The Greek that is translated in English as “baptize with the Holy Spirit” is translated in Ixcatlán Mazatec as “(baptize so that) the Holy Spirit will come upon/enter you” (source: Robert Bascom) and in Mairasi as “wash with the Holy Spirit” (“water” baptism is “wash with water”) (source: Enggavoter 2004).
Other languages translate as follows:
- Rincón Zapotec: “be baptized with the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit will come to be with you”
- Teutila Cuicatec: “God’s Holy Spirit will possess you”
- Chuj: “God’s Spirit will be given to you”
- Mezquital Otomi: “be baptized with the power of the Holy Spirit”
- Mayo: “receive the Holy Spirit in the same way you receive baptism”
- Lalana Chinantec: “the Great Spirit will enter your hearts” (Source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
See also Holy Spirit and baptism / baptize.
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Ge’ez, and Latin terms that are typically translated as “mercy” (or “compassion” or “kindness”) in English are translated in various ways. Bratcher / Nida classify them in (1) those based on the quality of heart, or other psychological center, (2) those which introduce the concept of weeping or extreme sorrow, (3) those which involve willingness to look upon and recognize the condition of others, or (4) those which involve a variety of intense feelings.
While the English mercy originates from the Latin merces, originally “price paid,” Romance languages (Italian, Spanish, Corsican, Catalan, Friulian) and other Germanic languages (German, Swedish, Danish — Barmherzigkeit, barmhärtighet and barmhjertighed, respectively) tend to follow the Latin misericordia, lit. “misery-heart.”
Here are some other (back-) translations:
See also steadfast love and Seat of the Mind / Seat of Emotions.
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 12:15:
- Uma: “They said to her: ‘You (sing.)’re crazy!’ But she repeatedly said that it was indeed he. That is why they said to her: ‘That’s not Petrus. That’s his angel.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “‘Perhaps you are out-of-your-mind,’ they said to Roda. But she kept repeating that it was really true Petros was there. Then they said, ‘That is his angel.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And her companions said to her, ‘You’re crazy.’ But Rhoda insisted saying, ‘No, it really is Peter.’ And they said, ‘It’s not Peter, but rather it is the angel of God that watches him.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “‘Why, you (sing.) are foolish indeed,’ they said. When she kept-on-insisting that it was true, they said, ‘It’s probably his angel.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “But they didn’t believe. In fact they said to that woman/girl that she was crazy. But she said emphatically, ‘It really is he!’ They were saying, ‘Maybe it’s just his angel.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Mezquital Otomi: “…. it’s not Peter, it’s God’s angel, Peter’s guardian.'”
- Teutila Cuicatec: “They told her: ‘You are crazy, girl’ But the girl said it was really him. Then they said: ‘It is not him. Probably it is the angel that looks after him.'” (Source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 2:29:
- Uma: “Jews who are really God’s people, are people who are/become Jews in their hearts, and who are circumcised in their hearts. That means the work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts makes them God’s people, they did not become God’s people from their following written laws. People like that are the ones God praises. Even though men do not praise them, God will still praise them.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “But the real Yahudi, is a person whose liver has been made new by God’s Spirit. His following/obeying the law is not what makes his liver new. This person even if his fellow human beings do not praise him yet God praises him.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “In the same way also the true Jew is the person whose breath has been marked by God by means of the Holy Spirit and not by means of obeying the Law. And a person like this, it may be that he is not praised by his fellow men. However, he by contrast will be praised by God.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “Because the true Jew, I mean to say, the true person of God, it is not the person who is like a Jew in appearance and in custom only but rather it is the person whose thoughts are right. The circumcision moreover that is valuable in God’s estimation, it is not the circumcision of part of the body but rather it is the removal of evil from a person’s mind which is the work of the Spirit of God, not the work of the written law. The person who is like this, even though his companions don’t praise him, God praises him nonetheless.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “He who truly is God’s people, is the one who sets his heart on separating from evil. This is the person whom God looks well upon, even though people don’t look well upon that person.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
- Mezquital Otomi: “But the true Jew is he who obeys God in his heart, and that true sign in that which is inside a clean heart. This true sign is that which God does in one’s life principle, it is not that made in the body as written in the law. People will elevate the honor of the Jews just in appearance, but God is the one who will elevate the honor of those who are truly Jews in their hearts.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 8:23:
- Uma: “And it isn’t just the world that groans. We who are God’s children also groan in our hearts. We have received the Holy Spirit as a sign of God’s promise to us. But we still wait for the time God will lift us to become his children and free our bodies from all that is evil.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “It is not only some of God’s creation that suffers but including us (incl.) the ones to whom God gave his Spirit who is his beginning/first gift, we (incl.) also suffer while we (incl.) keep-on-waiting-for the day when God will make our (incl.) bodies new so that/and we (incl.) will no longer be sick and die. When that day arrives it will then be really clear that he has really made us (incl.) his children.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And that’s not all, because as for us (incl.) also who have received the Holy Spirit which is the sign that there is still something which will be given to us by God in the future, drawn very tight is our expectancy of this, because we (incl.) really desire that that time might come when God will finish His making us His sons and He will carry out His making our bodies immortal.