Language-specific Insights

son of encouragement

The Greek in Acts 4:36 that is translated as “son of encouragement” in English is translated as

  • “one who makes people receive a helpful word” in Ojitlán Chinantec
  • “the person who makes our hearts be at peace” in Lalana Chinantec
  • “he will encourage us” in Isthmus Mixe
  • “one who enlarges (encourages) hearts” in Chichimeca-Jonaz
  • “one who comforts” in San Mateo del Mar Huave
  • “one who consoles people” in Tzotzil
  • “gives gladness to those who weep” in Desano (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • “The man who strengthens people’s interiors” in Bariai (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • “Child Who Turns Livers Good” in Mairasi (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • “owner of encouraging heart” in Hausa (source: Hausa Common Language Bible Back Translation)

See also Barnabas and encourage / comfort.

deep sleep

The Hebrew phrase that is rendered as “deep sleep” in English versions is translated as “sleep like a trance” in Chenalhó Tzotzil (source: Robert Bascom) and as “die in sleep” in Bariai (source: Bariai Back Translation).

afraid (cowardly)

The Greek that is translated as “afraid” or “cowardly” in English is translated as “(your) heart trembles” (Tzeltal), “shiver in your liver” (Uduk), or “to have such little hearts” (Tzotzil).

See also terrified / afraid and see Seat of the Mind for traditional views of “ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling.”

give thanks

The Greek that is translated as “give thanks” in English is Tzotzil as “saying to God: Because of you.” (Source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)

get behind me Satan

The Greek that is translated as “get behind me, Satan” or similar in English is translated in Highland Oaxaca Chontal as “Go away! Your word is like the word of Satan” and in Tzotzil as “Get away from me, you who are acting like Satan.” (Source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)

See also get behind me.

the wages of sin is death

The Greek in Romans 6:23 that is translated in English as “(for) the wages of sin is death” or similar had to be translated into Tzotzil much more explicitly as “Because the one who works for sin, he will be paid for his work. The payment of his work will be that he will be lost eternally.” (Source: Callow 1972, p. 84)

wash feet

David tells Uriah (in English translations in 2 Samuel 11:8) to “go down to his house and wash his feet.” This refers to stay the night, and in particular sleep with his wife (see v. 11). The Chamula Tzotzil translated it as “sweep out your heart,” meaning the same thing as “make yourself at home.”

Dan translators translated it as “to go home and relax.”

with you/whom I am well pleased

The Greek that is translated as “with you (or: whom) I am well pleased” in English is often translated in other languages with figurative expressions

  • “you are the heart of my eye” (Huastec)
  • “you arrive at my gall” (with the gall being the seat of the emotions and intelligence) (Mossi)
  • “I see you very well” (Tzotzil)
  • “my bowels are sweet with you” (Shilluk) (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • “you pull at my heart” (Central Pame)
  • “my thoughts are arranged” (Mashco Piro)
  • “my heart rests in you” (Wè Southern) (source for this and two above: Nida 1952, p. 127).

In Nepali translations, Jesus is referred to in this expression by God the Father with the medium honorific third person pronoun yinī (यिनी) whereas Jesus addresses God the Father with the high honorific pronoun tapā’ī (तपाई) (see for instance John 17), “so that the subordination of Jesus to God the Father is rightly maintained in Nepali.” (Source: Chitra Chhetri in The Bible Translator 2009, p. 73ff. )