The Greek that is translated into English as “care for no man” or “defer to no one” (in the sense of not seeking anyone’s favor) is translated in Tabasco Chontal as “you say the same thing to everyone” and in Shilluk as “you show the same respect to everyone.” In Shipibo-Conibo it is “in your mind no one is anything,” in Chol it is “your heart is equally straight in the presence of all men” and in Tzeltal “it does not matter who — all of us are equal as far as you are concerned.”
Language-specific Insights
turn (back) to
The Greek in Luke 1:16 that is translated in English as “turn (back) to” is translated as “turn them round again to” (Santali), “turn-back the minds (of the Israelites) in order to go-in-the-direction-of” (Balinese, “bring forward (to the place someone has left)” (Ekari), “lead cause them turn (and) return come seek” (Thai), and “cause to believe” (Shipibo-Conibo).
See also conversion / convert / turn back
not partial to any
The Greek that is often translated as “(you are) not partial to any” into English is translated as “you do not look at what is on the surface” into Shipibo-Conibo) and “you do not just see a man’s face” into Copainalá Zoque (source: Bratcher / Nida).
In Gumuz it is translated as “you do not look into face of men” (= do not make people bigger) (source: Loren Bliese) which is the same way the German translation by Fridolin Stier (1989) translates it.
The German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) as unparteiisch und unbestechlich or “impartial and incorruptible.”
doubt
The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “doubt” in English versions is translated with a term in Tzeltal that means “heart is gone.” (Nida 1952, p. 122)
In other languages it is represented by a variety of idiomatic renderings, and in the majority of instances the concept of duality is present, e.g. “to make his heart two” (Kekchí), “to be with two hearts” (Punu), “to have two hearts” (Maan), “to stand two” (Sierra de Juárez Zapotec), “to be two” or “to have two minds” (Navajo (Dinė)), “to think something else” (Tabasco Chontal), “to think two different things” (Shipibo-Conibo), “to have two thoughts” (Yaka and Huallaga Huánuco Quechua), or “two-things-soul” (Yucateco).
In some languages, however, doubt is expressed without reference to the concept of “two” or “otherness,” such as “to have whirling words in one’s heart” (Chol), “his thoughts are not on it” (Baoulé), or “to have a hard heart” (Piro). (Source: Bratcher / Nida, except for Yucateco: Nida 1947, p. 229, Huallaga Huánuco Quechua: Nida 1952, p. 123, and Maan: Don Slager)
In Elhomwe the same verb for “to doubt” and “to be amazed” is used, so often “to ask questions in heart” is used for “to doubt.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
In Chokwe “kwalajala is ‘to doubt.’ It is the repetitive of kuala, ‘to spread out in order, to lay (as a table), to make (as a bed),’ and is connected with kualula ‘to count.’ [It is therefore like] a person in doubt as one who can’t get a thing in proper order, who lays it out one way but goes back again and again and tries it other ways. It is connected with uncertainty, hesitation, lack of an orderly grasp of the ‘count’ of the subject.” (Source: D. B. Long in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 87ff. )
living water
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated in English as “living water” is translated in Shipibo-Conibo as “water by which to live” and in Tenango Otomi as “water which gives the new life” (source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125), and in Elhomwe as “water giving life” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext).
wild honey
The Greek that is translated as “wild honey” in English was difficult to translate in Toba and Iyojwa’ja Chorote.
Bill Mitchell (in Omanson 2001, p. 435) explains why: “Unlike urban, industrialized society, the indigenous way of life is inextricably linked with the land. A deep relationship with nature permeates all of life. This can sometimes be seen in the wealth of vocabulary for certain items. Mark 1:6 and Matthew 3:4 state that John the Baptist ate ‘wild honey.’ The Tobas of northern Argentina have ten different words for ‘wild honey,’ the Chorotes have seven or eight. The biblical text does not specify a type of wild honey, but Toba translators live in the Gran Chaco and harvest wild honey. They want to use the exact word; they do not have a generic term.”
In both cases the translators ended up using the most common term for “wild honey.”
In Balinese, “wild honey” is translated as “honey of bees who shut out the sun” (source: J.L. Swellengrebel in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 75ff. ), in Shipibo-Conibo as “bee liquid” (source: James Lauriault in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 32ff. ), and as “beeswax juice of the bush” in Bariai (source: Bariai Back Translation).
after my heart
The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “(man) after my (or: his) heart” in English is translated in a number of ways:
- Teutila Cuicatec. “(a man who) respects what I want”
- Eastern Highland Otomi: “whom I look well on”
- Chichimeca-Jonaz: “who pleases my heart”
- Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “thinks like I do”
- Tzotzil: “with his heart the same as mine (we think the same way)”
- Isthmus Mixe: “his heart and mine meet together”
- Morelos Nahuatl: “a good man whom I like”
- Shipibo-Conibo: “does what I desire in my heart” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
- Kupsabiny: “a person my stomach loves” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
- Bariai: “a man who follows my mind (lit. interior)” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
- Mairasi: “one who has My throat and makes My liver good” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “I am very pleased with his customs” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “his ways/nature really please me for they are really in harmony with my ways” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
I am the way
The Greek in John 14:6 that is translated as “I am the way” is translated as:
- “I am the road to heaven” in Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac
- “I am the path by which you go” in Shipibo-Conibo
- “I am the one who will guide you” in Asháninka
- “Because of me you will arrive to where God is” in Tenango Otomi. (Source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation 12, November 1964, p. 1ff.)
- “I am the way, in me you will meet God” in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999)
Upper Guinea Crioulo does not use definite articles. So in that language it says: “I (emph.) am way/road” and likewise: “I am truth, I am life.” (Source: David Frank)