The Greek in Acts 7:2 that is translated as “our ancestor Abraham” is translated in Chichimeca-Jonaz as “Father Abraham, the stalk we came from.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Language-specific Insights
eloquent
The Greek in Acts 18:24 that is often translated as “eloquent” in English is translated as “very fluent speaker” in San Mateo del Mar Huave, as “preached well” in Isthmus Mixe and Lalana Chinantec, as “had a beautiful way to talk” in Morelos Nahuatl, and as “really able to speak” Chichimeca-Jonaz. (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
apostle, apostles
The Greek term that means “one who is sent off” in its singular form and is usually transliterated as “apostle(s)” in English is (back-) translated in the following ways:
- Eastern Highland Otomi, Tzeltal, Western Kanjobal, Western Highland Purepecha, Navajo (Dinė), Copainalá Zoque, Chol, Balanta-Kentohe: “the sent ones”
- Kituba, Pamona, Mezquital Otomi, Central Pame: “messengers”
- Ngäbere: “word carriers”
- Southern Subanen: “those commanded to carry the message”
- San Blas Kuna: “witnesses to God” (meaning “those who speak up and out for God” (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida, except Balanta-Kentohe: Rob Koops)
- Mairasi: sasiri atatuemnev nesovnaa or “sent witnesses” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
- Ekari: “one-who-goes-and-tells-for-someone” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
- Khmer: Christtout (“messenger representing Christ”) or when Jesus addresses them: Tout robas Preah Ang (“his messengers-representatives”) (source: Joseph Hong in The Bible Translator 1996, p. 233ff. )
- Pwo Karen: “eyeballs” (i.e., “right-hand men”) (source: David Clark)
- Tzeltal, Coatlán Mixe: “spreader-of-words”
- Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “one who goes about preaching the good word” (source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
- Noongar: Moorta Ngany Waangki-Koorl or “People I (Jesus) Send” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
- Ayutla Mixtec: “those who bore the word of God’s mouth”
- Chichimeca-Jonaz: “elders messengers” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
- Yakan: “commissioned ones” (source: Yakan Back Translation) — note that Scot McKnight in the English The Second Testament (publ. 2023) translates it as commissioners
- Tenango Otomi: “(Jesus’) representatives” (source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
- Tsamakko: “ones-who-work-for-Christ” (source: Chris Pluger)
Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as commissioner.
In American Sign Language it is translated with a combination of the signs for “following” plus the sign for “authority” to differentiate it from disciple. (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“apostles” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
In Hungarian Sign Language it is translated with a sign that shows the shape of the beard, based on the common and general visual representation of the apostles. This sign differs from the sign for a beard as used in colloquial language. The sign of the apostle does not originate from a specific biblical verse, but rather from the cultural context and later ecclesiastical tradition. “Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.” Lev 19:27. In the biblical era, wearing a beard was the default social and religious norm among Jewish men. The Apostle Peter is generally depicted with a short, curly, white beard. The Apostle Paul appears with a longer, pointed beard. The Apostle John is an exception, as he was the youngest disciple. In iconography, he is often the only one painted without a beard (as a youth) to emphasize his purity and age (see for instance at Transfiguration (icon)). (Source: Jenjelvi Biblia and HSL Bible Translation Group)
“Apostle” in Hungarian Sign Language (source )
Learn more on Bible Odyssey: The Apostles in Christian Art .
Most High
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, Ge’ez, or Greek that is translated as “(God) the Most High” or “Most High God” in English is translated in various way:
- Eastern Highland Otomi: “he the completely glorified God”
- San Mateo del Mar Huave: “Father God who is high in heaven”
- Teutila Cuicatec: “God who has such tremendous authority”
- Chichimeca-Jonaz: “he who is the native of the highest place”
- Palantla Chinantec: “the Big God Himself”
- Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “God who has authority over all”
- Estado de México Otomi: “most exalted God”
- Isthmus Mixe: “God who is in heaven”
- Teutila Cuicatec: “God who has a great rule” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
- Sa’a: “God, the Surpassing One” (source: Carl Gross)
- Elhomwe: Mulluku Muullupalli or “God the Great” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
- Chichewa: Wammwambamwamba: A name of God. While this word is difficult to translate into English, its sense implies that God is highly above everything in his power and greatness. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
in the name of, on the account of his (or: my) name
Some of the Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek phrases that are translated in English in association with “name,” including “in the name of,” “in my name,” “in your name,” “on the account of my name,” “on the account of your name” (according to a classification by Robert Bratcher in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 72ff. , phrases that belong to the categories of “Agency or instrumentality” and “Representation”) present a number of challenges in other languages.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight
Eugene Nida (1947, p 178ff.) explains this way:
“The biblical attitudes toward human personality are of great theological importance. There is, however, only one word which produces any considerable difficulty in other languages. This is the word ‘name.’ The great difference attached to the significance of the name of a person in the Bible times in contrast with our own culture is very important. Note such phrases as ‘whatsoever ye shall ask in my name,’ John 14:13, ‘believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God,’ John 3:18, and ‘life through his name,’ John 20:31. These expressions are generally difficult for us to understand, for the word ‘name’ does not mean the same to us as it meant to those of Bible times. To them the name was the symbolization of the authority and personality of the individual who possessed the name. To us a name is far less important. It may be changed whenever one can convince a judge that another name might be more economically advantageous. The name is also a legal method of giving one’s written assent to certain business transactions, but to us it is not the symbol of the personality.”
