Following are a number of back-translations of 1 John 3:6:
- Uma: “So, all people who remain in harmony with him, they no longer do sins. All people who keep doing sins, they haven’t seen him and they don’t know him.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “Therefore whoever is one with Almasi, he does no longer sin. Anybody who is still sinning has not understood about Almasi and he has not known Christ.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And because of that, anyone who holds tight to His oneness with Christ, it is not possible that He continually does evil. That person who is always doing evil, he doesn’t yet know who Christ is and he has not yet believed in Him.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “So whoever has-been-joined to Cristo, he doesn’t continue to sin, because the one who continues to sin, he hasn’t believed in Cristo and has absolutely not come-to-know him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “The one who lives holding fast to his believing-in/obeying Jesu-Cristo, he doesn’t keep on doing sin. But the one who still keeps on with his doing of sin, he hasn’t comprehended what Jesu-Cristo is like and doesn’t really know/acknowledge him.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “All who walk with Jesus Christ do not continue committing sin. But all who commit sin are those who do not understand about Jesus Christ, and do not know him.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
- Yatzachi Zapotec: “Each one of us if we are constantly present with him, we are not evil doers. And each one of us if we are evil doers we do not yet understand who Jesus Christ is, nor are we acquainted with him.”
- Eastern Highland Otomi: “He who habitually lives with Christ doesn’t habitually do sin. But he who habitually sins, never wanted to hear Christ and he never knew him.”
- Tzotzil: “If we are in the presence of Christ, we don’t now seek our sin. If we still seek our sin, it is because we have not yet seen Christ, we do not yet know him.” (Source for this and two above: John Beekman in Notes on Translation 12, November 1964, p. 1ff.)
- Candoshi-Shapra: “The one who lives (abides) with Jesus only does not sin. The one who sins has not seen Him. Neither does he know Him.”
- Yanesha’: “All whoever is one with Christ is not characterized by sin. If anyone sins, he has never seen (or found) Christ, he does not know how Christ is.”
- Aguaruna: “He who is in Christ goods (opposite of sins), but he who doesn’t do so he does not know Christ, ‘He is like that,’ saying he does not know.” (Source for this and two above: Mildred Larson in Notes on Translation, July 1965, p. 1-15)
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 John 4:15:
- Uma: “Whoever admits/confesses that Yesus is God’s Child, God remains in harmony with them, and they with God.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “Whoever confesses/says-it-is-true to people that Isa is God’s Son, he remains/is-steadfast with God and God remains/is-steadfast with him.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “If there is anyone who says he believes in Jesus the Son of God, God lives in him and he has become one with God.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “And whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Child of God, he remains in God and God also remains in him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “Well now, whoever testifies that as for Jesus, he is the Son of God, God really is holding fast to him and as for him, he is also holding fast to God.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “He who says that he believes that Jesus is the Son of God is one who walks with God, and God will not depart from him.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
- Yatzachi Zapotec: “If we say that Jesus is God’s son, God is constantly present with us and we are constantly present with God.”
- Eastern Highland Otomi: “He who speaks truly (the truth) that Jesus is the Son of God, God resides in his heart, and the person lives with God.”
- Tzotzil: “If plainly we say that Jesus is God’s Son, God is in our hearts. Therefore we are in the presence of God.” (Source for this and two above: John Beekman in Notes on Translation 12, November 1964, p. 1ff.)
- Candoshi-Shapra: “God abides (keeps living) in the one who says, ‘Jesus is God’s Son.’ He also abides with God.”
- Yanesha’: “The one who admits that Jesus is our Father’s Son, that is the one who is at one with our Father.”
