The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “praise (God)” in English is translated as “make-great” / “make-great the name of” (Tae’), “to speak well of” (Western Highland Purepecha), “lift up the name of” (San Blas Kuna, Kpelle), “to sing the name of” (Huehuetla Tepehua), “to make good” (Highland Totonac), “to say good about” (Tzeltal), or “to make known something good about” (Navajo). (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
In Dan a figurative expression for praising God is used: “pushing God’s horse.” “In the distant past people closely followed the horses ridden by chiefs, so ‘pushing’ them.” (Source: Don Slager)
(To view the different translations of this term in a simplified graphical form on a new page, click or tap here.)
The Greek that is often rendered in English as “to be converted” or “to turn around” is (back-) translated in a number of ways:
- North Alaskan Inupiatun: “to change completely”
- Purepecha: “to turn around”
- Highland Totonac: “to have one’s life changed”
- Huautla Mazatec: “to make pass over bounds within”
- San Blas Kuna: “turn the heart toward God”
- Chol: “the heart turns itself back”
- Highland Puebla Nahuatl: “self-heart change”
- Pamona: “to turn away from, unlearn something”
- Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “to turn around from the breast”
- Luvale: “to return”
- Balinese: “to put in a new behavior” (compare “repentance“: “to put on a new mind”)
- Tzeltal: “to cause one’s heart to return to God” (compare “repentance”: “to cause one’s heart to return because of one’s sin”)
- Pedi: “to retrace one’s step” (compare “repentance”: “to become untwisted”)
- Uab Meto: “to return” (compare “repentance”: “to turn the heart upside down”)
- Northwestern Dinka: “to turn oneself” (compare “repentance”: “to turn the heart”) (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
- Central Mazahua: “changing the heart” (compare “repentance”: “turning back the heart”) (source: Nida 1952, p. 40)
- Western Kanjobal: “to molt” (like a butterfly) (source: Nida 1952, p. 136)
- Latvian: atgriezties (verb) / atgriešanās (noun) (“turn around / return”) which is also the same term being used for “repentance” (source: Katie Roth)
The Greek that is rendered as “faithful” in English is (back-) translated in various ways:
See also faith / believe.
(To view the different translations of this term in a simplified graphical form on a new page, click or tap here.)
The Greek that is translated with “deny himself” or deny oneself” is according to Bratcher / Nida “without doubt one of the most difficult expressions in all of Mark to translate adequately.” These are many of the (back-) translations:
The Greek that is translated as “saint” in English is rendered into Highland Puebla Nahuatl as “those with clean hearts,” into Northwestern Dinka as “those with white hearts,” and into Western Kanjobal as “people of prayer.” (Source: Nida 1952, p. 146)
In Ixcatlán Mazatec it is translated as “followers of Jesus” (source: Robert Bascom), in Tzeltal as whom God possesses,” in Highland Totonac as “children of God,” and in Yatzachi Zapotec as “clean-hearted people” (source for this ans two above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.).
The Greek that is translated into English versions as “throne” is translated into Naro as ntcõó-q’oo: “he will rule.” The figure of the “throne” cannot be translated in the egalitarian Naro culture, so the idea had to be expressed more explicitly. (Source: Gerrit van Steenbergen)
In other languages it is translated as “stool/seat of the king” (Marathi), “seat of commanding/chieftainship” (Highland Totonac, Kituba), “seat of the Supreme one (lit. of-him-who-has-the umbrella)” (Toraja-Sa’dan — the umbrella being a well-known symbol of power in various parts of South and South-East Asia), “glorious place to sit” (Ekari) (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel), “where God sits and rules” (Estado de México Otomi), “where God reigns” (Central Mazahua) (source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation, March 1965, p. 2ff.), or “bed of kingship” (Kafa) (source: Loren Bliese).
The Greek and Hebrew that are often translated as “miracles” or “miraculous powers” into English are translated as “things which no one has ever seen before” (San Blas Kuna), “thing marveled at” (Tepeuxila Cuicatec), “breathtaking thing” (Ngäbere), “long-necked thing” (referring to the onlookers who stretch their necks to see) (Huautla Mazatec), “sign done by God’s power” (Mossi), “supernatural power” (Javanese), “things that have heaven-strength” (Highland Totonac) (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida), “amazing thing” (Muna) (source: René van den Berg), or “impossible things” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004).
See also wonder.
The Greek that is rendered as “generations” in English versions is translated into Sierra Totonac as “growings.” (2nd translation into Sierra Totonac of 1999.)
See also (this) generation and all generations.
The Greek that is often translated as “honor” in English is translated as “say my name” (Huehuetla Tepehua), “make me great” (Highland Totonac), “good what is said about me” (Tzeltal), “speak well of me” (Western Highland Purepecha), “lift up my name” (San Blas Kuna and Kpelle).
“The word ‘offend’ as a translation of the Greek skandalizó seems to cause all sorts of trouble for translators. The difficulty is that the meaning of this word covers such a wide area. The basic meaning of the Greek is ‘to cause to stumble by putting some impediment in the way.’ The present central meaning of English ‘offend’ is often quite different. In some languages there is no metaphorical value in a translation ‘to cause someone to stumble.’ If the language permits no such metaphor, the translator should not attempt to force it. In Highland Totonac, the metaphor ‘to show the wrong road to’ is used in a manner almost exactly parallel to the Greek idiom.”
See also fall away, stumble.
The Greek that is rendered into English as “birth” is translated into Sierra Totonac as lakatunkuwi: “born to see the morning.” (The Sierra Totonac word for Christmas is lakatunkuwit.) (2nd translation into Sierra Totonac of 1999.)
See also bear (child), give birth.
The Greek that is rendered into “worthy” or “fit” in English versions is translated into Sierra Totonac as “proper” / “chief” — “I am not proper / chief enough.” (2nd translation into Sierra Totonac of 1999.)