Language-specific Insights

complete verse (John 1:17)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 1:17:

  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “Moses taught the ancestors of us Israelites the law of God, but Jesus Christ came to teach that God loves mankind, and he teaches us all the true words of God.”
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “The law about the things of God, the one who gave it was Moses. But the love which was to us and the truth came into being because of Jesus Christ.”
  • Umiray Dumaget Agta: “Even though Moses was caused to speak the rules of God, Jesus Christ was the one appointed to show mercy and to declare the truth.”
  • Guerrero Amuzgo: “. . . but Jesus Christ is the source of all favor and of the words that are true.”
  • Chol: “… . Jesus Christ came and gave us the goodness of his heart and truth.”
  • Tenango Otomi: “By means of Moses the law of God is known. But by means of Jesus Christ the love of God and the true word are known.” (Source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Uma: “From the prophet Musa we received the Law of the Lord God. But [it is] from Yesus Kristus that we really know God, and his grace to us.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “The law of God was given/sent to mankind by Musa but God’s love and the truth are given to mankind by Isa Almasi, he is the one called the Word of God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And by means of Moses, God brought down to earth the laws. But by means of Jesus, God brought down to earth his love/grace for us and the true doctrine.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because God made-known his law through Moses, but his mercy/kindness and the truth concerning him, he made-known to us through Jesu Cristo.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Because God gave his laws to Moises which he was commanding us, but that grace/mercy of his and truth concerning himself, he caused us to comprehend through Jesu-Cristo.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The Law was-given by God to us (incl.) through Moises, but mercy and truth arrived to us (incl.) through Jesus-Christ.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Mairasi: “We have already received the prohibitions Belonging to Above-One, we received them from Musa himself. But His good insides and tuber were revealed in Yesus Kristus.” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Bariai: “For the law came about by Moses’ hand, and then the action of kindness and true talk came about by Iesus Kristus’ hand.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Kupsabiny: “Moses gave us the laws and the Savior Jesus brought for us love and the words of truth.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)

prostitute

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The Greek, Latin, and Hebrew that is typically translated as “prostitute” in English (in some, mostly earlier translation also as “harlot” or “whore”) is translated in the 2024 revision of the inter-confessional Latvian Jauna Pārstrādāta latviešu Bībele as netikle or “hussy.” This replaced the previous translation mauka or “whore.” Nikita Andrejevs, editor of the Bible explains the previous and current translations: “The translators at the time felt that this strong word best described the thought contained in the main text. Many had objections, as it seemed that this word would not be the most appropriate for public reading in church.” (Source: Updated Bible published in Latvia ).

Other translations include:

  • Bariai: “a woman of the road” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “a woman who sells her body” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Uma: “a woman whose behavior is not appropriate” or “a loose woman” (source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “a bad woman” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “a woman who make money through their reputation” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “a woman who makes money with her body” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “a woman whose womanhood is repeatedly-bought” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)

See also Translation commentary on Genesis 34:31, Rahab, and prostitute oneself / play the prostitute.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Prostitution in the Bible .

savior

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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 )

witness

The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and and Greek that is translated as “witness” in English is translated in these ways:

  • “truly have seen” in Highland Popoluca
  • “telling the truth regarding something” in Eastern Highland Otomi
  • “know something” in Lalana Chinantec
  • “verily know something to be the truth” in San Mateo del Mar Huave
  • “we ourselves saw this” in Desano
  • “tell the truth about something” in Eastern Highland Otomi
  • “know something is true because of seeing it” in Teutila Cuicatec (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • “ones who will confirm that these-things that you have seen are true” in Kankanaey (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • “ones who are to testify about these things, because it all happened before your eyes” in Tagbanwa (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

vision

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin and Greek that is translated as “vision” in English is translated in a variety in the following languages:

  • Chol: “as if in a dream” (source: Robert Bascom)
  • Obolo: ilaak ọkpọchieen̄ or “dreaming awake” (source: Enene Enene)
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “a showing like dreams”
  • Desano: “see in a dream what God will send”
  • Rincón Zapotec: “see what God shows”
  • Mayo: “see things from God as in a dream”
  • Lalana Chinantec: “dream how it is going to be”
  • Chuj: “like dreaming they see”
  • San Mateo del Mar Huave: “understand what they see as if in a dream”
  • Ayutla Mixtec: “see that which will happen” (source for this and seven above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Tagbanwa: “being caused to dream by God” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Chichewa: azidzaona zinthu m’masomphenya: “they will see things as if face-to-face” (interconfessional translation, publ. 1999) (Source: Wendland 1998, p. 69)
  • Mandarin Chinese: yì xiàng (异象 / 異象), lit. “different (or: strange) appearance.” (Source: Zetzsche)

