The Greek in Luke 22:33 that is translated as “(I am) ready” in English is translated as “my-heart is-willing” in Indonesian, “it will be my-inner-being” in Tae’, “I-cause-to-be-willing my soul” in Toraja-Sa’dan, or “with one heart” in Tzeltal.
Language-specific Insights
conscience
The Hebrew and Greek that is rendered in English as “conscience” is translated into Aari as “our thoughts speak to us,” in Nuer it is “the knowledge of their heart” (source: Jan Sterk), in Cheke Holo “to know what is straight and what is wrong” (source: Carl Gross), in Chokwe “law of the heart” (source D.B. Long in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 135ff. ), in Toraja-Sa’dan penaa ma’pakilala or “the admonishing within” (source: H. van der Veen in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 21 ff. ), in Yatzachi Zapotec as “head-hearts,” in Tzeltal as “hearts” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), in Enlhet as “innermost,” in Northern Emberá as “thinking” (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1975, p. 201ff. ), and in Elhomwe as “what reminds the heart” or “whole heart” (“since the idea of conscience is something that reminds the heart”) (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext).
In Warao it is translated with obojona, 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.
In Mbudum it is translated as “the heart that does not leap.” (Source: Ervais Fotso Noumsi in Le Sycomore, 16/1, 2022 )
See also conscience seared and perfect conscience / clear conscience, clear conscience towards God and all people, and brothers, up to this day I have lived my life with a clear conscience before God.
confess (sin)
The Hebrew, Ge’ez and Greek that is typically translated as “confess” in English in the context of these verses is translated in a variety of ways. Here are some (back-) translations:
- Highland Puebla Nahuatl, Tzeltal: “say openly”
- San Blas Kuna: “accuse oneself of one’s own evil”
- Kankanaey: “tell the truth about one’s sins”
- Huastec: “to take aim at one’s sin” (“an idiom which is derived from the action of a hunter taking aim at a bird or animal”) (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
- Tabasco Chontal: “say, It is true, I’ve done evil” (source: Larson 1998, p. 204)
- Central Pame: “pull out the heart” (“so that it may be clearly seen — not just by men, but by God”) (source: Nida 1952, p. 155)
- Shipibo-Conibo: “say, It is true I have sinned” (source: Nida 1964, p. 228)
- Obolo: itutumu ijo isibi: “speak out sin” (source: Enene Enene).
- Tagbanwa: “testify that one would now drop/give-up sin” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Kutu: “speak sin” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
See also confessing their sins.
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.)
apostle, apostles
The Greek term that means “one who is sent off” in its singular form and is usually transliterated as “apostle(s)” in English is (back-) translated in the following ways:
- Eastern Highland Otomi, Tzeltal, Western Kanjobal, Western Highland Purepecha, Navajo (Dinė), Copainalá Zoque, Chol, Balanta-Kentohe: “the sent ones”
- Kituba, Pamona, Mezquital Otomi, Central Pame: “messengers”
- Ngäbere: “word carriers”
- Southern Subanen: “those commanded to carry the message”
- San Blas Kuna: “witnesses to God” (meaning “those who speak up and out for God” (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida, except Balanta-Kentohe: Rob Koops)
- Mairasi: sasiri atatuemnev nesovnaa or “sent witnesses” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
- Ekari: “one-who-goes-and-tells-for-someone” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
- Khmer: Christtout (“messenger representing Christ”) or when Jesus addresses them: Tout robas Preah Ang (“his messengers-representatives”) (source: Joseph Hong in The Bible Translator 1996, p. 233ff. )
- Pwo Karen: “eyeballs” (i.e., “right-hand men”) (source: David Clark)
- Tzeltal, Coatlán Mixe: “spreader-of-words”
- Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “one who goes about preaching the good word” (source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
- Noongar: Moorta Ngany Waangki-Koorl or “People I (Jesus) Send” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
- Ayutla Mixtec: “those who bore the word of God’s mouth”
- Chichimeca-Jonaz: “elders messengers” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
- Yakan: “commissioned ones” (source: Yakan Back Translation) — note that Scot McKnight in the English The Second Testament (publ. 2023) translates it as commissioners
- Tenango Otomi: “(Jesus’) representatives” (source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
- Tsamakko: “ones-who-work-for-Christ” (source: Chris Pluger)
Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as commissioner.
