Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 24:37:
Noongar: “They were very terrified, thinking they were seeing a ghost.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “They were terrified, because they thought they were seeing a ghost.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “They were startled and afraid for they thought-mistakenly that they were seeing a ghost.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And they were very much afraid because they thought it was just the soul of Jesus that appeared to them.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “But they were startled and their fear was excessive, because they thought it was a ghost they were seeing.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “But their insides quaked (lit. livers turned over) anyway and they were scared, for they thought-mistakenly that what they were seeing was the spirit of someone who had died.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 6:23:
Uma: “But if our (incl.) eye is cloudy, it’s like our (incl.) sight is dark. So, if the Lord enlightens our (incl.) heart, and we (incl.) make it dark again, it will really be pitch dark. [lit., no kidding its pitch darkness.]” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “But if our (dual) seeing is clouded, that means our (dual) works are bad, our (dual) whole body is like dark. If we (dual) say/think that our (dual) body is light but in fact/surprise it is dark, then it is really very dark.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But if we are blind, which is to say, if we are wicked, it’s as if we are benighted. And if we are blinded because of our wickedness, then our way is dark indeed.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “But if your (sing.) sight/viewpoint is bad, it is as if your (sing.) mind is extremely dark. So if you (sing.) say/think that your (sing.) mind is lighted but unexpectedly it is dark, surely it is extremely dark!'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “But if your eye has a defect, of course in your sight all is darkened/unclear. Well this which I am saying that the eye is like the lamp of the body, what is being alluded to here is your mind/inner-being. For as long as it’s your own will and good-situation here in the world that you are giving priority to, alas, it’s really very darkened/unclear in your mind/inner-being.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “But if you don’t open your understanding, then you do not truly know what is the good by which you must live. Then how bad is the darkness where you walk (live), because your thoughts are not opened for you to know the good.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Martu Wangka: “If you think to do bad things, then you will be bad and you will be ignorant of the Father.” (Source: Carl Gross)
German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) verses 22 and 23: “The eye is light for the whole body. When the eye is clear, the whole body is brightly illuminated; when it is dim, the body is dark. If your own light does not dispel the darkness within you, how great is the darkness outside!”
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 16:10:
Uma: “When Timotius arrives, I hope/expect you will receive him well, so that he won’t be nervous with you, for our (excl.) work is the same that we (excl.) do for the Lord.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “When Timoteo comes there, really (amey-amey) serve/look after him, because he also works for God like I.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “When Timothy arrives there to you, take good care of him because he is also a servant of the Lord like I am.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “When Timoteo arrives there (near addressee), show-him-proper -hospitality, because he is working for the Lord Jesus just like I am.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Whenever Timoteo arrives there welcome/treat him well, so that he won’t feel nervous inside. Because, as for him, he is a worker of the Lord the same as I am.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “If Timothy arrives to where you live, welcome him respectfully because he also does the work of the Lord like I do.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations of John 1:18:
Aguaruna: “Truly God is one who is not seen, but his Son, his beloved, the only one, that one is the one who causes us to know his Father.”
Yatzachi Zapotec: “No one has ever yet seen God. His only Son whom God loves has taught mankind what God is like.”
Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “The one who is the only Son of God since they love one another, that one has shown us how God is.”
Huehuetla Tepehua: “God truly loved his only Son. He is the one who showed how God is. “
Ojitlán Chinantec: “Very much his Father loved that only Son. That Son has pointed out God the Father.”
Chol: “. . . who is close to the Father’s heart, this is the one who has caused the Father to become known.” (Source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
Uma: “There is no-one who has seen God. But his Only Child, Who lives always at his side, He is the one who explains / makes-clear God to us.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Nobody has seen God, but God is made known to mankind by his only Son, for he is really God and he is one with his Father. So-then there were people who went to Yahiya while he was bathing people on the other side of the river Jordan at the village Betani.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “No human being has ever seen God, however his only son, he has caused us to know his father God, because they are always companions.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “No one has-been-able-to-see God, but his only Child who is his Father’s companion continually, it is he who has made-him-known.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Really from long ago, there’s no one at all who has seen God the Father. But now it’s like we have seen him now, because concerning this God the Father has been made clear to us by this one-and-only Son of his whom he holds-very-dear.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Never has anyone seen God. The only Son of God who lives where the Father lives has told us about God.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “No person whosoever[intensifier] has seen God the Father. But he was-made-known to us (incl.) by the one of a kind God who is always a companion with the Father.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Mairasi: “No person at all has seen Great Above One, but His Only Child. He lives in equality with His Father and He Himself lives right with Him in the palm of His Hand. He Himself is the One Who reveals His Father’s Name and glory to us. ” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)
Bariai: “Previously and since, no one saw God, yet that only-one God, who was living at his Father’s side, his mouth followed concerning to us (incl.) about God.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
Kupsabiny: “There is no person who has seen God, but this child who derives from God is the one who has seen him. He was together with his Father and he revealed to us how God is.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 7:22:
Uma: “On the Kiama Day many people will say to me: ‘Lord! Lord! Don’t you (sing.) know, we are the ones who announced the Word of God in your (sing.) name? And it was in your (sing.) name that we caused-to-go-out demons. And many also were the miracles that we did with your (sing.) name, Lord.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “When the day for the judgment of mankind has come/is reached, many people will say to me, ‘You are our (excl.) Leader/Lord because we have spread God’s word by the power of your name, and we have driven out demons and we have done many miracles by the power of your name.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “On that day in the future many will want me to pity them saying, ‘Oh Lord, through your power we prophesied, and we cured those afflicted with demons, and many are the miracles that we did.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “When the day that God will judge the people arrives, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, we (excl.) were prophesying as your (sing.) representatives, we (excl.) also used your (sing.) name to remove evil-spirits and to do many miracles!'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Really, at the day of judging, many will say to me, ‘Lord, let us (excl.) enter because isn’t it so that we taught about you, and your name is what we mentioned when we were driving out evil-spirits and when we were doing amazing-things?'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “When the day arrives for people to be judged, many people will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord. We also have told the people about you. And with your name we have cured people who walked with evil spirits. With your name we have done many miracles,’ they will say to me.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The cardinal directions “east” and “west” are easy to translate into Maan here since the language uses “where the sun comes up” and “where the sun goes down.” For “north” the translator had “facing toward the sun rising to the left,” and for “south” she had “facing toward the sun rising to the right.” So the listener had to think hard before knowing what direction was in view when translating “to the north and south, to the east and west.” So, in case all four directions are mentioned, it was shortened by saying simply “all directions.” Manya uses a similar nomenclature for the cardinal directions. (Source: Don Slager)
Likewise, Yakan has “from the four corners of the earth” (source: Yakan back-translation) or Western Bukidnon Manobo “from the four directions here on the earth” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo back-translation).
