The English translation “the word of God came to John” of the Greek original uses the verb “come.” Javanese translates “John was-commissioned with God’s word,” Kituba as “God made-known his message to him” (Kituba) and in Nyakyusa-Ngonde the verb for “found” is used and in Tzeltal “arrived in the heart of.” (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Language-specific Insights
lyre
The musical instrument that is most often translated as “lyre” or “lute” in English is translated in the following ways:
- Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016: pangwe (a musical instrument that is made from a hollow tube filled with pellets or small stones to create a rain-like sound) or “five stringed instrument” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “guitar” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Newari: “sitar ” (source: Newari Back Translation)
- Adilabad Gondi: chondka (source: Adilabad Gondi Back-Translation)
- Nyakyusa-Ngonde: marimba (source: Nyakyusa-Ngonde back translation)
In the UBS Helps for Translators‘ Human-made Things in the Bible (original title: The Works of Their Hands: Man-made Things in the Bible) it says the following:
Description: The lyre consisted of a sound box out of the ends or sides of which projected two arms. The arms supported a crosspiece. Strings descended from the crosspiece over the sound box. As with the nevel, the number of strings could vary. Their varying thickness and tension gave the instrument a range of notes. The lyre was normally made of wood. The strings were made of animal intestines (perhaps from sheep).
Usage: The strings were normally plucked with the fingers. The kinor in particular is frequently depicted as an instrument that accompanied singing.
Job 21:12: For the stringed instrument (kinor in Hebrew) accompanying the tambourine, French Common Language Version has “guitar” and the French La Bible de Jérusalem has “zither,” which seems to be an instrument used in 1 Samuel 10:5. The first line of this verse may also be rendered “The children sing as people play the tambourine and the lyre.” In some languages these instruments will be a local drum and a stringed instrument; the latter may be a guitar. If no instruments can be found to render any of the instruments in this verse, the translator may have to express the whole verse differently; for example, “The children dance and sing and make joyful sounds/music.”
The identity of the instrument called sabka’ in Aramaic in Daniel (Hebrew) is uncertain. New Revised Standard Version, updated edition renders it “trigon,” which is a small triangular lyre-type instrument with four strings. Probably trigon is technically correct, but it is unknown to the average English reader. Good News Translation has attempted to find a better-known equivalent with “zither,” but the zither has far too many strings (over thirty). Some translations use “lyre” for sabka’ and render the Aramaic word qathros before it as “zither”. Revised English Bible has “triangle,” but most readers will wrongly identify that as a percussion instrument. Common English Version avoids the problem by rendering only the first three instruments in the list and grouping the last three together, including sabka’ as follows: “Trumpets, flutes, harps, and all other kinds of musical instruments.”
Lyre (source: Knowles, revised by Bass (c) British and Foreign Bible Society 1994)
Quoted with permission.
large lyre / harp
The musical instrument that is most often translated as “harp” or “large lyre” in English is translated in the following ways:
- Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016: “two stringed instrument” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
- Hiligaynon: “instruments which have strings to praise you,” “beautiful to-be-listened-to instruments,” or kudyapi (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
- Newari: sarəngi (source: Newari Back Translation)
- Adilabad Gondi: karnaat (source: Adilabad Gondi Back-Translation)
- Nyakyusa-Ngonde: zeze (source: Nyakyusa-Ngonde back translation)
- Mairasi: kecapi (“like a ukulele”) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
- Natügu: “ukulele” (source: Brenda Boerger in Open Theology 2016, p. 179ff. )
- Cherokee: “musical instrument made of suspended wires” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 16)
In the UBS Helps for Translators‘ Human-made Things in the Bible (original title: The Works of Their Hands: Man-made Things in the Bible) it says the following:
Description: The exact identification of the nevel is very problematic. Some take it to be a kind of harp. The harp consisted of a neck projecting out of a soundbox. Strings were stretched from the extremity of the neck down its length and into the sound box. The body of the harp was made of wood and its strings of animal intestines (perhaps from sheep). The number of strings varied.
Others place the nevel in the category of lyres, where the strings are stretched over top of and parallel to the soundbox. While this is the interpretation preferred here, we will discuss the harp-type of instrument, since the identification is problematic and many translations have preferred “harp” for nevel.
Usage: The strings were plucked either with the fingers or with a thin piece of ivory or metal to give a resonating sound, probably in a lower register than that made by the kinor.
Translation: In several Psalms (33.2; 92.3; 144.9), the nevel is linked to the Hebrew word ‘asor, which could indicate it was “ten-stringed.”
Some degree of cultural adaptation must be made in the translation of these stringed instruments since cultures differ from each other in the shape, the number of strings, and the function of their instruments. Translators will have to select an equivalent instrument in the receptor language. In most passages the most accurate translation for nevel will be “guitar” or some equivalent medium-sized stringed instrument on which the strings are stretched over a sound box and are plucked.