The Greek in the books of Revelation and Acts is translated as obq-rmwible: “look-dream” in Natügu. Brenda Boerger (in Beerle-Moor / Voinov, p. 162ff.) tells the story of that translation: “In the book of Revelation, the author, John, talks about having visions. Mr. Simon [the native language translator] and I discussed what this meant and he invented the compound verb obq-rmwible ‘look-dream’ to express it. Interestingly, during village testing no one ever had to ask what this neologism meant.”

See also see a vision.

high priest

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “high priest” in English is translated in the following ways:

  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “the ruler of the priests of our nation”
  • Chol: “very great priest” (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Ayutla Mixtec: “first over the priests”
  • Desano: “chief of the priests” (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.).
  • Uma: “Big Priest” (source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “high sacrificer” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa as “Most-important Priest of God” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “Big leader of offerings” (source: Bariai Back Translation)

In Khoekhoe the translation for “high priest” is only capitalized when it refers to Jesus (as is Hebrews 2:17 et al.). (Source: project-specific notes in Paratext)

See also priest and chief priest.

heaven is my throne and earth my footstool

The Greek and Hebrew that is typically translated as “heaven is my throne and earth my footstool” in English is translated in the following ways:

  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “heaven is where I have my power and earth is also where I have my power”
  • Highland Popoluca: “heaven I rule, earth I rule also”
  • Lalana Chinantec: “as a chair where kings sit is heaven where I sit. As is a low stool where my feet rest, is the earth”
  • San Mateo del Mar Huave: “if I wished, heaven could serve as my seat, and I could use the earth as a place to rest my feet if I wanted” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Kankanaey: “In heaven is where I sit to rule, and the world, that’s where-I-stretch-out-my-legs.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “The heavens really are my seat in kingship. The world is just the stepping-stool of my feet” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

snow (color)

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The Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic that is translated in English as “(as white as) snow” is translated in San Miguel El Grande Mixtec as “(as white as) volcano frost,” the only white kind of frost that is known in that language (source: Nida 1947, p. 160.). Likewise, it is translated in Chichewa as matalala or “hail stones,” since “hail in Central Africa, when it occurs, is also white” (source: Wendland 1987, p. 72).

In Obolo it is translated as abalara: “white cloth” (source: Enene Enene), in Bambam and Bura-Pabir as “like the white of cotton” (source: Phil Campbell in Kroneman 2004, p. 500 and Andy Warren-Rothlin), in Muna as “white like cotton flowers” (source: René van den Berg), in Sharanahua as “like fresh Yuca root” (source: Holzhauen / Riderer 2010, p. 72), in Tagbanwa as “white like just broken waves” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation), in Chitonga as “as the cattle egret ” (source: Wendland 1987, p. 130), in Nabak as “white as a white cockatoo ” (source: Grace Fabian ), in Cerma “white like the full moon,” except in Psalm 51:7 where the Cerma translators chose “wash me with water until I shine” (source: Andrea Suter in Holzhauen / Riderer 2010, p. 36), and in Elhomwe as cotton or ntuura / “ash” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext).

In Gbaya, in most cases an ideophone (term that expresses what is perceived by the five senses) is employed to depict strong intense whiteness (either ndáká-ndáká or kpúŋ-kpúŋ are used for the ideophones), sometimes in combination with “cotton.” Interestingly, for Rev. 1:14 where the color of the hair of the “Son of Man” is described, the use of cotton was questioned since it “would create the unpleasant image of an untidy person with disheveled hair or of a mourner with unkempt appearance.” It was eventually used, but only with a footnote that gives additional information by mentioning the French loan word neige for “snow.” In the two cases where the color white refers to the color of the skin of leprosy (Numbers 12:10 and 2 Kings 5:27), the image of hail is used in the first to describe the pale white of leprous skin, while the ideophone ndáká-ndáká is used for dramatic effect in the second. (Source: Philip Noss)

See also snow, frost, cotton, teeth are like a flock of ewes, many-colored robes / white, very white, and this devotion on YouVersion .