complete verse (Luke 2:14)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 2:14:

  • Noongar: “‘Great, great thanks to God, high in his Holy Country, and peace on our Earth. Peace to all good people. God is happy with them.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “‘Come let us worship God who is in heaven! and on earth, people whom he likes receive goodness of life.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “‘God is worthy to be praised in heaven and on earth may the people who please God be in peace/have peace.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “they said, ‘Let us (inc.) praise God who is in Heaven. And here on the earth may the situation become peaceful of all those people with whom God is pleased.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘God in heaven is honored/praised. The people on earth who make-him-happy will-be-at-peace.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “‘Praise God who is in the high-part of the sky/heaven. And here under the heavens, peace/protection of mind/inner-being is what he will give to people who are pleasing to him.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Kupsabiny: “God is big/great in heaven/up | peace is coming | to people who please/love God.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “Let’s lift up Deo’s name who is living very high up! | And the people on earth whom Deo is happy with, his action of peace (lit. “of a smooth interior”) remains with them.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Mairasi: “‘We who are in the Heaven, we must honor Great Above One [God]! And then you guys, you who live in the world, you who are in Above-One’s vision [who are pleasing to Him], good peace is intended to be yours!’ said they.” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Hausa Common Language Bible: “’Glory to God over there in heaven! | On earth let peace it remain | together with those whom God he feels pleasure of them!’” (Source: Hausa Common Language Back Translation)
  • Pfälzisch translation by Walter Sauer (publ. 2012): “Honor belongs to God in heaven | and peace shall reign on earth | among the people | because he loves them.”
  • Low German translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006: “Praise and honor for God the Lord above | and peace down here on earth for people who mean it with all their heart and have the favor.”
  • Hawai’i Creole English: “Up in heaven where God lives, | may he continue to be awesome! | And here on earth | If God likes what people are doing | He’ll make their hearts rest within them.” (Source for this and two above: Zetzsche)
  • English: “‘God is great! He lives in the highest place above. | He will bless the people on earth who please him. | They will have peace in their minds.’” (Source: EasyEnglish Bible)
  • English: “‘May all the angels in the highest heaven praise God! And on the earth may the people to whom God has shown his favor have peace with him!’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

uncircumcised in heart and ears

The phrase that is translated into English as “uncircumcised in heart and ears” is translated into Afar as “You are people who have hearts that refuse God, and ears closed saying we didn’t hear God’s message.” (Source: Loren Bliese)

Other translations for “uncircumcised in heart and ears” include:

  • Rincón Zapotec: “it doesn’t enter your hearts or your ears. You are like those who don’t even believe”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “hard are your hearts and not a little bit open are your ears”
  • Morelos Nahuatl: “you have your heart as unbelievers, you do not want to hear God’s word”
  • Highland Popoluca: “you never wanted to do God’s will, never truly believed”
  • Teutila Cuicatec: “you are just the same as those who do not believe God’s word because you do not obey”
  • Huichol: “you have not been marked with God’s sign in your hearts or in your ears” (or: “you are unruly and unsubmissive like an untamed, unbranded bronco”)
  • Ojitlán Chinantec: “you do not have the word-sign in your hearts. Your ears are clogged”
  • Copainalá Zoque: “you just don’t understand”
  • Isthmus Mixe: “your hearts and minds are not open” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Kaqchikel: “with your hearts unprepared” (source: Nida 1964, p. 220)
  • Elhomwe: “like people who do not know God” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Chichewa (interconfessional translation) “hard-headed.” (Source: Wendland 1987, p. 130)
  • Bariai: “You aren’t able to receive knowledge, certainly not. You shut your ears always to Deo’s talk.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Low German 1975 translation by Rudolf Muuß: “Your hearts and ears are no better than those of the heathen”
  • Uma: “No kidding your stubbornness! No kidding your making yourselves deaf to hearing the Word of the Lord God!” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Your livers are livers not obeying/following God. And how deaf are your ears. You do not listen-to/heed God’s word/message.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)

See also uncircumcised and stiff-necked.

hearts burning

The Greek that is often translated as “Were not our hearts burning within us?” is translated as