In those passages where nevel and kinor appear together it is recommended that the translator use an instrument that can vary in size and then render the two words as “large and small X,” for example, “large and small guitars.” Alternately, it may be possible to select two stringed instruments that are similar in construction but different in size, for example, “guitar and lute.” It is also possible to say “large and small stringed instruments” or to combine the two, saying “stringed instruments.”
Psalms 33:2: “Praise the LORD with the lyre” (New Revised Standard Version, updated edition) contains two major translation problems. The first problem is that in many languages, the phrase “with the lyre” must be changed into a verb phrase or clause; for example, the whole line may be rendered “Praise the LORD by playing music on the lyre” or “Make music with the lyre, and praise the LORD.” The second problem, which applies also to the second line of this verse, is the terms to be used for the musical instruments here. In languages in which there are several stringed instruments, translators may use one of the smaller ones for kinor (“lyre”) and a larger one for nevel (“harp” in New Revised Standard Version, updated edition). In languages where there is little or no choice, they should use the known local stringed instrument for the kinor, and a more generic expression for the nevel. Where there are no known stringed instruments, it will often be necessary to say “small instruments with strings” for kinor and “large instruments with strings” for nevel.
Harp (source: Knowles, revised by Bass (c) British and Foreign Bible Society 1994)
Quoted with permission.
complete verse (Psalm 105:1)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 105:1:
- Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“Thank Jehovah, call his name;
preach among the people of other races what He has done.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation) - Newari:
“Offer thanks to the LORD,
take His name,
cause the things He has done to be heard among the nations!” (Source: Newari Back Translation) - Hiligaynon:
“[You (plur.)] give thanks to the LORD;
[you (plur.)] worship him!
Tell the people his deeds.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation) - Laarim:
“You thank the LORD, and call on his names,
you tell all nations the matters he did.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation) - Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Mshukuruni BWANA,
tangazeni ukuu wake,
wambieni watu ambayo amefanya.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation) - English:
“Give thanks to Yahweh, and tell others that he is very great!
Tell everyone in the world what he has done!” (Source: Translation for Translators)
complete verse (Psalm 105:33)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 105:33:
- Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“He brought down their trees of vine and their trees of figs,
and also destroyed other trees of their land.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation) - Newari:
“He destroyed their grape vines and their fig trees,
and He broke all the trees in their land.” (Source: Newari Back Translation) - Hiligaynon:
“He destroyed their grape plants/(vines) and fig trees, and other trees.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation) - Laarim:
“God broke their vine trees and fig trees,
and he broke the trees of their land.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation) - Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Akaharibu miti yao ya mizabibu na mikuyu,
akaipasua miti ya katika nchi yao.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation) - English:
“The hail ruined their grapevines and fig trees and shattered all the other trees.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
complete verse (Psalm 106:20)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 106:20:
- Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“They exchanged their glory
with an idol of a male cow that eats grass.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation) - Newari:
“The exaltation which they should have given to God
they gave instead to an image of a grass-eating bull.” (Source: Newari Back Translation) - Hiligaynon:
“They exchanged their honorable God with the image of a bull/[lit. bull cow] that grazes on grass.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation) - Laarim:
“They exchanged the glory of God,
because of the calf that ate the grass.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation) - Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Waliubadiri utukufu wa Mungu,
wakaabudu kwa sanamu ya ngʼombe ambaye anakula majani.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation) - English:
“Instead of worshiping our glorious God,
they started to worship a statue of a bull that eats grass!” (Source: Translation for Translators)
complete verse (Psalm 107:4)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 107:4:
- Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“Some wandered in the empty wilderness,
without finding a path going to the city where they settled.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation) - Newari:
“Some people were walking around in the wilderness
unable to find the road.
They went to look for a city to live in
but were not able to find one.” (Source: Newari Back Translation) - Hiligaynon:
“There-were people who journeyed in the/a desolate-place;
they could- not -see the way going to the city where there-were people dwelling.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation) - Laarim:
“Some of them walked in the desert,
they did not find a way that goes to the city
where they would live.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation) - Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Wengine walitangatanga jangwani bila kuiona njia,
ya kwenda katika mji wa kukaa.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation) - English:
“Some of those who returned from those countries wandered in the desert;
they were lost and had no homes to live in.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
complete verse (Psalm 107:36)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 107:36:
- Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“there He brought hungry people that they stay there,
and they built a city where they would settle.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation) - Newari:
“He puts the hungry ones there,
and built a city for them to live in.” (Source: Newari Back Translation) - Hiligaynon:
“He causes- those (who) are-hungering -to-dwell in that place
and they build there a city where they can-live/settle.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation) - Laarim:
“He gave people who were hungry to live there,
and they build a city for them to live.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation) - Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Anawakalisha huko wenye njaa,
wanajenga mji wa kukaa.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation) - English:
“He brings hungry people into that land, to live there and build cities there.” (Source: Translation for Translators)