- Aguaruna: “‘Jesus Christ is God’s son,’ saying, one who tells, God is (lives) in him, and also He is (lives) in God.” (Source for this and two above: Mildred Larson in Notes on Translation, July 1965, p. 1-15)
Following are a number of back-translations of 2 John 1:5:
- Uma: “So, I request to you (sing.), mother/woman, that we love one another. What I write here, it is not a new command. This command is a command that we have heard all along from the first.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “Na, now I have to ask/request something of you, Woman: we (incl.) should love each other. This command is not new now but it has been here with us (incl.) since we (incl.) first trusted in Isa Almasi.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And because of that, sister, I beg you that we (incl.) might love each other. This is not a new command which I write to you, for this was given a long time ago when we first believed.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “But there is nonetheless that which I want to tell you: it is necessary that we love-one-another. This is not a new command, because we have been hearing it since the first.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “Well now, Friend, there’s something I’d hopefully like to ask you (sing.) to do. As for this, it’s not a new command which I am writing, but rather that original command which was here with us from long ago, this that we value one another.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “Now, my dear sister, I want to say a word to you now. And this word I will tell you is not a new word, rather it is like the word you at first were ordered to do. Just the same is what I tell you now, that each of us must love all our fellow-believers.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
- Yatzachi Zapotec: “And what we must do, woman, is to love our fellows each of us the other, because God commanded us to do that. As for this which I am saying we should do, it is not a new commandment, but something which we have known since we first believed.”
- Eastern Highland Otomi: “And now, you woman, chosen of God, I have something I want to tell you. And it isn’t new what I will tell you, but just like was told us at the beginning, that we love one another.”
- Isthmus Zapotec: “Now, Señora, that which I am writing to you that you should do is not new, but that which you already knew from time past, where it says we should love one another. I ask you(sg) that you do as this says.” (Source for this and two above: John Beekman in Notes on Translation 12, November 1964, p. 1ff.)
In the Yatzachi Zapotec translation of the Gospel of John, any reference to the evangelist and presumed narrator is done in the first person.
The translator Inez Butler explains (in: Notes on Translation, September 1967, pp. 10ff.):
“In revising the Gospel of John in Yatzachi Zapotec we realized from the start that the third person references of Jesus to himself as Son of Man had to be converted into first person references, but only more recently have we decided that similar change is necessary in John’s references to himself as ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved.’ As I worked on those changes and questioned the informant about his understanding of other passages in the Gospel, I discovered that the reader misses the whole focus of the book as an eyewitness account unless every reference to the disciples indicates the writer’s membership in the group. In view of that we went back through the entire book looking for ways to cue in the reader to the fact that John was an eyewitness and a participant in a many of the events, as well as the historian.
“When the disciples were participants in events along with Jesus, it was necessary to make explicit the fact that they accompanied him, although in the source language that is left implicit, since otherwise our rendering would imply that they were not present.”
In this verse, the Yatzachi Zapotec says: “It was about time for the Passover of us Israelites when we went with Jesus to Jerusalem.”
In the Yatzachi Zapotec translation of the Gospel of John, any reference to the evangelist and presumed narrator is done in the first person.
The translator Inez Butler explains (in: Notes on Translation, September 1967, pp. 10ff.):
“In revising the Gospel of John in Yatzachi Zapotec we realized from the start that the third person references of Jesus to himself as Son of Man had to be converted into first person references, but only more recently have we decided that similar change is necessary in John’s references to himself as ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved.’ As I worked on those changes and questioned the informant about his understanding of other passages in the Gospel, I discovered that the reader misses the whole focus of the book as an eyewitness account unless every reference to the disciples indicates the writer’s membership in the group. In view of that we went back through the entire book looking for ways to cue in the reader to the fact that John was an eyewitness and a participant in a many of the events, as well as the historian.
“When the disciples were participants in events along with Jesus, it was necessary to make explicit the fact that they accompanied him, although in the source language that is left implicit, since otherwise our rendering would imply that they were not present.”
In this verse, the Yatzachi Zapotec says: “Then Jesus said to us . . .”
In the Yatzachi Zapotec translation of the Gospel of John, any reference to the evangelist and presumed narrator is done in the first person.