The translation in Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl typically is “in someone’s authority” (for instance “I have come in my Father’s name” in John 5:43 becomes “I have come on my Father’s authority”) (source Nida 1947, p. 179), or in Highland Puebla Nahuatl with the more paraphrastic equivalent “as though on orders from you” or in Tzeltal as “by your authority, so he said” (both examples for Mark 9:38 and 39, see Bratcher / Nida).
In Guhu-Samane, Mark 11:9 (in English: “Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord”) is translated as “Blessed is the Lord’s namesake who comes.” “In the name of the Lord” caused “puzzlement [because] “has he just assumed the name of the Lord, valid or otherwise? [But] with ‘blessed is the Lord’s namesake who comes’ the strong bond between the namesake and the important ancestor for whom named entitles the namesake to the deference due the ancestor. Thought very proper in this context.” (Source: Ernest L. Richert in Notes on Translation December 1963: p. 4-7; reprinted in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 198ff. )
Barclay Newman (see The Bible Translator 1974, pp, 432ff. ) reports on different solutions for the translation of the Today’s Malay Version (Alkitab Berita Baik, 1987):
In Malay “the phrase ‘in my name’ is problematic (…) since it sounds like the use of magic. For this reason [the English] Today’s English Version (Good News Bible) was followed at such passages as John 5:43 and 10:25, where ‘in the name of my Father’ is translated as ‘with my Father’s authority’ and ‘by my Father’s authority’ [respectively]. In John 12:13 ‘in the name of the Lord’ has become ‘in his (the Lord’s) behalf,’ following the common language German translation Die Gute Nachricht. In John 14:13, ‘because you are my followers’ is used, in John in 15:16, 16:23 and 24 ‘as my followers,’ in John 17:11 ‘by your own power, the power you gave me,’ and in John 14:26 ‘in my place.'”
Other translations for “in the name of Jesus Christ” include “in the authority of Jesus Christ” (Isthmus Mixe), “calling on Jesus Christ” (Teutila Cuicatec), “calling the name of Jesus Christ over you” (Ayutla Mixtec), “because of Jesus” (Tepeuxila Cuicatec), “by the power of the name of Jesus Christ” (Chichimeca-Jonaz), “the word of Jesus Christ is strong” (Lalana Chinantec) (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), and “mentioning the name of Jesus” (Elhomwe — source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext).
See also not speak in the name of Jesus, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and as the LORD lives.
savior
The Greek that is translated as “savior” in English in translated the following ways:
- Laka: “one who takes us by the hand” (source: Nida 1952, p. 140)
- Teutila Cuicatec: “one who saves those on this earth”
- Isthmus Mixe: “one who saves from save from sin”
- Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “a person who pardons people of their sins” (source for this and two above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
- Noongar: Keny-Barranginy-Ngandabat or “One Bringing Life” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
- Uma: “the King who lifts us from the punishment of our sins” (source: Uma Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “one who delivers us from punishment” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “one whom we hope/expect will do all we are waiting for” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “one who is the pledge of our assurance of salvation in the future.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Kâte: bâbâpiaŋ or “healer” (source: Renck 1990, p. 104)
- Tibetan: skyabs mgon (སྐྱབས་མགོན།), lit. “refuge + lord” (source: gSungrab website )
In various German and Dutch Bible translations, the term Heiland is used, which was introduced by Martin Luther in the 16th century and means “the healing one.” This term (as “Hælend”) was used in Old English as a translation for “Jesus” — see Swain 2019 and Jesus.
