Language-specific Insights

by grace you have been saved

The Greek that is translated in English as “by grace you have been saved” or similar is translated in Yatzachi Zapotec as “because God loves us he has saved us.” The change from the second person plural pronoun to the first person plural pronoun had to be made to include the writer in this verse, who in Yatzachi Zapotec would have otherwise been excluded. (Source: Inez Butler in Notes on Translation 16, 1965, p. 4-5)

This passive construct is translated in Mokole as “it is by his grace that you have found salvation.” Mokole grammar doesn’t know a passive voice and the translation has to therefore render anything that is passive in the Hebrew or Greek text with a grammatical subject. (Source: Hilary Deneufchâtel in Le Sycomore 17/1, 2024, p. 21ff. )

See also inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Eph. 2:5).

die in your sin

The Greek that is translated as “die in your sin” or similar in translated as

See also die to sin.

sexual promiscuity

The Greek in Romans 13:13 that is translated in English as “sexual promiscuity” or similar is translated as

See also licentiousness / impurity, sexual immorality / fornication and adultery.

patriarchs

The Greek that is often translated as “patriarchs” in English is translated as

  • “first old fathers” in Isthmus Zapotec
  • “the ancient fathers” in Tzeltal / Highland Totonac
  • “the old important people who lived long ago were forefathers of the Israelites” in Yatzachi Zapotec
  • “the 12 sons of Jacob” Central Tarahumara
  • “the fathers from way back when” in Chicahuaxtla Triqui (source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • “chiefs over each of the clans of Israel” in Bariai (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • “our twelve grandfathers” in Kupsabiny (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • “twelve children from where Jews came-from” in Hiligaynon (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

exchanged natural relations for unnatural

The Greek in Romans 1:26 that is translated as “exchanged natural relations for unnatural” or similar in English is translated as

  • “stop their work with men and begin to do wrong things with one another” in Hopi
  • “women no longer did as women do but rather knew each other” in Isthmus Zapotec
  • “changed their lives. They didn’t live with a man. Among themselves they sinned against each other” in Huehuetla Tepehua
  • “even the women, one with another, strangely doing evil” in Central Tarahumara
  • “lay down with other women as they should not do” in Yatzachi Zapotec (source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • “women no longer put their throat on [pay attention to; have affection for], with the result that they even women stimulate each other’s genitalia” in Mairasi (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • “women became lesbian and exchanged the natural sexual relationships with unnatural ones” in he German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999)
  • “women even left their husbands and married each other” in Kupsabiny (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • See also complete verse (Romans 1:26).

untie sandals

The Greek that is translated as “(not worthy to) untie sandals” or similar in English is translated in various ways:

  • Awa: “because he is an important one, when he speaks I will be silent”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “I am not worthy to be his servant”
  • Alekano: “if unworthy I should even carry his burden, it would not be right”
  • Tenango Otomi: “I don’t compare with him” (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Ayutla Mixtec: “I am too unworthy to perform even the lowliest of tasks for him” (“to avoid the wrong meaning of playing a trick by tying the sandals”)
  • Choapan Zapotec “I am not even important to carry his pack” (source for this and one above: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Mairasi: “loosening the strap of His foot thing as His slave would do” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Bariai: “untie the string of his shoe, because he surpasses me very much” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “He is greater than I. I don’t compare with him.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): auf Knien die Riemen seiner Sandalen zu lösen or “to loosen the straps of his sandals on my knees.”

See also sandal (illustration)

despise

The Greek that is translated as “despise” in English is translated as