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)
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 5:13:
Uma: “‘You who follow me can be compared to salt, which brings goodness [broad word sometimes used to mean salvation] to mankind. But if you do not follow my teaching, you are like salt that is tasteless, it cannot be made salty again, and there is no longer its usefulness, with the result that it is discarded and stepped on.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “‘You who follow me are like salt for all mankind. But when/if the salt has no more taste, it will not become salty again. There is no use for it anymore. Then it is just thrown out and the people walk over it.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “You, my disciples, you are like salt which is that which makes food good, because you are the means of making all-mankind good. However if the flavor is removed from salt, there is no way to bring its flavor back, and there is no use to salt which no longer has any flavor. It is thrown out and people inadvertently walk on it.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Jesus continued to teach and said, ‘You are what-can-be-compared to salt for the people on this earth. But if salt becomes-tasteless it is impossible to return its saltiness (same word as sour/bitter). It is useless, therefore it will be thrown-away and people will step on it.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Jesus continued his teaching saying, ‘You (pl.) who obey the will of God, an illustration of you is salt, that being really necessary here in the world. Well suppose this salt becomes tasteless, how can its saltiness be caused to return again? Isn’t it useless now? Of course it will just be thrown away. What will happen to it is that it will just be being trodden on by people.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Salt has the work that when it is put on something it keeps it from spoiling. You must do like this in the world so that because you live here it will keep down the evil which people do. But when salt has lost its strength, it is not able to salt anything again. Then it is worth nothing, it is then thrown away, people step on it.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Martu Wangka: “Jesus told them a small talk like this, ‘Meat becomes good from salt. That salt is good. Salt which has laid around on the ground becomes bad and then becomes bad rubbish. You all sit like good salt — you who are my relatives. Others, when they see you sitting well, they will gather together with you and they will follow me, Jesus. You will sit like good salt.'” (Source: Carl Gross)
Following are a number of back-translations of John 6:56:
Uma: “The people who eat my body and drink my blood, they stay in-harmony [lit., mutual-life] with me, and I with them.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains with me and I remain with him.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “He who eats my body and drinks my blood never leaves me, and I also never leave him.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “The one who eats my body and drinks my blood, he is in me continually, and I also, I am in him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “That one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, it’s like we (excl.) are now one body.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood is in fellowship with me.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Martu Wangka: “If a person eats my body, and drinks my blood, as a result of that, we two will sit together as relatives.” (The idea of sitting together as relatives is good.) (Source: Carl Gross)
Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “cover over” (a figure of speech which is also employed in Hebrew, but which in many languages is not acceptable, because it implies “hiding” or “concealment”)
Warao: “not being concerned with him clean your obonja.” Obonja is a term that “includes the concepts of consciousness, will, attitude, attention and a few other miscellaneous notions” (source: Henry Osborn in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 74ff. See other occurrences of Obojona in the Warao New Testament.)
Martu Wangka: “throw out badness” (source: Carl Gross)
Kyaka: “burn the jaw bones” — This goes back to the pre-Christian custom of hanging the jaw bones of murdered relatives on ones door frame until the time of revenge. Christians symbolically burned those bones to show forgiveness which in turn became the word for “forgiveness” (source: Eugene Nida, according to this blog )
Koonzime: “remove the bad deed-counters” (“The Koonzime lay out the deeds symbolically — usually strips of banana leaf — and rehearse their grievances with the person addressed.”) (Source: Keith and Mary Beavon in Notes on Translation 3/1996, p. 16)
Ngbaka: ele: “forgive and forget” (Margaret Hill [in Holzhausen & Ridere 2010, p. 8f.] recalls that originally there were two different words used in Ngbaka, one for God (ɛlɛ) and one for people (mbɔkɔ — excuse something) since it was felt that people might well forgive but, unlike God, can’t forget. See also this lectionary in The Christian Century.