Kankanaey is “from the coming-out and the going-away of the sun and the north and the south” (source: Kankanaey back-translation), Northern Emberá “from where the sun comes up, from where it falls, from the looking [left] hand, from the real [right] hand” (source: Charles Mortensen), Amele “from the direction of the sun going up, from the direction of the sun going down, from the north and from the south” (source: John Roberts), Ejamat “look up to see the side where the sun comes from, and the side where it sets, and look on your right side, and on your left” (source: David Frank in this blog post ).
In Lamba, only umutulesuŵa, “where the sun rises” and imbonsi, “where the sun sets” were available as cardinal directions that were not tied to the local area of language speakers (“north” is kumausi — “to the Aushi country” — and “south” kumalenje — “to the Lenje country”). So “north” and “south” were introduced as loanwords, nofu and saufu respectively. The whole phrase is kunofu nakusaufu nakumutulesuŵa nakumbonsi. (Source C. M. Doke in The Bible Translator 1958, p. 57ff. )
“West” is translated in Tzeltal as “where the sun pours-out” and in Kele as “down-river” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel).
In Morelos Nahuatl, “north” is translated as “from above” and “south” as “from below.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
In Matumbi cardinal directions are defined as in relation to another place. “East” for instance typically is “toward the beach” since the coast is in the eastern direction in Matumbi-speaking areas. “North” and “south” can be defined as above or below another place. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
The Hebrew text that gives instructions where to place items in the tabernacle with the help of cardinal directions (north and south) had to be approached in the Bambam translation specific to spacial concepts of that culture.
Phil Campbell explains: “There are no words in Bambam for north and south. In Exodus 26:35, God instructs that the table is to be placed on the north side and the lamp on the south side inside the tabernacle. The team wants to use right and left to tell where the lamp and table are located. In many languages we would say that the table is on the right and the lampstand is on the left based on the view of someone entering the tabernacle. However, that is not how Bambam people view it. They view the placement of things and rooms in a building according to the orientation of someone standing inside the building facing the front of the building. So that means the table is on the left side and the lampstand is on the right side.”
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 5:4:
Uma: “And if we become able to endure, we can defeat temptation, to-the-point-that God likes our behavior. And if we know that God likes our behavior, our hope in God gets stronger-and-stronger.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “If/when we (incl.) endure our (incl.) hardships, God is pleased with us (incl.). And if/when we (incl.) know that God is pleased with us we (incl.) are assured that there is (something) good that we (incl.) expect/hope-for from God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And if we are able to endure, this pleases God; and when we know that God is pleased with our behavior, then it is absolutely true that there is something good which we can expect.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “And when we have endured hardship, it is confirmed that our faith is steady/persevering. And if our faith is persevering, we expect that God’s plan for us will be fulfilled.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “When we endure all the suffering we go through then God looks well upon us. When God has looked well upon us then we know that there will come the day we will see the good he gives.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “And when we are strong in enduring trouble, then we will indeed be proven men, and if we are proven men, then we will wait for God to do well with us.”
Teutila Cuicatec: “When we find patience it comes out that we are good, when it comes out that we are good we hope in God.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
Mairasi: “Furthermore that fact of our having well-split bones [diligence] will increasingly work in our liver until we will experience good life/behavior. Then that good life/behavior which we experience will work in our liver with the result that our vision resting place [hope] will increasingly certainly get strong.” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 16:14:
Uma: “From there, he again appeared to his eleven disciples while they were eating. He admonished/reprimanded them because they faith was lacking and their hearts hard. Even though there had been people who had seen him, they still hadn’t believed that he had indeed come back alive.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “After that, Isa appeared to his eleven disciples while they were eating. He scolded them because they did not believe and because they were stubborn (lit. had hard heads). He said, even though they had been told by those who had seen him that he was alive again from his death, they had not believed.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then Jesus also appeared to the eleven disciples while they were eating. He scolded them for the hardness of their thinking, for they wouldn’t believe the people who had reported that they had seen Jesus alive.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Then Jesus appeared to eleven of his disciples while they were eating and scolded them because of their absence of faith and hardness of their minds/thoughts, because they had not believed what those who had seen him upon his coming-to-life again had reported.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “And then Jesus next went-to-see/meet his eleven disciples. He coincided it with their eating. He rebuked then because their believing was still lacking, and because of their stubbornness (lit. the hardness of their heads) that they didn’t believe those he had-gone-to-see/meet on his coming alive again.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
