Language-specific Insights

fishers of men

The Greek that is translated as “(I will make you) fishers of men (or: people)” in English is rendered in Martu Wangka as “before you used to work getting fish for people, now i think you should do another work getting people and teaching them to be my relatives” (source: Carl Gross).

In Galela it is translated as “. . . you teach people to follow me, which is similar to you netting fish to gather them in” (source: Howard Shelden in Kroneman 2004, p. 501).

woe (to you)

The Greek that is translated as “woe to you” or similar in English is translated in Martu Wangka as “you sit as sorry ones” (source: Carl Gross). Toraja-Sa’dan has two expressions that can be used: upu’ allomu or “to-their-end are your days” and sumpu sumandakmu or “finished is what-is-measured-out to you.” In the case of Luke 10:13, where “woe” is doubled, both are used for stylistic, non-repetitive purposes (see Reiling / Swellengrebel).

In Matumbi it is translated as Wakibona or “You will see” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext) and in the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) with a phrase containing tsoka, a word to describe something bad that happens (or may happen) to a person because of doing something against established traditions in a community (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation).

In Hebrew it is translated as oy (אוֹי) and in Yiddish as oy (אוי) or vey (וֵויי). Note that oy vey in combination is also commonly used in Yiddish as an interjection of dismay and vey is derived from the German Wehe (which in turn has the same root than the English woe). (Source: Jost Zetzsche)

complete verse (Matthew 10:34)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 10:34:

  • Uma: “‘Don’t say like this, that I have come to make-in-harmony people. No! I have come to cause-differences among people / make people disagree.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “‘Is it that you mistakenly-think I come to bring peace to the world? I did not come to bring peace but I came to bring a reason for opposition/resistance.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Don’t you think that I came here to the world so that there would be no trouble for mankind. I didn’t come here so that there would be peace, for because of my coming here, people will be against each other.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Jesus also said, ‘Don’t say that I came to bring peace to this earth, because the truth of it is that I came to bring quarreling/fighting and separating of people.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “It’s necessary that you don’t think that I came here to bring peace so that people here in the world will be harmonious. Because some will believe in me, others not. Therefore it’s like a bladed-weapon is what I have brought when I came here, because the outcome will be conflict.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Do not think that I came to earth so that you would not suffer anything at all. That is not right. Rather there will be wars (all kinds of enmity between people).” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Martu Wangka: “I came to the ground to tell you all the Father’s talk. Some people will hear that talk and rejoice and live for the Father, and others will hear that talk and will dislike the Father. Those ones will also dislike the Father’s relatives.” (Source: Carl Gross)

cornerstone

Click here to view graphically

Bawm build with bamboo and thatch in their mountainous forests. They made the apostles and prophets become the roof ridge pole and Jesus the central uprights which support it. I asked why not the corner uprights since Greek has a term that is translated in English as ‘cornerstone.’ Bawm translators responded that the central uprights are more important than the corner ones, and Greek refers to the most important stone. (“Corner uprights” used in 1 Timothy 3:15.) (Source: David Clark)

Similarly, Chris Pluger tells the following from the translation into Tsamakko: “At the end of Ephesians 2, Paul uses the idea of a building to show that people of all nations and backgrounds are united together by faith in Christ. This building is pictured as standing on a stone foundation, and believers are ‘joined together’ as parts of that building. Christ himself is the cornerstone on which everything is based. However, the Tsamakko people of southwest Ethiopia do not build on stone foundations, and their buildings are traditionally round. This makes the idea of a ‘cornerstone’ difficult for several obvious reasons. In the Tsamakko translation of Ephesians 2:20, Christ is the mososso — the big center pole of a house that holds up the roof and the entire structure of the building. The apostles and prophets are the other poles that support the frame of the house. And believers are the house itself — all the pieces that make up the walls and the roof. We are all joined together as one, and Christ is the thing that keeps us together!” (for a complete back-translation of that verse in Tsamakko, see complete verse (Ephesians 2:20).