Amahuaca: “erase” / “smooth over” (“It was an expression the people used for smoothing over dirt when marks or drawings had been made in it. It meant wiping off dust in which marks had been made, or wiping off writing on the blackboard. To wipe off the slate, to erase, to take completely away — it has a very wide meaning and applies very well to God’s wiping away sins, removing them from the record, taking them away.”) (Source: Robert Russel, quoted in Walls / Bennett 1959, p. 193)
Gonja / Dangme: “lend / loan” (in the words of one Dangme scholar: “When you sin and you are forgiven, you forget that you have been forgiven, and continue to sin. But when you see the forgiveness as a debt/loan which you will pay for, you do not continue to sin, else you have more debts to pay” — quoted in Jonathan E.T. Kuwornu-Adjaottor in Ibadan Journal of Religious Studies 17/2 2010, p. 67ff. )
Kwere: kulekelela, meaning literally “to allow for.” Derived from the root leka which means “to leave.” In other words, forgiveness is leaving behind the offense in relationship to the person. It is also used in contexts of setting someone free. (Source: Megan Barton)
Merina Malagasy: mamela or “leave / let go (of sin / mistakes)” (source: Brigitte Rabarijaona)
Mauwake: “take away one’s heaviness” (compare sin as “heavy”) (source: Kwan Poh San in this article )
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 5:29:
Uma: “So if for example our (incl.) right eye causes [lit., carries] us (incl.) to sin, scoop it out and throw it away. It is far better that one of our (incl.) eyes is lost, than our (incl.) whole body be thrown into hell.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “If your right eye influences you to sin, leave that sin of yours. Figuratively as if you dig out your eye and throw it away. It is better if you no longer have one of your eyes than that your whole body be thrown into hell.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And if it is your right eye that causes you to sin, dig it out and throw it away. It is better if you have no eye rather than your being thrown into the fire of hell with your whole body.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Therefore if your (sing.) right eye is the cause-of-your (sing.) -sinning, extract it to throw it away. Because it’s-preferable if your (sing.) body has a part taken-from-it (root word: lack) than that your (sing.) body have no lack and you (sing.) be thrown into hell.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Therefore if your (sing.) eye is the source of what causes you to sin, just pluck it out and throw it away. Because it’s better if there’s a part of your body subtracted, rather than still having a complete body which will be thrown into the fire that doesn’t die down, which is punishment by God.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “So now, if you say that it is the fault of your eye, the right one, that you commit sin, then pluck out your eye and throw it away. It is better that you have lost an eye rather than you go to hell with all your body.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Martu Wangka: “Jesus said to them another talk like this, ‘If you see with your eye, and think about doing bad, if you have thought like that with the intention of doing bad, then you should dig out your eye and throw it away. If you think and do like that, You will sit well with one eye without doing bad so that you won’t be sent to the fire if you should do bad.'” (Source: Carl Gross)
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 11:9:
Uma: “And also, it was not man who was made to help woman, it was woman [emphatic] who was made to help man.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “And the man was not created because of the woman but the woman was created so that she would be a companion for the man.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The reason that God created man was not so that woman might have a companion, but rather he created the woman so that the man might have a companion.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Furthermore God didn’t create the man for the woman but the woman for the man.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “And it was not for the benefit and happiness of the woman that God created the man, but rather for the benefit and happiness of man that he created the woman.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Woman was made in order to be a helper for the man, it wasn’t that the man was made in order to be a helper for the woman.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Martu Wangka: “The Father made the man to look after the woman as a boss and he did not make the man so that the woman would look after him as a boss.” (Source: Carl Gross)
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).
Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).
In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 5:30:
Uma: “If for example our (incl.) right hand causes us (incl.) to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is far better that one of our (incl.) hands is lost, than our whole body be throw into hell.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “And if your right hand influences you to sin, leave that sin of yours. Figuratively as if you chop off your hand and throw it away. It is better if one of your hands is chopped off than that your whole body goes to hell.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “If it is your right hand that causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you not to have a hand than for you to be thrown into hell with the whole body.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “And if it is your (sing.) right hand that is the cause-of-your (sing.) -sinning, cut it off to throw it away. Because it’s-preferable if your (sing.) body has a part taken-from-it than that your (sing.) body have no lack and you (sing.) be thrown into hell.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “It’s like that too with your hand/arm, even if it’s your right one, that you should cut it off if that’s where you are getting sin from, and throw it away. Because it’s really better to have a subtraction from the body, rather than a whole body which will be thrown into the fire which has no dying down, which is punishment by God.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “If you say that it is the fault of your hand, the right one, that you commit sin, then cut off your hand and throw it far away. It is better that you have lost a hand rather than you go to hell with all your body.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Martu Wangka: “‘If you are thinking about doing bad with your hand, and you are thinking like that with the intention of doing bad, then as a result of that, you should chop off your hand and throw it away. You should do like that, and then you will be with one hand but you will sit well and you will not do bad so that you can avoid the fire if you did do bad.'” (Source: Carl Gross)
