The Greek in Matthew 1:17 that is rendered as “generations” in English is translated into Sierra Totonac as “growings.” (2nd translation into Sierra Totonac of 1999.)
See also (this) generation and all generations.
Language-specific Insights
humble, lowly
The Greek that is usually translated as “humble” or “lowly” in English is translated as
- Eastern Highland Otomi: “one who doesn’t elevate himself”
- Yatzachi Zapotec: “those who think they aren’t worth much”
- Alekano: “those who stay low” (source for this and above: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.)
- Mezquital Otomi: “poor brothers”
- Isthmus Zapotec: “ones who little-honored”
- Highland Totonac: “just ordinary people”
- Yatzachi Zapotec: “poor people who have nothing” (source for this and three above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.).
- Low German: “those who don’t account to anything in other people’s eyes” (source: translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006)
- Kako: “those who lower the heart” (source: Reyburn 2002, p. 190)
See also humble (mind).
dishonor God
The Greek in Romans 2:23 that is usually translated in English as “dishonor God” is translated in various ways:
- Yatzachi Zapotec: “defame God’s character”
- Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “have no reverence before God”
- Tabasco Chontal: “cause God to be hated”
- Sayula Popoluca: “put God in a bad light”
- Highland Totonac: “put God to shame”
- Tzeltal: “cause embarrassment to God”
- Isthmus Zapotec: “err against God”
- Central Tarahumara: “become an enemy of God” (source for all above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
- Bariai: “your eyes mock God” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
- Kupsabiny: “insult God” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
- Mairasi: “oppose God” (Enggavoter 2004)
- Hiligaynon: “causing- God -to-be-ashamed” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
See also complete verse (Romans 2:23).
they are a law to themselves
The Greek in Romans 2:14 that is often translated into English as “they are a law to themselves” is translated these ways:
- Bilua: “they follow their own law” (source: Carl Gross)
- Huehuetla Tepehua: “it is just as if they had a law in their hearts”
- Highland Totonac: “on their own they think of the law they should do”
- Yatzachi Zapotec: “what their head-hearts tell them to do is like the law for them”
- Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “their very hearts is a law which issues orders to them”
- Tzeltal: “it is because there are commandments in their hearts”
- Sierra de Juárez Zapotec: “show that they themselves know what they ought to do” (source for this and five above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
- Uma: “their own hearts become like the Lord’s Law to them” (source: Uma Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “they have a Law there in their breath” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “their minds are like their law which directs them” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
See also a law unto themselves.
outdo one another in showing honor
The Greek in Romans 12:10 that is translated as “outdo one another in showing honor” or similar in English is translated as “always try to find out how the other person will come out better, and not yourselves” in Highland Totonac, as “be genuinely pleased if certain of your fellows should be more prominent than you yourself are” in Chicahuaxtla Triqui, and “each one give honor to the other and not to himself” in Isthmus Zapotec. (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
peace (inner peace)
The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is usually translated into English as “peace,” when referring to one’s inner peace, is (back-) translated with a variety of idioms and phrases:
- “a song in the body” (Baoulé — see also joy)
- “heart coolness” (Eastern Maninkakan / Moronene) / “inner coolness” (Binumarien) (source for Moronene: David Andersen; Binumarien: Oates 1995, p. 249)
- “coolness” (Pular / Kutu) (source for Kutu: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
- “sit down in the heart” (South Bolivian Quechua) / “my heart sits down” (Northern Grebo)
- “rest the heart” (Central Mazahua) / “rest within” (Lacandon) (source: Nida 1952, p. 40 and 128ff.) / “wait well in your heart” (Yatzachi Zapotec) (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
- “quietness of heart” (Chol)
- “kobe (= the abdominal region, including the heart) quiet” (Warao) (source: Henry Osborn in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 74ff. )
- “have a quiet mind” (Ngäbere)
- “heart will lie quietly” (Isthmus Zapotec)
- “live quietly” (Central Tarahumara) (source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
- “quiet goodness” (Kekchí)
- “goodness of life” (Uma) (source: Uma Back Translation)
- “strength of heart” (Highland Puebla Nahuatl)
- “leaning on the liver” (Kare)
- “sweet insides” (Shilluk)
- “evenness” (Toraja-Sa’dan)
- “having your hearts feel oneness for one another” (Tzeltal)
- “have one heart” (Miskito)
- “well-arranged soul” (Mashco Piro)
- “completeness” (Highland Puebla Nahuatl) (source for this and two above: Nida 1952, p. 128ff.)
- “stomach flat in” (“one’s stomach sticks out when one is upset”) (Kimyal) (source: Young 2022)
- “joy in heart” (Eastern Highland Otomi) (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
- “have security in your heart” (Highland Totonac) (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
- “smooth interior” (Bariai) (source: Bariai Back Translation)
- tangnefedd — “an internal condition that makes external peace (heddwch) possible” (Welsh) (source: Rosa Hunt in Journal of European Baptist Studies 1/23 (2023), p. 1ff. ) (source for all non-attributed translations: Bratcher / Nida)
In American Sign Language it is signed with a compound sign consisting of “become” and “silent.” (Source: Yates 2011, p. 52)
“Peace” in American Sign Language (source )
See also peace (absence of strife) and this devotion on YouVersion and this one on Bible Gateway .
flesh (human nature)
The Greek that is often translated as “flesh” in English (when referring to the lower human nature) can, according to Nida (1947, p. 153) “very rarely be literally translated into another language. ‘My meat’ or ‘my muscle’ does not make sense in most languages.” He then gives a catalog of almost 30 questions to determine a correct translation for that term.
Accordingly, the translations are very varied:
- Highland Totonac: “like other men”
- Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “the path of sinful people”
- Mezquital Otomi: “of earthly kind” or “old life”
- Huehuetla Tepehua: “old life”
- Tzeltal: “body”
- Sayula Popoluca: “body that does evil”
- Tabasco Chontal: “old mind” (Source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
- Chichewa: “character that is inclined to evil things” (source: Ernst Wendland in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 319ff. )
- Huautla Mazatec: “the self” (Nida 1947, p. 248)
- Swabian 2007 translation by Rudolf Paul: irdisch menschliche Gesinnung or “earthly-human mind”
- Warao: “old obojona.” Obojona is a term that “includes the concepts of consciousness, will, attitude, attention and a few other miscellaneous notions” (source: Henry Osborn in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 74ff. ). See other occurrences of Obojona in the Warao New Testament.
The Toraja-Sa’dan translation uses a variety of terms for the translation of the same Greek term (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight)
- A form of kale tolinona or “corporeal” is for instance used in Romans 9:5 or Colossians 1:22 (and also in Genesis 6:3 and Exodus 30:32)
- A form of mentolinona or “the human” is for instance used in Matthew 16:17 or John 1:14
- Phrases that include pa’kalean or “bodiliness” (also: “human shape”) are for instance used in Romans 6:6 or 1 Peter 2:11 (as well as in Isa 52:14, Isa 53:2, and Lamentations 4:7)
(Source: H. van der Veen in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 207ff. )
See also spirit / flesh, old self, and flesh (John 1:14).
vegetables
The Greek in Romans 14:2 that is translated as “vegetables” in English is translated as “grasses” in Isthmus Zapotec, as “greens” in Tzeltal, as “greens and fruit” in Highland Totonac and as “herbs” in Yatzachi Zapotec. (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)