“God will cause his Holy Spirit to possess you” in Teutila Cuicatec
“the Holy Spirit will come into your souls with his power” in Desano
“you will receive the Holy Spirit, Father God will give you that” in San Mateo del Mar Huave
“God will send the Holy Spirit to live with you” Mezquital Otomi (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
“you guys will receive Great Above Ones Spirit as a gift from right where Great Above One lives” in Mairasi (source: Enggavoter 2004)
“you will receive the Straight Spirit as a gift to you” in Bariai (source: Bariai Back Translation)
The Greek in Romans 12:13 that is translated as “practice hospitality” or similar in English is translated as “treat strangers kindly” in Yatzachi Zapotec, as “be brotherly to those who want to stay a while in your houses” in Huehuetla Tepehua, as “open up your houses that those who come on the road should enter” in Chicahuaxtla Triqui, as “show the goodness of your heart to as many as arrive at your houses” in Tzeltal, and as “give rest to people” in Mezquital Otomi. (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) with Gastfreundschaft sei euer höchstes Ziel or “let hospitality be your most important goal.”
For the Greek in John 19:30 that is translated with an equivalent of “It is finished (or: completed)” in most English Bible translations a perfect tense is used that has no direct equivalent in English. It expresses that an event has happened at a specific point in the past but that that event has ongoing results. The English “Expanded Translation” by Kenneth S. Wuest (publ. 1961) attempted to recreate that by translating “It has been finished and stands complete.”
Irish uses yet a different system of tenses, resulting in these translations:
Atá sé ar na chríochnughadh (Bedell An Biobla Naomhtha, publ. early 17th century): “It is upon its completion”
Tá críoch curtha air (Ó Cuinn Tiomna Nua, publ. 1970): “Completion is put on it”
Tá sé curtha i gcrích (An Bíobla Naofa, publ. 1981): “It is put in completion”
Source for the Irish: Kevin Scannell
In Ojitlán Chinantec it is translated as “My work is finished,” in Aguaruna as “It is completely accomplished,” and in Mezquital Otomi as “Now all is finished which I was commanded to do.” (Source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
In Cherokee an immediate past form of the verb alsgwada (ᎠᎵᏍᏆᏓ) is used. This indicates that “the action is concurrently effected.” (Source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 56)
In Mandarin Chinese, it is translated as chéng le (成了) which means both “it is completed” and “it is finished” (source: Zetzsche), in Ebira it is translated as Ma sị mẹ ta or “I have finally completed/finished it” (source: Scholz /Scholz 2015, p. 98), and in both German and Dutch major translations it is translated as vollbracht and volbracht respectively, which means “finished” but comes from “to bring (or: deliver) completely.”
The following is a contemporary stained glass window in the Catholic Church of the Resurrection in Bryanston, New Zealand:
The Window of the Saviour: Jesus said, “It is accomplished,” and bowing His head He gave up His spirit (John 19:30). This window with its powerful colours of sorrow and mourning yet glory and new life shows the Saviour at the moment of His supreme sacrifice of Himself for love of all humanity. (Source: Catholic Church of the Resurrection in Bryanston )
Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum .
The Greek in Acts 23:3 that is translated in English as “(you) whitewashed wall” is translated in a number of ways:
Lalana Chinantec: “you are like a masonry wall on which they have put white paint. It is no longer evident what it is like inside.” (Source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation, March 1965, p. 2ff.)
Bariai: “a disintegrating wall and yet they applied paint to it so that it merely looks good” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
“that evil they think to do will never be carried out” (Mezquital Otomi)
“think a lot about big things but can’t do them” (Tataltepec Chatino (Source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
The Greek in Romans 5:1 that is translated as “peace with God” in English is translated as “there’s nothing between us and God” in Hopi, as “we are at fellowship with God” in Chicahuaxtla Triqui, as “God has no anger toward us” in Huehuetla Tepehua, as “we have a good relationship with God” in Isthmus Zapotec, and as “we are living well with God” in Mezquital Otomi. (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
The Greek in 1 Peter 3:2 that is translated in English as “pure conduct” (or “chaste behavior”) is translated in Balanta-Kentohe as “good walk” (source: Rob Koops), in Ojitlán Chinantec as “and will not think evil in their hearts,” in Sayula Popoluca as “walk clean,” in Tenango Otomi as “guard their hearts,” an in Isthmus Mixe as “not walk evilly” (source: John Beekman & Harwood Hess in Notes on Translation, March 1963, p. 1ff.)
The standalone term that is translated as “pure” is translated in Mezquital Otomi as “that which cleanses one’s thoughts,” and in Alekano as “making our insides white.” (Source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.).
