sought to use one and the same language in the entire Psalm, no Javanese would understand it. The difference between Kromo and Ngoko is often as big as between Dutch and Polish.”

  • In verse 1 and 2, the psalmist uses kromo
  • In verse 3, the enemies of the king in Zion and rebels use ngoko
  • In verse 4 and 5, the pslamist again uses kromo
  • In verse 6, God himself is quoted in ngoko, but in a style differing from that of the rebels
  • In the first half of verse 7, the anointed king speaks kromo
  • From the second half of verse 7 and verses 8 and 9, containing the words of the Lord to his Anointed One, ngoko is used again
  • In verses 10, 11, and 12, the psalmist uses kromo in his admonition to the rebels.

(Source: Floris Solleveld in A Tale of Two Translators from the Global Bible project)

Source for Javanese language registers and the different sections of Psalm 2.