In Mono, translators used “main post,” in Martu Wangka “two forked sticks with another long strong stick laid across” (see also 1 Peter 2:6-7.), and in Arrernte, the translation in 1 Peter 2:7 (in English translation: “the stone . . . became the very cornerstone”) was rendered as “the foundation… continues to be the right foundation,” (source for this and two above: Carl Gross) and in Uripiv and Sabaot it is the “post” (source: Ross McKerras and Jim Leonhard in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 50). Likewise, in Hakha Chin it is the “central upright poles of a house.” (Hakha Chin speakers are mountain people who build houses with bamboo and palm thatch, not stone) (source: David Clark)

In Ixcatlán Mazatec it is translated with a term denoting the “the principal part of the ‘house’ (or work)” (source: Robert Bascom), in Enlhet as “like the house-root” (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. ), in Q’anjob’al it is translated with with the existing idiom “ear of the house.” (Source: Newberry and Kittie Cox in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. ), in Desano as “main support of the house,” and in Tataltepec Chatino as “the best stone” (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.).

Shuar translates as “that stone was placed to the main house pole.” The Shuar use stones in house building either at the bottom of the posthole as a base for the house pole to rest on, or as chocking material around the post to hold it firm. Either function is acceptable here particularly as applied to the main house-pole. In Ocotlán Zapotec it is “master stone of the house.” This is a special stone they put into the foundation as sort of a guide stone of how the foundation is to true up. (Source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)

In Matumbi it is “the great foundation stone.” It’s the first large stone you place for a house, the one that determines where all the other stones will go, but unlike in Greek thought it’s often in the center of a building instead of a corner. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)

See also rock / stone, foundation on rock, and foundation.

I did not come to call the righteous - but sinners

The Greek that is translated in English as “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” is translated in Martu Wangka as “I came to the earth to teach bad people who are like those sick ones so that they can hear the Father’s word and become his relatives. I didn’t come for the good people — no.” (Source: Carl Gross)

In El Nayar Cora it is translated as “I came not to call those who think they language are good people, but those who think they are sinners.” (Source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)

In Huixtán Tzotzil, the first part is “those who mistakenly think their hearts are straight.” Huixtán Tzotzil frequently uses the verb -cuy to express “to mistakenly think something” from the point of view of the speaker. (Source: Marion M. Cowan in Notes on Translation 20/1966, p. 6ff.)

kingdom (of God / heaven)

Click here to view graphically

The German Good News Bible (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) (1st edition: 1968, latest edition: 2018) says this about the translation of the Greek expressions that in English are often translated as “kingdom of God” or “kingdom of heaven” respectively:

“An example for how a term evolved is the rendering of ‘heavenly kingdom’ or ‘kingdom of God.’ A verbatim translation will be misunderstood by most readers today: as if it talks about a kingdom that is located in heaven, when in reality it refers in the Bible to God being the ruler, to that area in which that rule has been realized and everything that human beings can expect because of that. Dependent on the context, the term is therefore translated differently in this present version: When it focuses on the presence of God’s kingdom it is rendered as ‘God establishes his rule’ (Gott richtet seine Herrschaft auf), when the focus is on the future it is translated as ‘Once God finalizes his creation (or ‘work’) . . . ‘ (Wenn Gott sein Werk vollendet . . .), and when the focus is on that finished creation it is ‘God’s new world’ (Gottes neue Welt).” (p. 299 — for a longer exposition, see Rudolf Kassühlke in The Bible Translator 1974, p. 236ff. )

The respective translation choice in that German translation:

Likewise in the Gurung translation the term was also, depending on context, rendered in four different ways:

  • God’s power at work in the world,
  • the personal response to God, in obedience and receiving blessing,
  • God’s future open ruling of the world,
  • the ultimate blessings of God’s rule in heaven.

(Source: Warren Glover in The Bible Translator 1978, p. 231ff. — here you can also find a comprehensive list of examples where which translation was applied.)

Following is a list of (back-) translations from other languages:

