the Greek in Luke 15:5 that is translated as “lays it on his shoulders” in English is translated in Yakan as “take it in his arms” (source: Yakan Back Translation), in Western Bukidnon Manobo as “carries him in his arms” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation), and in Tagbanwa as “carries it round his neck” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).
Language-specific Insights
complete verse (Mark 2:8)
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 2:8:
- Uma: “Actually Yesus knew what was in their thoughts. That is why he said: ‘Why are your thoughts like that?” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “Immediately Isa knew what they were thinking and he said to them, ‘Why are you questioning like that in your liver?” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Then Jesus understood that that was what was in their minds, and he said to them, ‘Why are you thinking like that?” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “But Jesus knew nevertheless that that was in their minds, and he said, ‘Why are you thinking that?” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “But Jesus knew that which was in their minds. That’s why he said, ‘Why is like that in your minds?)” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Kim text for oral translation: “What is the easiest thing; it is that of saying to the paralysed: ‘Your sins have been forgiven’ or of saying ‘Get up, take your bed, go your going (go away)’?” (Source: Bayamy Tchande Awakde in The Bible Translator 2025, p. 23ff.)
- English translation by Michael Pakaluk (2019): “So Jesus — who knows immediately in his spirit that this is how they are thinking about themselves — says to them: ‘Why are you thinking those things?'”
horn
The musical instrument that is most often translated as “(ram’s) horn” or “trumpet” in English is translated in the following ways:
- Yakan: tabuli’ (big sea shell used to give signals) (source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Mairasi / Bariai: “Triton shell trumpet” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
- German Luther translation: Posaune, today: “trombone,” originally with the meaning of a wind instrument made from cow horn (from Latin bucina [bovi- / “cow” + the root of cano / “sing”]. Incidentally, bucina is also used in the Latin Vulgate translation). By the time of Luther’s translation it referred to the natural trumpet or a fanfare trumpet (see also trumpet). Once the meaning morphed to “trombone” in the 19th century, trombone ensembles started to play a central role in Protestant German churches and do so to the present day. In 2016, “Posaunenchöre” became added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list . (Note that Exodus 19:13 is the only exception in the Luther Bible. From the 1956 revision on, Widderhorn or “ram’s horn” is used here) (source: Zetzsche)
In the UBS Helps for Translators‘ Human-made Things in the Bible (original title: The Works of Their Hands: Man-made Things in the Bible) it says the following:
Description: The horn was a wind instrument made from the horn of an animal, usually a male sheep.
Usage: The animal horn was softened so that it could be shaped. The point of the horn was cut off to leave a small opening through which the user blew. The vibration of the lips produced the sound.
The ram’s horn served two general purposes:
1. It was blown in certain religious contexts, not as musical accompaniment to worship but as a signal for important events. Some of these events were the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, the Day of Atonement, the bringing of the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, and the coronation of kings.
2. It also served as a signal or alarm when war was approaching. Such references are particularly common in the prophetic books, when the prophets are calling the people to repent (Hosea 5:8; 8:1; Joel 2:1; 2:15; Amos 3:6).
Translation: In many passages the purpose of the ram’s horn called shofar in Hebrew was to sound an alarm. This will be easy to express in those cultures where the horns of animals are used as musical instruments to give signals to large groups of people. In other cultures it may be possible to find another instrument that is used for an equivalent purpose. In some languages, for example, instruments such as bells or drums are the warnings for war. Some translations have transliterated the word shofar. Unless the instrument is well known, such a borrowing should normally be accompanied by a footnote or a glossary entry.
In some passages it will be necessary to expand the translation in order to indicate that the blowing of the ram’s horn was not just for music; for example, in Ezekiel 7:14 Contemporary English Version has “A signal has been blown on the trumpet,” and the German Contemporary English Version says “An alarm is sounded” [elsewhere, the same German version refers to the horns as Kriegshörner or “war horns.”]
Man blowing ram’s horn (source: Knowles, revised by Bass (c) British and Foreign Bible Society 1994)
Quoted with permission.
flute
The musical instrument that is most often translated as “flute” or “pipe” in English is more or less universally used, so it’s typically translated directly with the applicable term.
Since its cultural significance is sometimes different it might be translated with a different instruments is some cases (see also below). When in Matthew 11:17 and Luke 7:32 the flute is mentioned as an instrument played at a wedding, the Chichewa (interconfessional translation, 1999) translates it as “we played the wedding drum for you” (source: Wendland 1987, p. 74), the Yakan and Kankanaey translations use “gongs” (source: Yakan and Kankanaey Back Translations), in Western Bukidnon Manobo “drumming” is used (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation), and in Tagbanwa “stringed-instruments” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).
Or in Jeremiah 48:36 where the flute is used for mourning, Bassa uses “funeral drum” (source: Newman / Stine) or Hiligaynon, while using “flute,” makes the meaning explicit: “like a lonely music of a flute for the dead” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation).