In American Sign Language it is translated with a combination of the signs for “following” plus the sign for “authority” to differentiate it from disciple. (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“apostles” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
In Hungarian Sign Language it is translated with a sign that shows the shape of the beard, based on the common and general visual representation of the apostles. This sign differs from the sign for a beard as used in colloquial language. The sign of the apostle does not originate from a specific biblical verse, but rather from the cultural context and later ecclesiastical tradition. “Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.” Lev 19:27. In the biblical era, wearing a beard was the default social and religious norm among Jewish men. The Apostle Peter is generally depicted with a short, curly, white beard. The Apostle Paul appears with a longer, pointed beard. The Apostle John is an exception, as he was the youngest disciple. In iconography, he is often the only one painted without a beard (as a youth) to emphasize his purity and age (see for instance at Transfiguration (icon)). (Source: Jenjelvi Biblia and HSL Bible Translation Group)
“Apostle” in Hungarian Sign Language (source )
Learn more on Bible Odyssey: The Apostles in Christian Art .
generation
The Greek that is translated into English as “(this) generation” is translated as
- “the people now” in Chol
- “those who are in space now” in Tzeltal (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
- “you people” in Tlahuitoltepec Mixe (source: Robert Bascom)
- “(people of one) layer” in Ekari, Toraja-Sa’dan, Batak Toba
- “one storey of growing” (using a term also denoting a storey or floor of a building) in Highland Totonac (source for this and one above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
See also generations and all generations.
deny oneself
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:
- Tetelcingo Nahuatl: “not accept self”
- Amganad Ifugao and South Bolivian Quechua: “forget self”
- North Alaskan Inupiatun: “have no regard for oneself”
- Toraja-Sa’dan: “not bother oneself about oneself”
- Huautla Mazatec: “cover up oneself”
- San Miguel El Grande Mixtec: “not worship oneself”
- Tzeltal: “stop doing what one’s own heart wants”
- Yaka: “let go that which he wants to do oneself”
- Cashibo-Cacataibo: “say, I will not do just what I want to do”
- Tzotzil: “say, I do not serve for anything” (in the sense of having no personal value)
- Sapo: “not do what is passing through one’s mind”
- Central Mazahua: “not take constant thought for oneself”
- Tabasco Chontal: “quit what one wants”
- Highland Totonac: “undo one’s own way of thinking”
- Dan: “put one’s own things down”
- Kekchí: “despise oneself”
- Kituba: “refuse oneself”
- Javanese: “turn one’s back on oneself”
- Southern Bobo Madaré: “disobey oneself” (in the sense of denying one’s own wishes)
- Huastec: “leave oneself at the side”
- Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “leave one’s own way”
- Loma: “take one’s mind out of oneself completely”
- Panao Huánuco Quechua: “say, I do not live for myself”
- Mitla Zapotec: “say No to oneself” (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
- Copainalá Zoque: “forgetting self”
- Huallaga Huánuco Quechua: “declare, I do not live for myself” (source: Nida 1952, p. 154)
- Galela: “put self down” (source: Howard Shelden in Kroneman 2004, p. 501)
- Mairasi: “shuffle out of one’s vision (=forget) everything which is one’s own” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
- Q’anjob’al: “do not belong to oneself any longer” (source: Newberry and Kittie Cox in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. )
- Achi: “don’t do only what one wants to do”
- Chipaya: “leave one’s own way of living” (source for this and above: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
council
The Greek that is translated as “council” or “Council” in English is (back-) translated in a variety of ways:
- Tzeltal: “officials who gather together”
- Copainalá Zoque: “those who think together”
- Amaganad Ifugao: “those who take charge of the affairs” (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
- Ekari: “place for speech-making/discussion”
- Tae’: “great assembly”
- Sranan Tongo, Javanese: “(high) tribunal”
- Marathi: “assembly of their Judgement-court” (source for this and three above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
- Lalana Chinantec: “the people who judge”
- Chichimeca-Jonaz: “the elders who give them advice”
- Morelos Nahuatl: “junta”
- Sierra de Juárez Zapotec: “assembly of the rulers of the Israelites”
- Isthmus Mixe: “church judges”
- San Mateo del Mar Huave: “big meeting” (source for this and five above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)