Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Corinthians 1:5:
Uma: “The suffering that Kristus got, much of that also we (excl.) get. But much also is the strength of heart that we (excl.) get from Kristus.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Because our (excl.) being persecuted is great like the persecution of Almasi, God’s helping us (excl.) is also great because of Almasi.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Even though we have to suffer great difficulty because we’ve been made one with Christ, also because of Christ, God’s help to us is big.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Because the manyness of our being-hardshipped like the sufferings of Cristo, exactly the same is the bigness of what God uses-to-help us because of our being-united with Cristo.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “For this is the truth, no matter how many are the hardships we endure because of our being united/tied-together with Cristo, much more plentiful is the comfort of mind/inner-being that we receive because of our being united/tied-together with him.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “When we suffer much like what suffering Christ went through, yet Christ will abundantly comfort our hearts then.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Highland Totonac: “Because just as we have more than enough of His sufferings in the same way we have more than enough of that which is Christ’s means of comfort.” (Source: Herman Aschmann in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 171ff. )
The Greek that is often translated as “church” in English is translated into Avaric as imanl’urazul ahlu: “the community of believers” or “the believing people.”
Magomed-Kamil Gimbatov and Yakov Testelets (in The Bible Translator 1996, p. 434ff. ) talk about the genesis of this term (click or tap here to read more):
“The word ‘Church’ presents particular difficulties, as we might expect when we think that even many Christians do not understand it correctly. When people today say ‘church,’ they often mean a particular building, or an organization consisting chiefly of clergy (priests and monks). It is even harder to find a word or combination of words which adequately translates the meaning for people unfamiliar with Christianity. Surprisingly, the Greek word ekklesia, indicating in the classical language ‘an assembly of the people,’ ‘a gathering of citizens,’ has come into Avar and other Dagestani languages in the form kilisa. This, like the word qanch (‘cross’), is an ancient borrowing, presumably from the time before the arrival of Islam, when Dagestan came under the influence of neighboring Christian states. In modern usage, however, this word indicates a place of Christian worship. Thus it is completely inappropriate as a translation of its New Testament ancestor ekklesia.
“We were obliged to look at various words which are closer to the meaning of the Greek. Some of these words are dandel’i (‘meeting’), danderussin (‘assembly’), the Arabic-derived mazhlis (‘meeting, conference’), zhama’at (‘society, community’), ahlu (‘race, people, family, group of people united by a common goal or interest’, as in the Arabic phrase ahlu-l-kitab ‘people of the Book’ or ‘people of the Scriptures’), which describes both Jews and Christians, and ummat (‘people, tribe’). In Islamic theology the phrase ‘Mohammed’s ummat’ means the universal community of Muslims, the Muslim world, in the same way as the Christian world is known as ‘Isa’s ummat.’ None of these descriptions on their own, without explanation, can be used to translate the word ‘Church’ in the New Testament. Thus, after long consideration, we adopted the phrase imanl’urazul ahlu, meaning ‘the community of believers,’ ‘the believing people,’ This translation corresponds closely to New Testament teaching about the Church.
“It is interesting that the same word ahlu with the meaning ‘tribe, community’ has been used by translators for different reasons in the introduction to the Gospel of Luke in order to translate the expression in the original Greek pepleroforemenon en hemin pragmaton (πεπληροφορημένων ἐν ἡμῖν πραγμάτων), which the Russian Synodal translation renders ‘about the events well-known amongst us’ (Luke 1:1). The expression ‘amongst us’ cannot be translated literally into Avar, but has to be rendered ‘among our people’; and here the same term was used as for the word ‘church’, literally ‘among our tribe, community (ahlu).'”
In Kamo “church” is fang-balla (“owners of writing-people”) when referring to the church community and “house of writing-people” when referring to a church building. David Frank explains: “In Kamo culture, Christianity was associated with writing, so Christianity is called balla, which they say means ‘people who write.’ Christianity is balla, and Christians are called fang-balla, which means ‘owners of Christianity.’ That is the term that is used for the church, in the sense of people, rather than a building. In Philemon 1:1b-2a, Paul says he is writing ‘To our friend and fellow worker Philemon, and to the church (fang-balla ‘owners of Christianity) that meet in your house.’ The word fang “owner’ is very productive in the Kamo language. A disciple is an ‘owner of learning,’ an apostle is an ‘owner of sending,’ a believer is an ‘owner of truth,’ a hypocrite is an ‘owner of seeing eyes.’ The expression ‘house of writing-people’ is used in Matthew 16:18, which reads in Kamo, ‘And so I tell you Peter, you are a rock, and on top of this rock foundation I will build my house of writing-people, and never even death will not be able to overcome it.” (See also Peter – rock)
In Bacama there also is a differentiation between the building (vɨnə hiutə: “house of prayer”) and the community (ji-kottə: “followers”) (source: David Frank in this blog post ).