In the UBS Helps for Translators‘ Human-made Things in the Bible (original title: The Works of Their Hands: Man-made Things in the Bible) it says the following:
Description: The flute was a wind instrument consisting of a tube with a series of finger holes used to alter the tone. Some flutes were made of reed and could take several forms: the tube could be a cylinder or it could be more in the shape of a cone. There were instruments made of a single tube, while others had two tubes side by side. Often ancient double flutes or double pipes were arranged in a V-shape, with two separate reeds. One of these pipes had several holes while the other had only one hole and acted as a kind of drone, providing an unchanging tone to accompany the varying tones coming from the first pipe. Some pipes or flutes were made of other materials, such as wood, ivory, bone, or metal.
Usage: Sound was produced with the flute by blowing across an opening leading into a hole running inside the length of the instrument; in some cases the opening hole was in the end of the instrument while in others this hole was in the side of the instrument toward one end. With the reed pipe, on the other hand, a column of air was set in motion by blowing over a reed device, causing it to vibrate.
Translation: If there is no wind instrument available to translate “flute,” a different kind of wind instrument may be used.
The Hebrew word ‘ugav is usually understood to refer to a wind instrument. It is possible, however, that it is a generic term for “instrument” or even refers to a particular stringed instrument. In Job 21:12 and Job 30:31 it is identified as an instrument that expressed joy and contentment.
Psalms 5:1: The Hebrew word nchiloth appears only here in the Old Testament, and its meaning is uncertain. It may mean “wind instruments” in general or “flutes” in particular. Extra-biblical evidence indicates that it may have been an instrument played for funeral laments.
Matthew 9:23: Here New Revised Standard Version, updated edition has “flute players”: According to Jewish tradition, even the poorest people were expected to have two flute players and a wailing woman for a funeral. In order to clarify the role of the flute players Good News Translation adds “for the funeral.” This information was immediately evident to a Jewish reader who was familiar with the funeral customs, but it will not be clear to other readers. Many cultures are familiar with the flute or other instruments that are played by blowing through a wooden tube. If no such instrument exists, then translators can say “those who played musical instruments for a funeral” or, as in Good News Translation, “musicians for the funeral.” See also flute players.
Men playing flutes (source: Louise Bass (c) British and Foreign Bible Society 1994)
Quoted with permission.
cymbals
The musical instrument that is most often translated as “cymbals” in English is translated in the following ways:
- Laarim: “jingles” (source: Laarim Back Translation)
- Uma: “drum” (source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “tin” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “bamboo clapper” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “percussion-instrument” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Bariai: “rattling decoration” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
- Kupsabiny: “drum sticks” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
- Paicî: “cooking pot lid” (in 1 Cor. 13:1) (Source: Ian Flaws)
- Natügu: “smacking things” and “banging things” (in Psalm 150:5) (source: Brenda Boerger in Open Theology 2016, p. 179ff. )
In the UBS Helps for Translators‘ Human-made Things in the Bible (original title: The Works of Their Hands: Man-made Things in the Bible) it says the following:
Description: Cymbals were a percussion instrument consisting of two metal discs that were struck together in order to make a shrill, clashing sound. There were two types of cymbals: (1) flat metal plates that were struck together, and (2) metal cones, one of which was brought down on top of the other, on the open end.
Translation: The equivalent of “cymbal” in many languages is a phrase such as “loud metal.”
Cymbals (source: Susan Mitford (c) British and Foreign Bible Society 1986)
Quoted with permission.
See also clanging cymbal.
bless(ed)
The Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Aramaic that is translated into English as “(to) bless” or “blessed” is translated into a wide variety of possibilities.
The Hebrew term barak (and the Aramaic term berak) also (and originally) means “kneel” (a meaning which the word has retained — see Gen. 24:11) and can be used for God blessing people (or things), people blessing each other, or people blessing God. While English Bible translators have not seen a stumbling block in always using the same term (“bless” in its various forms), other languages need to make distinctions (see below).
In Bari, spoken in South Sudan, the connection between blessing and knees/legs is still apparent. For Genesis 30:30 (in English: “the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned”), Bari uses a common expression that says (much like the Hebrew), ‘… blessed you to my feet.'” (Source: P. Guillebaud in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 189ff. .)
Other examples for the translation of “bless” when God is the one who blesses include (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):
- “think well of” (San Blas Kuna)
- “speak good to” (Amganad Ifugao)
- “make happy” (Pohnpeian)
- “cause-to-live-as-a-chief” (Zulu)
- “sprinkle with a propitious (lit. cool) face” (a poetic expression occurring in the priests’ language) (Toraja Sa’dan) (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
- “give good things” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
- “ask good” (Yakan) (source: Yakan Back Translation)
- “praise, say good things” (Central Yupik) (source: Robert Bascom)
- “greatly love” (Candoshi-Shapra) (source: John C. Tuggy)
- “showing a good heart” (Kutu) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
- “good luck — have — good fortune — have” (verbatim) ꓶꓼ ꓙꓳ ꓫꓱꓹ ꓙꓳ — ɯa dzho shes zho (Lisu). This construction follows a traditional four-couplet construct in oral Lisu poetry that is usually in the form ABAC or ABCB. (Source: Arrington 2020, p. 58)
- wodala — denoting a person who is considered fortunate because he/she has something good that the majority of people do not have. It also acknowledges someone as a causative agent behind “being blessed.” (Chichewa) (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
In Tagbanwa a phrase is used for both the blessing done by people and God that back-translates to “caused to be pierced by words causing grace/favor” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation) and in Benabena a term denoted “good spell” or “good magic” (source: Renck 1990, p. 112).
