Language-specific Insights

Sovereign Lord

The Greek that is translated in English as “Sovereign Lord” is translated as

  • “you who are Chief, you own all of us, truly you are God” in Chichimeca-Jonaz
  • “Big Father, you are God” in Isthmus Mixe
  • “my Lord who is the greatest” in Lalana Chinantec
  • “our Lord, he who is greatest before us” in Ayutla Mixtec
  • “you, Lord God, who is very great” in Tepeuxila Cuicatec
  • “you, the Lord able to do all things” in Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac
  • “God our Father, you are our Boss, the biggest” Tataltepec Chatino (source for this and all above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • “Lord, Owner of All Power” in Hausa (source: Hausa Common Language Bible Back Translation)
  • “Lord who is mightier than all” in Hiligaynon (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

conversion, convert, turn back

The Greek that is often rendered in English as “to be converted” or “to turn around” is (back-) translated in a number of ways:

  • North Alaskan Inupiatun: “change completely”
  • Purepecha: “turn around”
  • Highland Totonac: “have one’s life changed”
  • Huautla Mazatec: “make pass over bounds within”
  • San Blas Kuna: “turn the heart toward God”
  • Chol: “the heart turns itself back”
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl: “self-heart change”
  • Pamona: “turn away from, unlearn something”
  • Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “turn around from the breast”
  • Luvale: “return”
  • Balinese: “put on a new behavior” (compare “repentance“: “to put on a new mind”)
  • Tzeltal: “cause one’s heart to return to God” (compare “repentance”: “to cause one’s heart to return because of one’s sin”)
  • Pedi: “retrace one’s step” (compare “repentance”: “to become untwisted”)
  • Uab Meto: “return” (compare “repentance”: “to turn the heart upside down”)
  • Northwestern Dinka: “turn oneself” (compare “repentance”: “to turn the heart”) (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Central Mazahua: “change the heart” (compare “repentance”: “turn back the heart”) (source: Nida 1952, p. 40)
  • In Elhomwe, the same term is used for “conversion” and “repentance” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Western Kanjobal: “molt” (like a butterfly) (source: Nida 1952, p. 136)
  • Latvian: atgriezties (verb) / atgriešanās (noun) (“turn around / return”) which is also the same term being used for “repentance” (source: Katie Roth)
  • Isthmus Mixe: “look away from the teaching of one’s ancestors and follow the teachings of God”
  • Highland Popoluca: “leave one’s old beliefs to believe in Jesus” (source for thsi and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • German: bekehren, lit. “turn around”

after my heart

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)

die in your sin

The Greek that is translated as “die in your sin” or similar in translated as

See also die to sin.

census

The Greek and Hebrew that is typically translated as “census” in English is translated in these ways:

full of grace

The Greek in Acts 6:8 that is typically translated as “full of grace” in English is translated in the following ways:

See also complete verse (Acts 6:8).

motion (to speak)

The Greek in Acts 24:10 that is translated as “motion (to speak)” or “make a sign (to speak)” in English is translated Isthmus Mixe translated as “winked with both eye” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.).

See also motion to.