In 16th-century Classical Nahuatl, a transliteration from Spanish (Santa Yglesia or Santa Iglesia) is typically used rather than a translation, making the concept take on a personified meaning. Ottman (p. 169) explains: “The church building, or more precisely the church complex with its associated patio, has a Nahuatl name in common usage — generally teopan, something like ‘god-place,’ in contradistinction to teocalli, ‘god-house,’ applied to a prehispanic temple — but the abstract sense is always Santa Iglesia, a Spanish proper name like ‘Dios’ or ‘Santa María’, and like ‘Santa María’ often called ‘our mother.’ As a personified ‘mother,’ in the European tradition as well as in Nahuatl, She instructs Her children or chastises them; as Bride of Christ, She both longs for Her heavenly rest and bears witness to it, in the ‘always-already’ of eschatological time; as successor to the Synagogue, the blindfolded, broken-sceptred elder sister who accompanies Her in painting and sculpture, She represents the triumphant rule of truth. ‘The Church’ can mean the clerical hierarchy; it can also, or simultaneously, mean the assembly of the faithful. It dispenses grace to its members, living and dead, yet it is also enriched by them, living and dead, existing not only on earth but in purgatory and in heaven.”
In Lisu the building (“church”) is called “house of prayer” (source: Arrington 2020, p. 196) whereas in Highland Totonac the community is referred as “those who gather together” (source: Hermann Aschmann in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 171ff. ), in Huehuetla Tepehua as “those who gather together who have confidence in Christ” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), in Uma as “Christian people” (source: Uma Back Translation), in Kankanaey as “the congregation of God’s people” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation), and in Tagbanwa as “you whom God separated-out as his people because of your being-united/tied-together with Jesus Christ” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).
In American Sign Language, “church” (as in the community of believers) is made up of the combination of the signs for “Jesus-into-heart” (signifying a believer), followed by the sign for “group.” (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Church” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
While British Sign Language also uses a sign that focuses on a group of people believing in Jesus (see here ), another sign that it uses combines the signs for “ringing the (church) bells” and a “group of people.” (Source: Anna Smith)
“Church” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 9:30:
Uma: “So, my words are like this: People who aren’t Israel people, they did not hunt for way to become straight in God’s sight. But there are some of them who became straight in his sight. God made them straight in his sight because of their faith.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “So-then, what do we (dual) say about this? What we (dual) say is that the people not Yahudi, they did not aspire-to/try-to be forgiven and be considered straight in the sight of God. But they are now the ones forgiven and considered by God as straight because of their trust in Isa Almasi.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “What I am trying to say here is: as for the people who are not Jews, even though it never entered their minds that they would be considered righteous by God, there were some of them who by means of their faith, were made righteous just the same;” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “This then is the summary (lit. gathering-together) of these-things that I have said. The Gentiles who were not striving to be-made-righteous in God’s sight, they nevertheless gained the righteousness that is based on their faith in Cristo.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Thus the word is that the people who are not Jews are the people who did not seek as how to get right with God. But they were put right with him because they believed.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Highland Totonac: “Well, what does this mean? It is this, that the outsider people who were not searching how to toe the line to come out free, they are the ones who found it, that is, this coming out free that has its beginning in faith.”
