The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “go in peace” into English is an idiomatic expression of farewell which is translatable in other languages as an idiomatic expression as well:
The Greek in James 1:18 that is translated as “first fruits of his creatures” or similar in English is translates in Central Mazahua as “first of his people,” in Yatzachi Zapotec as “the first harvest which they gather to give to God,” or in Rincón Zapotec as “a first harvest of all that which God himself made.”
(Source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.)
The Hebrew or Greek which are translated into English as “sackcloth” are rendered into Chamula Tzotzil as “sad-heart clothes.” (Source: Robert Bascom)
Pohnpeian and Chuukese translate it as “clothing-of sadness,” Eastern Highland Otomi uses “clothing that hurts,” Central Mazahua “that which is scratchy,” Tae’ and Zarma “rags” (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel), and Tangale as “torn clothes that show contrition on the body” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin). In the English translation by Goldingay (2018), “put on sackcloth” is translated as wrap on sack.
“In Turkana, a woman removes her normal everyday skin clothes and ornaments and wears rather poor skins during the time of mourning. The whole custom is known as ngiboro. It is very difficult to translate putting on sackcloth because even material like sacking is unfamiliar. The Haya, on the other hand, have a mourning cloth made out of the bark of a tree; and the use of this cloth is similar to the Jewish use of sackcloth. It was found that in both the Turkana and Ruhaya common language translations, their traditional mourning ceremonies were used.” (Source: Rachel Konyoro in The Bible Translator1985, p. 221ff. )
Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing what a sackcloth looked like in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is usually translated into English as “peace,” when referring to one’s inner peace, is (back-) translated with a variety of idioms and phrases:
“rest the heart” (Central Mazahua) / “rest within” (Lacandon) (source: Nida 1952, p. 40 and 128ff.) / “wait well in your heart” (Yatzachi Zapotec) (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
The Greek in James 1:25 that is translated as “the perfect law, the law of liberty” or similar in English is translated in Central Mazahua as “God has set us free so that we are able to obey his word,” in Rincón Zapotec as “the law of God which is perfect and is able to cause us to be saved,” in Mezquital Otomi as “God’s new word frees us in order that our life will be good,” and in Eastern Highland Otomi as “the new word which is like a law strengthens our hearts so that with pleasure we will obey it.”
(Source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.)
The Greek that is translated as “elder” in most English versions (“presbyter” in The Orthodox New Testament, 2000) is translated as “Old-Man Leader” in Eastern Highland Otomi (source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation November 1964, p. 1-22) and in Bacama as mi kpan-kpani vɨnə hiutə: “big/old person of house of prayer” (source: David Frank in this blog post ).
Other translations include:
“person who commands among the people of Jesus” in Lalana Chinantec
“supervisor of the creed” in Guhu-Samane (source for this and three above: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.)
“older person” with an implication of that being a leader-like person in Matumbi (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
“person who has taken on responsibilities in the congregation” in German (das Buch translation by Roland Werner, publ. 2009-2022)
The German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) chooses for the occurrences in Revelation the translation of Würdenträger or “dignitary.” Elsewhere (for instance in 1 Peter 5:1) it has “elders, your congregational leadership.”
The Greek in James 4:10 that is translated as “humble yourselves before the Lord” or similar in English is translated as “bow before God’s face” in Eastern Highland Otomi), “remain low before his countenance” in Alekano, and “acknowledge that you are not worth anything” in Central Mazahua (source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.).
