Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 14:12:
Uma: “So, every one of us must answer God’s questions about our behavior.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “So-then all of us (incl.) ought/must tell to God about what we (incl.) have done here in the world.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And at that time, we (incl.) will have to be before God and He will check up on us and we will have to tell Him about everything that we did here on the earth.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Therefore God is the one each one of us will face so that we will tell him what we have done.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Therefore at that time each one of us will give account to God concerning how we have lived.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Huehuetla Tepehua: “Each of us will really tell God what we have done here in this world.”
Central Tarahumara: “Thus it is very sure that each one of us will confess to God how we ourselves have done.”
Isthmus Zapotec: “That is the way it is: God is the one to show the deeds of each one.”
Teutila Cuicatec: “Because of this we knew that God will have to judge each one of us.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
“beg” or “ask,” (full expression: “ask with one’s heart coming out,” which leaves out selfish praying, for asking with the heart out leaves no place for self to hide) (Tzotzil)
“raise up one’s words to God” (implying an element of worship, as well as communication) (Miskito, Lacandon) (source of this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
“speak to God” (Shilluk) (source: Nida 1964, p. 237)
“talk together with Great Above One (=God)” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter, 2004)
“beg” (waan) (Ik). Terrill Schrock (in Wycliffe Bible Translators 2016, p. 93) explains (click or tap here to read more):
What do begging and praying have to do with each other? Do you beg when you pray? Do I?
“The Ik word for ‘visitor’ is waanam, which means ‘begging person.’ Do you beg when you go visiting? The Ik do. Maybe you don’t beg, but maybe when you visit someone, you are looking for something. Maybe it’s just a listening ear.
When the Ik hear that [my wife] Amber and I are planning trip to this or that place for a certain amount of time, the letters and lists start coming. As the days dwindle before our departure, the little stack of guests grows. ‘Please, sir, remember me for the allowing: shoes, jacket (rainproof), watch, box, trousers, pens, and money for the children. Thank you, sir, for your assistance.’
“A few people come by just to greet us or spend bit of time with us. Another precious few will occasionally confide in us about their problems without asking for anything more than a listening ear. I love that.
“The other day I was in our spare bedroom praying my list of requests to God — a nice list covering most areas of my life, certainly all the points of anxiety. Then it hit me: Does God want my list, or does he want my relationship?
“I decided to try something. Instead of reading off my list of requests to God, I just talk to him about my issues without any expectation of how he should respond. I make it more about our relationship than my list, because if our personhood is like God’s personhood, then maybe God prefers our confidence and time to our lists, letters, and enumerations.”
In Luang it is translated with different shades of meaning (click or tap here to read more):
For Acts 1:14, 20:36, 21:5: kola ttieru-yawur nehla — “hold the waist and hug the neck.” (“This is the more general term for prayer and often refers to worship in prayer as opposed to petition. The Luang people spend the majority of their prayers worshiping rather than petitioning, which explains why this term often is used generically for prayer.”)
For Acts 28:9: sumbiani — “pray.” (“This term is also used generically for ‘prayer’. When praying is referred to several times in close proximity, it serves as a variation for kola ttieru-yawur nehla, in keeping with Luang discourse style. It is also used when a prayer is made up of many requests.”)
For Acts 8:15, 12:5: polu-waka — “call-ask.” (“This is a term for petition that is used especially when the need is very intense.”)
Source: Kathy Taber in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 9-16.
Following are a number of back-translations of John 8:36:
Ojitlán Chinantec: “Therefore if the Son of God liberates you, you will be truly liberated.”
Huehuetla Tepehua: “I am the Son of my Father. If I free you from your servanthood, you truly won’t be servants.”
Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “You are like bought ones and the Son of God is able to free you and thus you will be able to rule yourselves.”
Yatzachi Zapotec: “And if the Son of God cause you to get out from under the foot of evil so you are no longer like slaves, then truly you will get out from under its foot.”
Lalana Chinantec: “So if the Son will save you, you will really be saved.”