Ixcatlán Mazatec had to select a separate term when relating “to people ‘blessing’ God” (or things of God): “praise(d)” or “give thanks for” (in 1 Cor. 10:16) (“as it is humans doing the ‘blessing’ and people do not bless the things of God or God himself the way God blesses people” — source: Robert Bascom). Eastern Bru and Kui also use “praise” for this a God-directed blessing (source: Bru back translation and Helen Evans in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) and Uma uses “appropriate/worthy to be worshipped” (source: Uma back translation).
When related to someone who is blessing someone else, it is translated into Tsou as “speak good hopes for.” In Waiwai it is translated as “may God be good and kind to you now.” (Sources: Peng Kuo-Wei for Tsou and Robert Hawkins in The Bible Translator 1962, pp. 164ff. for Waiwai.)
Some languages associate an expression that originally means “spitting” or “saliva” with blessing. The Bantu language Koonzime, for instance, uses that expression for “blessing” in their translation coming from either God or man. Traditionally, the term was used in an application of blessing by an aged superior upon a younger inferior, often in relation to a desire for fertility, or in a ritualistic, but not actually performed spitting past the back of the hand. The spitting of saliva has the effect of giving that person “tenderness of face,” which can be translated as “blessedness.” (Source: Keith Beavon)
Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the Danish Bibelen 2020, comments on the translation of this term: “As for ‘blessing’, in the end we in most instances actually kept the word, after initially preferring the expression ‘giving life strength’. The backlash against dropping the word blessing was too hard. But we would often add a few words to help the reader understand what the word means in a given context — people often understand it to refer more to a spiritual connection with God, but in the Hebrew texts, it usually has to do with material things or good health or many children. So when e.g. in Isaiah 19:25 the Hebrew text says ‘God bless them’, we say ‘God bless them’ and we add: ‘and give them strength’. ‘And give them strength’ is not found in the overt Hebrew text, but we are again making explicit what we believe is the meaning so as to avoid misunderstanding.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )
See also bless (food and drink), blessed (Christ in Mark 11:9), and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse.
See also “Blessed by ‘The Blessing’ in the World’s Indigenous Languages” and Multilingual version of “The Blessing” based on Numbers 6:24-26 .
complete verse (Revelation 11:4)
Following are a number of back-translations of Revelation 11:4:
- Uma: “Those two witnesses are compared to two olive trees and two lampstands [lit., lamp feet] that stand in front of God, the Lord of the whole world.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “Those two witnesses, they are called two olive trees and two lamps placed before God, the ruler of the world.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And those two preacher people, they are the two people prophesied long ago who are like trees and two lamps which are placed before the Lord of all the earth.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “These two witnesses, these are the ones who were illustrated long ago by two olive (loan olivo) trees and the two places-for-putting lights which are located before God who is Lord of people on the earth.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “There were two olibo trees mentioned by a prophet in the past. Well, what he was meaning is these two testifiers. And another illustration of them is two lamp stands standing in the presence of God, he who controls the whole world.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “These two persons are represented by the two trees of olives. And they are also represented by the two candle holders which are in the sight of God, he who rules the earth.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
- German (New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999)): “These two witnesses were announced by the prophet Zechariah with the image of the two olive trees and the two lamp stands placed before God.”
complete verse (Romans 9:1)
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 9:1:
- Uma: “What I am saying here I say with my whole heart. I am not lying, for I am Kristus’ portion. And the Holy Spirit bears-witness that these words of mine are true. No kidding the sadness of my heart! I feel so sad and my heart continually hurts, because my fellow Jews, they refuse to believe in Yesus.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “There is something else I want to say to you (pl.) and this is really true. I do not lie because I belong to Isa Almasi. I really know in my thinking/mind that this which I am about/going to say is true and this is known also by the Holy Spirit, the one who rules inside my thinking/mind.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “There’s something I want to say to you and this is not a lie, because I’m a disciple of Christ. And I know also that this is not a lie because the one who guides my thinking is the Holy Spirit.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “This that I tell you is true, it’s not a lie, because I have become-one-with Cristo. Even my conscience which is directed by the Holy Spirit, it confirms that I am not lying (lit. it is not my lie).” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “I believe in Christ, therefore this word I want to tell you is not a lie. The Holy Spirit himself tells me in my mind that this word I tell you is true.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)