Language-specific Insights

if God is for us

The Greek in Romans 8:31 that is translated as “if God is for us” in English is translated as

  • “if God is in fellowship with us” in Chicahuaxtla Triqui
  • “if God does not abandon us” in Miahuatlán Zapotec
  • “if God is united with us” in Yatzachi Zapotec
  • “God is the one who helps us” in Huehuetla Tepehua
  • “God himself loves us” in Teutila Cuicatec
  • “if God is in our favor” in Isthmus Zapotec
  • “if God is our helper” in Highland Totonac (source for this above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • “if God is ours” in Kupsabiny (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • “if God is on our side” in Low German translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006
  • “we can say that God is really defending us” in Hiligaynon (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • “now we are friends with God” in Tenango Otomi (source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • “if Above-One is the One who guards us” in Mairasi (source: Enggavoter 2004)

ponder

The Greek in Luke 2:19 that is translated as “ponder” in English is translated as

  • “continually think-about” in Tboli
  • “turn around in the mind” in Batak Toba
  • “puzzle forth, puzzle back” in Sranan Tongo (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • “constantly setting down her visions” in Mairasi (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • “carried all those words in her heart and then sat thinking” in Enga (source: Adam Boyd on his blog )
  • “moved them in her heart” (bewegte sie in ihrem Herzen) in the German Luther translation
  • “tied those words in her stomach” in Kupsabiny (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)

In Low German idiomatically as “let it pass through her heart again and again” (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006).

See also treasured all these things in her heart.

forsakes the partner of her youth

The Hebrew in Proverbs 2:17 that is translated as “forsakes the partner of her youth” or similar in English is translated in Kupsabiny as “leaves her husband who married her when her breast was still pointed and tender.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)

bread of the presence, consecrated bread, showbread

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “showbread,” “bread of the presence,” or “consecrated bread” in English is translated as:

  • “bread set before the face of God” (Luvale)
  • “loaves which are laid before the face (of God)” (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • “bread to-do-homage” (Tae’)
  • “holy bread” (Pohnpeian, Chuukese)
  • “placed bread” (Ekari)
  • “church-bread” (Sranan Tongo) (source for this and three above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • “loaves offered to God” (interconfessional Chichewa translation; source: Wendland 1998, p. 110)
  • “bread that was sitting on the altar” (Low German) (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006)
  • “bread that only (the) priests were permitted to eat” (Kupsabiny) (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • “offering bread which was remaining in Deo’s sight” (Bariai) (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • “bread that was offered/sacrificed to God” (Uma) (source: Uma Back Translation)
  • [“bread which is the thank-offering to God” (tip_language language=”6194″]Tagbanwa[/tip_language]) (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

See Mark 2:23-28 in Russian Sign Language for the Russian Sign Language translation of “showbread.”

slow of heart

The Greek in Luke 24:25 that is often translated as “slow of heart” in English is translated as

  • “the heart is hard” in Zarma
  • “very heavy in heart” in Uab Meto
  • “blocked-hearted” in Indonesian
  • “lazy to think” in Tae’
  • “having a heart that delays” in Shona (translation of 1963)
  • “failing-heart-people” in Adamawa Fulfulde (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • “hard-headed” in Kupsabiny (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • “You guys tuberfully-dug are beeswax” in Mairasi (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • “dull heart” in Low German (source: translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006)

    • after my heart

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    The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “(man) after my (or: his) heart” in English is translated in a number of ways:

    • Teutila Cuicatec. “(a man who) respects what I want”
    • Eastern Highland Otomi: “whom I look well on”
    • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “who pleases my heart”
    • Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “thinks like I do”
    • Tzotzil: “with his heart the same as mine (we think the same way)”
    • Isthmus Mixe: “his heart and mine meet together”
    • Morelos Nahuatl: “a good man whom I like”
    • Shipibo-Conibo: “does what I desire in my heart” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
    • Kupsabiny: “a person my stomach loves” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
    • Bariai: “a man who follows my mind (lit. interior)” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
    • Mairasi: “one who has My throat and makes My liver good” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
    • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “I am very pleased with his customs” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
    • Tagbanwa: “his ways/nature really please me for they are really in harmony with my ways” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)