The Greek in John 19:23 that is translated as “seamless” in many English translation is translated in Aguaruna as “not sewn when they made it,” in Chol as “not stitched,” in Navajo (Dinė) as “woven in one piece from the top down,” and in Lalana Chinantec as “no joint in it at all.”
(Source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
The Greek that is translated into English as “crucify” is translated in various ways:
In British Sign Language it is signed with a sign that signifies “nails hammered into hands” and “arms stretched out.” (Source: Anna Smith)
“Crucify” or “crucifixion” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
See also the common sign language sign for Jesus.
Following is a painting by Wang Suda 王肅達 (1910-1963):
Image taken from Chinese Christian Posters . For more information on the “Ars Sacra Pekinensis” school of art, see this article , for other artworks of that school in TIPs, see here.
See also cross, hang on a tree, and this devotion on YouVersion .
The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “casting” or “drawing lots” in English is often translated with a specific idiom, such as “to take out bamboo slips” — 掣 籤 chè qiān (in most Mandarin Chinese Bibles), “each to pick-up which is-written (i.e. small sticks inscribed with characters and used as slots)” (Batak Toba), a term for divination by means of reed stalks (Toraja-Sa’dan).
In some cases a cultural equivalent is not available, or it is felt to be unsuitable in this situation, e.g. in Ekari where “to spin acorns” has the connotation of gambling, one may have to state the fact without mentioning the means, e.g. “it came to him” (source for this and all above: Reiling / Swellengrebel). In Shipibo-Conibo there was no equivalent for “casting lots” so the translation for Mark 15:24 is descriptive: “they shook little things to decide what each one should take” (source: Nida 1952, p. 47).
Other solutions include:
In North Alaskan Inupiatun a term for “gambling” is used. The same Inupiatun term is also used in Esther 3:7, “though there winning and losing is not in view, but rather choosing by chance” (source: Robert Bascom)
The stand-alone term that is translated “lots” in English is translated as “two pieces of potsherd” in Highland Totonac. (Source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.)
The Greek in Luke 10:4 that is often translated as “greet no one” in English is translated literally in some languages where greetings take a notoriously long time, but elsewhere the intended meaning is conveyed by translations like “do not delay for salutations” (Sinhala), “do not pause … to give even one person greetings” (Kituba), and in some cases the concept of greeting is abandoned, such as “don’t-waste-time talking to people you meet” (Tboli) or “do not loiter … for useless words” (Navajo (Dinė)).
The Greek and Hebrew that are translated as “worry” or “anxious” in English are translated in Navajo (Dinė) as “my mind is killing me.” (Source: Nida 1952, p. 24)
Nida (1952, p. 124) also gives other examples:
“The Piro in Peru use almost the same idiom when they say that a worried man is ‘one who is hard chased.’ The worried person is like a pursued animal in the forest trying to elude the hunter. The impenetrable jungle of the future, the failing strength, and the exhaustion of doubt all press hard upon the soul. And one’s heart seems to fail and even disappear. This is the very phrase employed by the Tzeltal Indians in the rugged mountains of southern Mexico. They describe ‘worry’ by the words ‘their hearts are gone.'”
See also anxious / worried about many things and worries/cares of the world/this age.
The phrase that is translated as “with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” in English versions is translated in a large variety of ways.
“Heart” is translated into Kuy as “with all your heart-liver” (to show the totality of one’s being) (source: David Clark), in Laka, one must likewise love with the liver, in Western Kanjobal with the “abdomen,” in Marshallese with the “throat,” and in Kahua with “belly/chest.”
“Soul” is translated as “life” in Yaka, “that which stands inside of one” in Navajo (Dinė), and “spirit” in Kele.
“Strength” is translated in Yao as “animation” and in Chuukese as “ability.”
“Mind” is translated in Kele as “thinking,” in Chuukese as “thought(s),” and in Marathi as “intelligence.” In Poqomchi’ (as in many other Mayan languages), the term “heart” covers both “heart” and “mind.”
The whole phrase is translated in Tboli as “cause it to start from the very beginning of your stomach your loving God, for he is your place of holding.”
(Sources: Bratcher / Nida, Reiling / Swellengrebel, and Bob Bascom [Ixcatlán Mazatec and Poqomchi’])
See also translations with a Hebraic voice (Deuteronomy 6:5), implanted / in one’s heart and complete verse (Mark 12:30), and see Seat of the Mind for traditional views of “ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling.”
For a detailed look at the relationships between the Deuteronomy 6:5 quote, its Septuagint translation and the quotations in the synoptic gospels, see Adaptable for Translation: Deuteronomy 6.5 in the Synoptic Gospels and Beyond by Robert Bascom .
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “blasphemy” or “blaspheme” is translated in various forms:
The Greek in Luke 1:29 that is translated as “(she was) troubled” or “perplexed” into English in this verse is translated as “her breath (was) anxious” into Tboli, “her mind was upset” in Marathi, or “her members shook” in Navajo (Dinė).
See also anxious / worried (and troubled / bothered about many things), perplexed, or perplexed.