Central Tarahumara: “. . . If I shall help you so that you no longer have to do wrong, then you truly shall no longer be ruled as if you were a servant of the devil.” (Source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
Uma: “So, if I free you from your sins, you are really free, because I am the Child of God.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Therefore if the Son of God is the one who frees you, you are really free for sure.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Therefore if you are set free by the Son of God, it is really true that you can no longer be ruled over by your former slave owner.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Therefore if I who am God’s Child set-you -free from sin, you will indeed by freed.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “As long as I, who am the one meant by this Son, will be the one to release you from your slavery, it’s certain you will be truly released.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Therefore if the Son of God saves you, you truly are saved.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 1:3:
Uma: “That Good News tells who the Child of God is, our Lord Yesus Kristus. According to his birth as mankind, Yesus is the descendant of King Daud of old. But that Yesus is also the Child of God, for he is holy the same as God. That is clear because God caused him to live again, and with that amazing sign he made-clear that he indeed is the Child of God.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “This good news is about God’s Child/Son, Isa Almasi, our (incl.) Leader. He was born in the world a descendant of King Da’ud when he was a human being.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “This is the news about our Lord Jesus Christ, son of God. And as for this Jesus, he became a human for he was born as a descendant of the long ago King David.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “What this good news talks-about, it is his Child Jesu Cristo who is our Lord. As concerning his personhood, he was a descendant of King David.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “This good news tells about our Lord Jesus Christ, the son of God. It tells that he became a person, and tells that he is the descendant of the ruler David.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Isthmus Zapotec: “This gospel teaches us of His son who came from among the children (family) of David at the time when he came to be a person of this world, and He is Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Central Tarahumara: “And this very Good Word of God speaks advising us about the Son of God, who is our Lord Jesus Christ. And here in the world Jesus Christ was born as a baby boy. And he was born as one of David’s grandsons like.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
Hausa: “This gospel is about his Son Jesus Christ our Lord it is. By human he is from the tribe of David,” (Source: Hausa Common Language Back Translation)
Eugene Nida wrote the following about the translation of the Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Greek terms that are typically translated with “prophet” in English:
“The tendency in many translations is to use ‘to foretell the future’ for ‘prophesy,’ and ‘one who foretells the future’ for ‘prophet.’ This is not always a recommended usage, particularly if such expressions denote certain special native practices of spirit contact and control. It is true, of course, that prophets of the Bible did foretell the future, but this was not always their principal function. One essential significance of the Greek word prophētēs is ‘one who speaks forth,’ principally, of course, as a forth-teller of the Divine will. A translation such as ‘spokesman for God’ may often be employed profitably.” (1947, p. 234f.)
Following is a list of (back-) translations from other languages (click or tap for details):
Ayutla Mixtec: “one who talks as God’s representative”
Isthmus Mixe: “speaker for God” (source for this and two above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Mezquital Otomi / Paasaal: “God’s messenger” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff. and Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
Noongar: Warda Marridjiny or “News Traveling” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Kutu: mtula ndagu or “one who gives the prediction of the past and the future” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Ebira: ọnịsẹ, a neologism that combines the prefix ọn for “a person” with ịsẹ for “prediction” (source: Scholz /Scholz 2015, p. 49)
French 1985 translation by Chouraqui: inspiré or “inspired one” (“someone in whom God has breathed [Latin: in + spiro]) (source: Watson 2023, p. 45)
Cherokee: adolehosgi (ᎠᏙᎴᎰᏍᎩ) or “discoverer of things,” a “term that was was traditionally applied to Cherokee medicine men or women who used divining.” (Source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 49)
In Ixcatlán Mazatec a term is used that specifically includes women. (Source: Robert Bascom)
“In some instances these spiritual terms result from adaptations reflecting the native life and culture. Among the Northern Grebo people of Liberia, a missionary wanted some adequate term for ‘prophet,’ and she was fully aware that the native word for ‘soothsayer’ or ‘diviner’ was no equivalent for the Biblical prophet who spoke forth for God. Of course, much of what the prophets said referred to the future, and though this was an essential part of much of their ministry, it was by no means all. The right word for the Gbeapo people would have to include something which would not only mean the foretelling of important events but the proclamation of truth as God’s representative among the people. At last the right word came; it was ‘God’s town-crier.’ Every morning and evening the official representative of the chief goes through the village crying out the news, delivering the orders of the chief, and announcing important coming events. ‘God’s town-crier’ would be the official representative of God, announcing to the people God’s doings, His commands, and His pronouncements for their salvation and well-being. For the Northern Grebo people the prophet is no weird person from forgotten times; he is as real as the human, moving message of the plowman Amos, who became God’s town-crier to a calloused people.” (source: Nida 1952, p. 20)
In British Sign Language it is is translated with a sign that depicts a message coming from God to a person (the upright finger) and then being passed on to others. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Prophet” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
The Greek, Hebrew, and Ge’ez that is translated in English as “Law” or “law” is translated in Mairasi as oro nasinggiei or “prohibited things” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Noongar with a capitalized form of the term for “words” (Warrinya) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang), in Yucateco as “ordered-word” (for “commandment,” it is “spoken-word”) (source: Nida 1947, p. 198), and in Central Tarahumara it is “writing-command” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
McKnight’s English translation (publ. 2023) has it as Covenant Code. He explains (p. 301): “The law of Moses was a covenantal arrangement by God with the people of Israel. This code of conduct expected of them was not the same as law in the Roman world or what law means to us today. It is a revelation of God’s will for God’s covenant people but requires ongoing interpretation and adjustments.”