Huehuetla Tepehua: “Well, what shall we say? This lets us know that those who aren’t Israelites found the straight life before God even though they didn’t hunt for it, They found the straight life when they put their confidence in Christ.” (Source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Corinthians 1:6:
Uma: “If we (excl.) get suffering, God uses-it-as-a-road so that we (excl.) can strengthen your hearts, relatives, so that you get goodness [salvation], for you also get sufferings like what we (excl.) get. So, when God strengthens our (excl.) hearts in our (excl.) sufferings, he will also strengthen your hearts, so that you will endure in suffering.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “We (excl.) endure persecution so that we (excl.) can encourage you and so that you will be saved. We (excl.) are/were helped by God so that you will also be included in his help. So then you really persevere enduring trouble like the trouble that we (excl.) are experiencing.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “When God allows us (excl.) to suffer hardship, the reason he allows us to suffer is so that you might be better off and that you might be given eternal life. And in the same way also, when we (excl.) are helped by God, this comes to be also His help for you. And by means of this, He strengthens your faith so that you also may be able to endure difficulty just like we are caused to endure.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Therefore the hardship that we (excl.) experience leads to the strengthening of your minds and your salvation, and the comfort moreover that we (excl.) experience leads to our (excl.) knowing-how to comfort you in our (incl.) difficulties so that you will be able to endure them.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Well since it’s like that, even though we (excl.) are hardshipped because of this responsibility of ours(excl.) of teaching, this is for your benefit and salvation. And because God comforts us, we can also comfort you so that you also will endure the hardships with a good mind/inner-being that you are experiencing, just like us also.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “I am suffering now in order that I can comfort your hearts and your souls will be saved. When God comforts my heart, then you can find out how also your hearts will be comforted and your souls will be saved. Because when you go through the suffering like I have gone through, I want that you endure well all the suffering you must go through.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Highland Totonac: “But if we should be in trouble, it will turn out for your comfort and good, which will be made to become good for you when patiently you bear that same trouble which we also suffer. However, if we are comforted, it also is just that it might result in your comfort and good.” (Source: Herman Aschmann in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 171ff. )
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 10:8:
Uma: “Musa also says like this: ‘The News of the Lord is just close-by, it is on our lips and it is in our heart.’ This [cataphoric] is the news that we announce to all people, the news of faith:” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Because it is said in the holy-book, ‘God’s message is there with you already. You are able to/can speak it and put it away/store it in your livers.’ That means the message we (excl.) proclaimed to you about how God forgives and considers straight the ones who trust Isa Almasi.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For there is another written word of God which tells us that it is very easy for us to believe in the word of God, as for the word of God, it is already here with us, and it’s possible for us to tell it to other people. And as for this word of God about believing in Christ, this is also what we preached.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Because God’s word is near you. It is in your minds and you can tell-about it.’ This word of God is what we (excl.) are preaching concerning faith saying:” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Now it isn’t necessary that you search about this word concerning how people’s sins are cleared. Because the word is written which says: ‘This word now, is not far from you. You are now speaking this word. It is in your hearts now’ it says. This word it is speaking of is the word I tell you to believe in.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Highland Totonac: “But what does it say? It says that God’s word, it is already close by, even so that you can say it and you can store it in your heart. It is this same word that we preach to you about faith.”
Huehuetla Tepehua: “Well, what does the word of God say about the straight life? This is what it says: The word about the straight life isn’t hard to find. Just say it with your mouth and believe it with your heart. That word that I told you when I said that it is necessary for you to have confidence in Christ.” (Source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).
Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).
In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Corinthians 1:7:
Uma: “That’s why our (excl.) hearts are not uncertain about you, we (excl.) know that you will indeed endure in sufferings. For we (excl.) know that you get sufferings the same as we (excl.) do, and God will definitely strengthen your hearts the same as [he strengthens] us (excl.).” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “So then we (excl.) don’t have two-thoughts/doubts about you. We (excl.) know that because you are like us (excl.) suffering trouble, you will also be helped by God as he helped us (excl.).” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And because of this, our trust in you is strengthened because we know that when you are enduring difficulty, just like we endured it, in the same way also you are helped by God, just like He helped us also.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Therefore big is our (excl.) hope in you, for we (excl.) know that if you join-in-experiencing our (excl.) hardships, you will also join-in-experiencing God’s helping us (excl.).” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “That is why our (excl.) hope concerning you is firm, because we (excl.) know that even if you experience also the hardhips that we are enduring, God will also comfort you, just like (he does) us.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “And now I am assured that your faith will come out well. Because I know that when you have suffered like I have, God also will comfort your hearts like he comforts my heart.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Highland Totonac: “Also our hope is in you that it will be so. We know very well that as you share with us in our suffering, in the same way you will share with us in our comfort the same as we do.” (Source: Herman Aschmann in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 171ff. )
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse (“we are perishing” in English translations), Yagua translators selected the inclusive form, including Jesus (the Sierra Totonac and the Tok Pisin translators did as well). The Yagua translators justify this by saying, “Did the disciples think of their Lord as about to perish with them, or were they selfishly only thinking of their own safety, or did they feel He at least would not perish? We translated this one with the inclusive, giving the disciples the benefit of the doubt, since they had waited so long to waken Him, they couldn’t have been too selfish in their thinking.” (Source: Paul Powlison in Notes on Translation with Drills, p. 165ff.)
Different versions of the Bible in Marathi have chosen different solutions for this. The versions by Pandita Ramabai (NT publ. 1912) chose the exclusive form and B. N. Athavle the inclusive form in his translation (publ. 1931). The Bible Society’s version (initially the British, later the Indian BS) in their revision of the 1950s also chose the exclusive form, despite strong protests of the revision committee’s chair H.G. Howard who interpreted Jesus’ strong rebuke of the disciples in succeeding verses due to the fact that the disciples had included him in their worries, which would necessitate the inclusive form. (Source: H.G. Howard in The Bible Translator 1925, p. 25ff. )