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “But it is not only they who are having-a-hard-time but rather even we to whom the Holy Spirit has been given who is the first-thing that God has given us who believe. It is as we are also groaning in our minds in our waiting for the time when God will clearly reveal our status as his children and will transform these bodies of ours into new bodies that never-die.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “Now, not only what is in the world suffers, but also we want to have what we suffer pass by, that there will come the day when our bodies will become new. Then it will appear that we are God’s children. Even though we now walk with the Holy Spirit, yet we want to see the good which will be afterwards.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
- Mezquital Otomi: “And we suffer thirst and hunger, sickness and misfortune, and we sigh, but because God has given us the Holy Spirit as a sign of the joy that will come, therefore we wait for God to show we are his sons, with our bodies made new and glorious without weariness or pain.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 9:20:
- Uma: “Let’s not say things like that, relatives! It is not appropriate [lit., it doesn’t hit the road] if we mankind talk-back like that to God. Is it appropriate for a pot say to the person who made it like this: ‘What did you (sing.) make me like this for!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “Don’t say that. Who are you (sing.) that you (sing.) talk-back-to/defy God and-what’s-more you are just human? Can the paliyuk (clay pot) say to the person who makes it, ‘Why do you (sing.) make me like this?'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And what I say to that is: can we, his created beings, answer back to God? Can we who are just made, ask Him who made us, saying ‘why did you make me this way?'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “But what I reply is, you (sing.) who are a mere person, where perhaps do you (sing.) get your (sing.) authority to argue-with God? Can a pot perhaps say to the one who shaped it, ‘Why did you make me like this?'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “I suppose that there is someone who wants to say to me: ‘How come then God says that the people have sin? Because no one can go against what God has determined’ they will say to me. Now we, being just people, who are we to say that we do not look well upon what God has determined? Take a pot, for instance, can it say to the maker of pots: ‘I do not look well upon the form in which you have made me’ it will say.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Mezquital Otomi: “But I answer them: Who are you to stand up to God? Should the bowl made of hard clay complain to him who made it: Why did you make me this way?”
Isthmus Zapotec: “But man, who are you that you shouldn’t be agreeable to what God does? As though a pot has the right to say to the one who made it: Why did you make me like this?!”
Huehuetla Tepehua: “No, man, don’t talk like that. Who are you that you can talk back to God? A clay cup, can it say to a maker: Why did you make me like this?” (Source for this and two above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 10:3:
- Uma: “They close their eyes to the way that God prepared. They refuse to submit to Kristus in order to become straight in God’s sight, they prefer to follow their own way, wanting to make themselves straight in their following of the Lord’s Law.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “They do not understand as to how people can be forgiven and considered straight by God. They think-mistakenly that they will be forgiven because-of their following the law. And they are not willing to follow what God said as to how he forgives them and considers them straight.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For they would not accept God’s way for people to become righteous. Rather what they used was their own way which was their obedience to the Law; and they did not follow the way of God, for Him to consider people righteous.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “Because they have been ignoring God’s plan to count people as righteous and simultaneously they have been trying to-be-made-righteous through the good that they have been doing, so they have not humbled (lit. lowered) themselves to receive the righteousness that comes from God.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “Because they do not know how God determined to clear people. They think they will seek on their own how to bring about their getting right with God. Therefore they do not want to believe the way God clears people.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
- Mezquital Otomi: “Because they do not know for themselves the road that God has appointed so that one may live well with him, and they are putting forth every effort to walk well by themselves (contrary to the right road) in the sight of God. For that reason they have not wanted to believe God and so he was not able to say they were righteous.”
- Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “They do not know how it is that God can say that our hearts are straight, and they wish to bring about themselves that their hearts will be straight, and so they do not obey the word which God has said.” (Source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 4:6:
- Uma: “When the sun got hot they withered until they became dry, because their roots were not deep.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “When the sun shone-brightly, immediately it drooped and because it’s roots were not deep, it withered.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But when the sun came out, the plants quickly withered because their roots could go down only a little way.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “But when the sun rose-high, they wilted and withered, because their roots were insufficient.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “But when the heat became scorching, they shrivelled because there was nowhere where they had been able to put down deep roots.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Mezquital Otomi: “And when the sun rose it dried up and died, because its roots had not grabbed.” (Source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