In American Sign Language it is signed with a sign describing releasing someone from bondage. (Source: Yates 2011, p. 52)
“Savior” in American Sign Language (source )
receive my spirit
The Greek in Acts 7:59 that is translation as “receive my spirit” in English is translated as “receive me” in San Mateo del Mar Huave, as “take up [referring to a living thing] my spirit” in Chichimeca-Jonaz, or as “take my heart” in Lalana Chinantec. (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
repent, repentance
The Greek, Ge’ez, Latin and Hebrew that is often translated as “repent” or “repentance” is (back-) translated in various ways (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):
- Western Kanjobal: “think in the soul”
- Kekchí: “pain in the heart”
- Northwestern Dinka: “turn the heart”
- Pedi: “become untwisted”
- Baoulé: “it hurts to make you quit it” (source for this and above: Nida 1952, p. 137)
- Balinese: “putting on a new mind”
- Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “be sorry on account of one’s sins”
- Uab Meto: “turn the heart upside down” (source for this and the two above: Bratcher / Nida)
- Central Mazahua / Chichimeca-Jonaz: “turn back the heart” (source: Nida 1952, p. 40)
- Suki: biaekwatrudap gjaeraesae: “turn with sorrow” (source: L. and E. Twyman in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 91ff. )
- Yamba and Bulu: “turn over the heart” (source: W. Reyburn in The Bible Translator 1959, p. 1ff. )
- Chichewa: kutembenuka mtima (“to be turned around in one’s heart”) (source: Ernst Wendland in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 319ff. )
- Caribbean Javanese: mertobat (“tired of old life”)
- Saramaccan: bia libi ko a Massa Gadu (“turn your life to the Lord God”)
- Sranan Tongo: drai yu libi (“turn your life”) or kenki libi (“change life”)
- Eastern Maroon Creole: dai yu libi (“turn your life”) (source for this and 3 above: Jabini 2015)
- Eggon: “bow in the dust” (source: Kilgour, p. 80)
- Embu: “change heart” (“2 Cor. 7:10 says ‘For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death.’ In ordinary speech the terms ‘repent’ and ‘regret’ are used interchangeably in Embu, so that this verse comes out as: ‘godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no repentance,’ which is contradictory. The problem was solved by using ‘changing heart’ in the first, and ‘sadness’ in the second.”) (source: Jan Sterk)
- Anuak: “liver falls down”
- Kafa: “return from way of sin to God” (source for this and the one above: Loren Bliese)
- Latvian: atgriezties (verb) / atgriešanās (noun) (“turn around / return” — see turn around / convert) (source: Katie Roth)
- Obolo: igwugwu ikom: “turn back (from evil)” (source: Enene Enene)
- Mairasi: make an end (of wrongdoing) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
- Luchazi: ku aluluka mutima: “turn in heart” (source: E. Pearson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 160ff. )
- Chokwe: kulinkonyeka: “fold back over” or “go back on oneself” (source D.B. Long in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 135ff. ).
- Muna: dofetompa’ao dhosa bhe dodoli ne Lahata’ala: “radically-end sin and to turn to God” (source: René van den Berg)
- Bacama: por-njiya: “fetch sand” (“Before the coming of Christianity 100 years ago, when the elders went to pray to the gods, they would take sand and throw it over each shoulder and down their backs while confessing their sins. Covering themselves with sand was a ritual to show that they were sorry for what they had done wrong, sort of like covering oneself with sackcloth and ashes. Now idol worship for the most part is abandoned in Bacama culture, but the Christian church has retained the phrase por-njiya to mean ‘repent, doing something to show sorrow for one’s sins’” — source: David Frank in this blog post .)
- Enlhet “exchange innermosts.” “Innermost” or valhoc is a term that is frequently used in Enlhet to describe a large variety of emotions or states of mind (for other examples see here). (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
- San Blas Kuna: “sorry for wrong done in the heart” (source: Claudio and Marvel Iglesias in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 85ff. )
- Desano: “change your bad deeds for good ones”
- Isthmus Mixe: “put one’s hearts and minds on the good road”
- Eastern Highland Otomi: “change one’s thinking about evil and walk in the way of God”
- San Mateo del Mar Huave: “just remember that you have done wicked, in order that you might do good”
- Coatlán Mixe: “heart-return to God” (source for this and four above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
- Sierra de Juárez Zapotec: “get on the right road”
- Isthmus Zapotec: “heart becomes soft” (source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
- Cherokee: “change one’s thinking” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 23)
- Sabaot: “give one’s neck” — relating to traditional legal proceedings where someone who is convicted of a crime kneels before the aggrieved person who can either behead the accused or completely forgive (source Danny Foster in this recording )
- Kâte: maŋ bârisiezo or “turn the insides around” (source: Renck 1990, p. 108)
- Tibetan: ‘gyod tshangs byed (འགྱོད་ཚངས་བྱེད།), lit. “regret + pure” (source: gSungrab website )
- Merina Malagasy: fifonana, deriving from mifona “meaning ‘to completely uproot so that something new can grow’ (a term also used for the loss of a baby tooth)” (source: Brigitte Rabarijaona)
“In Tzotzil two reflexive verbs to communicate the biblical concept of repentance are used. Xca’i jba means to know or to reflect inwardly on one’s self. This self inquiry or self examination is similar to the attitude of the prodigal son where Luke 15:17 records that ‘he came to his senses.’ Broke, starving, and slopping hogs, the prodigal admitted to himself that he was in the wrong place. The second reflexive verb ‘jsutes jba’ means turning away from what one is and turning to something else. In a sense, it is deciding against one’s self and toward someone else. It is similar to the attitude of the prodigal son when he said, ‘I will get up and go to my father’ (Luke 15:18).” (source: Aeilts 2009, p. 118)
In Hungarian Sign Language it is translated with a sign that expresses the turning of one’s attention toward God (see 1 Thessalonians 1:9 and Acts 3:19). (Source: Jenjelvi Biblia and HSL Bible Translation Group)
“Repent” in Hungarian Sign Language (source )
See also: convert / conversion / turn back and see Seat of the Mind for traditional views of “ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling.”