  • “a boiling comes to our hearts inside” in Marathi (an idiom for joy and enthusiasm)
  • “drawn, as it were, our mind” in Balinese
  • “hurt (i.e. longing) our hearts” in Ekari
  • “something was-consuming in our-heart” in Tae’ (an idiom for “we were profoundly moved”) (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • “O, how sweet coolness did our hearts feel” in an early version of the Bible in Sranan Tongo. “The translator “did this to avoid misunderstanding. In Sranan Tongo, when one says ‘my heart is burning’ he means ‘I am angry.'” (Source: Janini 2015, p. 33)
  • “Wasn’t it as rain coming down on us?” in Afar. “Heat is bad, rain is good in the desert.” (Source: Loren Bliese)
  • “our interiors bubbled up” in Bariai (source: Bariai Back Translation)

In the 2008 Moba Yendu Kadapaaonn translation it is translated as “were not our hearts encouraged (literally: made strong)?” While Moba has a rich metaphorical library using the concept of “heart” (pal) it follows very different paradigms compared to Greek, Hebrew and English concepts. (Source: Bedouma Joseph Kobaike in Le Sycomore 17/1, 2024, p. 3ff. .) (See also I hold you in my heart)

character

The Greek that is translated as “character” (or “experience”) in English is translated in the following ways:

  • Pitjantjatjara: “we become with strength and don’t fall, and God seeing us is pleased” (source: Carl Gross)
  • Hopi: “maturity”
  • Isthmus Zapotec: “standing firm”
  • Central Tarahumara: “being called as doers of good”
  • Miahuatlán Zapotec: “showing people we really believe in Christ”
  • Central Mazahua as “knowing that we passed well” (source for this and four above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Bariai “God is happy with us because we overcome/surpass various kinds of testings” (source: Bariai Back Translation)

See also complete verse (Romans 5:4).

Hosanna

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The Hebrew that is typically transliterated as “Hosanna” in English is translated in various ways:

  • Aguaruna: “Happily let him come”
  • Asháninka: “Here is this one who will save us, this one who comes”
  • Yanesha’: “Let him be saved”
  • Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “Worship God”
  • Chol: “Greetings”
  • Waffa: “The one who saves us”
  • Navajo (Dinė): “Let him be praised!”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “God will help us now” (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125)
  • Western Highland Chatino: “Thanks be to God that you have come here” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Bariai: “Chief, we lift up your name!” (source: Bariai Back Translation)

See also Hosanna (Psalm 118:25) and this devotion on YouVersion .

whitewashed wall

The Greek that is translated in English as “(you) whitewashed wall” is translated in a number of ways:

  • Lalana Chinantec: “you are like a masonry wall on which they have put white paint. It is no longer evident what it is like inside.” (Source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation, March 1965, p. 2ff.)
  • Bariai: “a disintegrating wall and yet they applied paint to it so that it merely looks good” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “deceiver”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “you talk up above (not from the heart)”
  • Morelos Nahuatl: “you change words (you are a hypocrite)”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “you two faced person”
  • Rincón Zapotec: “you who make your face broad” (source for this and four above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Dan: “whitewashed tomb” (to highlight the hypocrisy) (Source: Don Slager)
  • Mairasi: “you bad person and you liar trying to be like a clean person” (source: Enggavoter 2004)

See also complete verse (Acts 23:3) and complete verse (Matthew 23:37).

receive the gift of the Holy Spirit

The Greek that is translated “receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” or similar in English is translated as

  • “receive the gift of God which is the Holy Spirit” in Eastern Highland Otomi
  • “God will give his Spirit to you” in Chuj
  • “God will cause his Holy Spirit to possess you” in Teutila Cuicatec
  • “the Holy Spirit will come into your souls with his power” in Desano
  • “you will receive the Holy Spirit, Father God will give you that” in San Mateo del Mar Huave
  • “God will send the Holy Spirit to live with you” Mezquital Otomi (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • “you guys will receive Great Above Ones Spirit as a gift from right where Great Above One lives” in Mairasi (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • “you will receive the Straight Spirit as a gift to you” in Bariai (source: Bariai Back Translation)

See also Receive the Holy Spirit.

author of life

The Greek that is translated as “author of life” in English is translated as