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)
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 1:4:
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: “But he is really God. By God’s power it is clear that he truly is the Child of God because he was made alive again from his death.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “As for Jesus Christ our Lord, he is the holy God because he is also the son of God, because this was shown to us by means of the great power of God which was used to raise him from the dead.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Concerning also his holy godhood, God showed that he was his Child when he made-him-alive again by-means-of his power.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “But concerning the holy soul of Jesus Christ, it clearly is apparent that he is not just a person, it is strongly apparent that he is the Son of God, because he resurrected after he died.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Central Tarahumara: “And the Very Good Spirit, God’s Spirit, raised up Jesus Christ when he was already dead. And all of the people were thus truly shown that Jesus Christ is the only Son of God.”
Central Mazahua : “The Spirit which comes from God caused him to arise when he had died. Thus it was made known powerfully that he is the Son of God. This is Jesus Christ who is our Lord.”
Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “But Christ is Son of God according to his spirit because his spirit is entirely good. And God himself has shown that Jesus is his very Son. And very powerfully did God with him when he rose from among the dead by God’s agency. And Jesus Christ has become the Lord who has authority over us.” (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 1:5:
Uma: “By the lips of that Yesus, God gave me a big blessing, appointing [lifting] me as his apostle [messenger], so that I take the Good News to people all over the world, teaching them to believe and submit to the Lord Yesus, so that the name of Yesus is made-big.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Because of Isa Almasi I was given work/doing by God. I was commissioned by him to proclaim the good news so that there would be some from all nations/peoples/tribes that I would carry/influence to be people trusting and following/obeying Isa Almasi so that he can-be-praised/is-praised.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Through Christ sending me, I was given wisdom and God made me an apostle, which is to say, send one, in order that Jesus might be honored. The reason that he did this was so that I might teach the people who aren’t Jews in the towns everywhere, so that they might obey and believe Jesus Christ.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Because of him, God showed-me -kindness/grace and made me an apostle so that I would persuade people in all countries/towns to believe and obey Cristo so that he would be praised/honored.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Jesus Christ did me the favor of giving me the work of being his representative. He wants that in whatever land I tell the good news to the people and that they will believe, they will do what it says. By this then the people will praise Jesus Christ.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Hopi: “Because of Him, God through his pity sent me to preach in order that I might speak the good message to all people in order to persuade some. And then they will walk according to our beliefs. In doing this I make Jesus Christ very big.”
Central Mazahua: “Jesus Christ looked on me well. He sent me to do his work, in order that the people in the world will believe-obey, listen-obey him.”
Central Tarahumara: “And Jesus Christ very lovingly sent us to preach in his name, so that the people who live in all the world, believing well, should reverence Jesus Christ himself.” (Source for this and two above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
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) and in Noongar with a capitalized form of the term for “words” (Warrinya) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
In Yucateco the phrase that is used for “law” is “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.)
