The Greek and Hebrew that is translated into English as “moth(s)” was translated as “cockroach(es)” in Gola “since moths are not seen as destroying things but cockroaches are” (source: Don Slager). The same translation was chosen for Uripiv (source: Ross McKerras).
In Yakan it is translated as “termites” (source: Yakan Back Translation) and in Tagbanwa as “chewing-insects” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).
There is general consensus that ‘ash refers to a moth, and sas to its larva stage in the Hebrew Bible, and that sēs in the New Testament also refers to a moth. The moth referred to is always in contexts of destroyed or damaged clothing, so the reference is obviously to a moth that lays its eggs on human clothing. This limits the type of moth to one of the clothes moths of the Tineidae family, probably Tineola biselliella. Although the damage is blamed on the moth in the Bible, it is actually its larvae that cause the damage. It is possible that both moth and larva are meant when ‘ash is used.
Clothes moths are smallish brown or gray moths that lay eggs in clothing or other forms of cloth. The eggs hatch into very small caterpillars, which almost immediately begin to feed on the fibers. They make small silken cocoons from which only the heads protrude, and later finally emerge as moths.
Moths are symbols of decay, ruin, and slow destruction.
The Greek that is translated in English as “Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” or similar is translated in Uma with an existing figure of speech: “Why do we stare at the sleep in another’s eye, yet the piece of wood that is in our own eye we don’t know it’s there!” (Source: Kroneman 2004, p. 501)
In Una, it had to be translated with a more explicit translation because “a more literal and shorter version of this verse had led to major misunderstanding or zero understanding.” It’s back-translation says: “You (pl.) are doing very evil things, but you think, ‘We do not do evil things’. But, regarding other people who do not do very evil things, you think, ‘They are doing evil things, for shame’. As for the very big thorn that broke off and entered your eyes, you think, ‘There is no big thorn that entered my eye’, but with regard to the very small piece of wood dust that might have entered someone else’s eye, why would you say, ‘A piece of wood dust has entered his eye?’ That is not appropriate.” (Source: Dick Kronemann)
In Uripiv it is translated as “How is it you see the fowl dropping stuck on the bottom of your brother’s foot, but you can’t see the cow-pat you have stood on? … You could stand on his foot by mistake and make it dirtier!” (Ross McKerras remarked about this translation: “Our village father laughed when he heard this, which was the right reaction.”)
In Dan, “in one’s eye” can be very offensive in some dialects, so it was changed to “speck on your brother’s face” and “log on your own face.” (Source: Don Slager)
In Russian, this verse is also widely-used as an idiom in the wording of the Russian Synodal Bible (publ. 1876). (Source: Reznikov 2020, p. 46)
Other back-translations include:
Noongar: “Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but you do not see the log in your own eye?” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Yakan: “You who puts down his companion,’ said Isa, ‘why do you notice a speck (lit. of sawdust) in the eye of your companion but you, the tree trunk in your own eye you don’t notice.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And again Jesus spoke, ‘You who are always rebuking your companions, why do you rebuke the sin of your companion which is just like a speck that got into his eye. But you — you have a sin which is as big as a log, which has blinded your eye, and you pay no attention to it.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “‘Why do you (sing.) notice the small bit-of-eye-discharge (as when waking up) in the eye of your (sing.) fellow, and you (sing.) don’t notice the large bit-of-eye-discharge in your (sing.) eye?” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “I don’t know why, when someone else has a foreign-body-in-the-eye which is only dust, that is what you (sing.) keep looking for. But when your own foreign-body-in-the-eye is wedged across your eye (implies too big to go in), you just leave it alone.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
The Greek that is translated in English as “fellowship” or “communion” is translated in Huba as daɓǝkǝr: “joining heads.” (Source: David Frank in this blog post )
Other translations include:
Lalana Chinantec: “they were very happy since they were with their brothers”
Eastern Highland Otomi: “their hearts were happy because they all thought alike” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
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:
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)
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)
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 EnglishThe 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)
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?'”
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)
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 7:14Contemporary English Version has “A signal has been blown on the trumpet,” and the GermanContemporary 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)
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).
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)
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)