The translator Inez Butler explains (in: Notes on Translation, September 1967, pp. 10ff.):
“In revising the Gospel of John in Yatzachi Zapotec we realized from the start that the third person references of Jesus to himself as Son of Man had to be converted into first person references, but only more recently have we decided that similar change is necessary in John’s references to himself as ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved.’ As I worked on those changes and questioned the informant about his understanding of other passages in the Gospel, I discovered that the reader misses the whole focus of the book as an eyewitness account unless every reference to the disciples indicates the writer’s membership in the group. In view of that we went back through the entire book looking for ways to cue in the reader to the fact that John was an eyewitness and a participant in a many of the events, as well as the historian.
“When the disciples were participants in events along with Jesus, it was necessary to make explicit the fact that they accompanied him, although in the source language that is left implicit, since otherwise our rendering would imply that they were not present.”
In this verse, the Yatzachi Zapotec says: “And when he had finished washing our feet . . . Then he said to us . . .”
In the Yatzachi Zapotec translation of the Gospel of John, any reference to the evangelist and presumed narrator is done in the first person.
The translator Inez Butler explains (in: Notes on Translation, September 1967, pp. 10ff.):
“In revising the Gospel of John in Yatzachi Zapotec we realized from the start that the third person references of Jesus to himself as Son of Man had to be converted into first person references, but only more recently have we decided that similar change is necessary in John’s references to himself as ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved.’ As I worked on those changes and questioned the informant about his understanding of other passages in the Gospel, I discovered that the reader misses the whole focus of the book as an eyewitness account unless every reference to the disciples indicates the writer’s membership in the group. In view of that we went back through the entire book looking for ways to cue in the reader to the fact that John was an eyewitness and a participant in a many of the events, as well as the historian.
“When the disciples were participants in events along with Jesus, it was necessary to make explicit the fact that they accompanied him, although in the source language that is left implicit, since otherwise our rendering would imply that they were not present.”
In this verse, the Yatzachi Zapotec says: “And we told him . . . Then Thomas told us . . .”
Following are a number of back-translations of John 1:13:
- Yatzachi Zapotec: “They are his children, not because they were born physically, and not because a man lusted after a woman, and not because a man wanted to have children. God made them his children.”
- Huichol: “Their origin is not the ordinary human birth, nor is it a matter of attraction between their parents in the usual human way, nor is it a matter of a man wanting to form a posterity. . . . ” (Source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
- Uma: “They did not become children of God because of their parents, also not from the power of man, or from marriage / mating. God himself made them his children.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “They are made children of God not like men come-into-being or from the will/wish of men/mankind or from the desire of mankind. But they are made children of God from the will of God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The way by which they became children of God was not the way of bearing children here on the earth, because they were not at that time born by means of the procreation of an earthly father, but rather their father is God.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “Their becoming children of God, it was not in-a-human-manner (connotes sinful, limited humanity), because it didn’t originate-from the sleeping-together of a married-couple and their purpose to have children, but rather it originated-from God’s power.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “It’s not that they got to be children of God because they were given birth to by God like human giving-birth or because of the nature/ways or will of a married-couple, but on the contrary they became-children/were-adopted through the will of God.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “To become children of God doesn’t mean that they live anew like the children of people are born, or that some person wanted it thus. Only it is that God caused them to be his children.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
- Hiligaynon: “They became children of God not by-means-of bodily birth nor the will of person/people, but by-means-of the will of God. ” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
- Mairasi: “specifically those people were not born from blood, not from flesh, and Furthermore not from bodies, or not from a male person’s desire, but those who were born from Above-One.” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)
- Bariai: “They didn’t become God’s children by their mothers’ and fathers’ blood, and not [by] the desire of our (incl.) bodies, and not [by] any person’s desire either. But God alone made them to become his children.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
- Kupsabiny: “Those people didn’t become children of God in the way a person wants a child or in the way a child is born, but it is God alone who makes those people to be his children.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