  • Tzeltal: “persons like these will reach God’s government” (as in Mark 10:14 and Luke 18:16: “the Kingdom of God belongs to those”) or “the jurisdiction of God” (in the sense of where God has the authority)
  • Copainalá Zoque: “like God to rule over”
  • San Miguel El Grande Mixtec: “agree to God reigning over”
  • Kekchí: “power (or authority) of God”
  • Laka: “God’s commanding”
  • Javanese: “the rule of God”
  • Huave: “where God rules”
  • Huastec: “God as ruler”
  • San Blas Kuna: “God’s government”
  • Navajo (Dinė): “what God has charge of”
  • Sayula Popoluca: “to have God rule over”
  • Tzotzil: “to have God as chief”
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl: “the leadership of God”
  • Wayuu: “where God is chief” (this and examples above in Bratcher / Nida)
  • Fuyug “God’s clan”
  • Mono: “sana lala’aha nang” — “area of chiefly rule”
  • Martu Wangka: “The Father looks after his own relatives” (source for this and the two preceding: Carl Gross)
  • Kâte: uucmaŋ, “a parabolic expression actually denoting the leaves of the breadfruit tree closing around the fruit to protect it (see here ).”
  • Yagaria: Souve beite’na, lit. “Lord- (orig. war chief) being” (source for this and above: Renck, p. 104)
  • Caribbean Javanese: Kratoné Allah (“God’s seat [of a king]”)
  • Sranan Tongo: Tiri fur Gado (“the Ruling of God”) or Kownukondre fur Gado (“King’s land of God”)
  • Eastern Maroon Creole: A Nyun Tii fu Massa Gadu / Saramaccan: Di Njunjun Tii u Gadu (both: “the New ruling of God”) (source for this and 2 above: Jabini 2015)
  • Umiray Dumaget Agta: “protectorate of God” (source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Lalana Chinantec: “how God is the boss of people’s hearts”
  • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “God rules as chief”
  • Chuj: “everything which is in God’s hand” (source for this and two above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Kamo: kuu le Yamba: “kingdom of God” / kuu le Yamba: “kingdom of heaven.” Yamba can mean either “sky/heaven” or “God” and they distinguish between the two meanings by capitalization. The word kuu is an abstract noun meaning “rule/reign.” (source: David Frank)

In Mairasi, a language “where people would rather say something in a new way than in an old way,” there are a number of translations, including “Great Above One’s (=God) rule,” “His power,” “His control,” or “His place of authority/power.” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)

In Q’anjob’al, the translators stumbled on an additional difficulty. Newberry and Kittie Cox (in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. ) explain: “‘The kingdom of God’ may be translated ‘where God supervises’ (or literally ‘guards’). However, in Mark 10:15 and Luke 18:17 it is not possible to speak of ‘receiving the kingdom of God,’ for this would imply that one simply takes over the responsibility for guarding God’s country while He rests. Accordingly, the translation is adapted to meet the cultural and linguistic requirements of the language by the form ‘receive God as king.’

In British Sign Language it is translation with a sign that combines the signs for “God” and “rule.” (Source: Anna Smith)


“Kingdom of God” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)

The artist Willy Wiedmann envisioned Jesus foretelling the kingdom of God like this:

Click here to see the image in higher resolution. Image taken from the Wiedmann Bible. For more information about the images and ways to adopt them, see here . For other images of Willy Wiedmann paintings in TIPs, see here.

See also your kingdom come and kingdom of God (Japanese honorifics).

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Heaven .

complete verse (Matthew 25:40)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 25:40:

  • Martu Wangka: “I am saying the truth to you all. My new relative was sitting hungry, and then you all gave food and meat to him, you satisfied him. Like that you all gave to my relative, and as a result of that I was happy because that one belongs to my family. If I contrary to fact would have been there hungry, you all would have felt sorry for me as well, and given to me contrary to fact.” (Source: Ken Hansen in Notes on Translation 1998/2, p. 11ff.
  • Uma: “‘And I the King, I’ll answer them: ‘So that you know: what you did to help these relatives of mine here, even just one of my relatives whose life is small, it means it’s the same as you did it to me.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Then I, the ruler, answer them, I say, ‘Truly I tell you, whenever you did this to my disciples of low status you did it really to me.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then I, the king, I will answer, ‘I tell you that if you did this even to one of these my siblings, which is to say, those who believe in me, even though he is very low in rank, you inadvertently did it to me.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘Then I who am king, I will say to them, ‘This that I tell you is true that when you were doing (things) like these to even one of the least-important (lit. lowest) of these who are my brothers, you have done it to me.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “And then I their King will say, ‘What I will say to you really is true. When you did these things to even the most insignificant/low-class who is like my sibling, of course I am the one to whom you did it.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The ruler will then say to the people: ‘Truly I tell you that concerning what all you have done for my brethren here, even though they are not respected by people, with the help you have given them, you have helped me too.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)