The Greek, Latin, Ge’ez, and Hebrew that is translated as “naked” in English is translated in Enlhet with a figure of speech: “(one’s) smoothness.” (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
In Elhomwe the word for “naked” is “shameful to use, and would never be used by a preacher in church.” Therefore “without clothes” is used. (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
In Cherokee it is translated as “being in a bodily state.” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 30)
In the Catholic Mandarin ChineseSigao version and the Protestant Union Version, historical Chinese idioms are used: chìshēn lòutǐ (赤身露體 / 赤身露体) or chìshēn luǒtǐ (赤身裸體 / 赤身裸体): “bare and uncovered body.” (Source: Toshikazu S. Foley in Hong Kong Journal of Catholic Studies, 2011, p. 45ff.)
The Greek that is translated (or transliterated) in English as “sponge” is translated in Chol as “water absorber,” in Huehuetla Tepehua as “that which is like a big piece of cotton” (source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation, March 1965, p. 2-20)
in Mairasi as “coral flower” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Bariai as “sea sponge” (source: Bariai Back Translation), and in Cherokee as “mushroom” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 16).
The Greek and Ge’ez that is translated as “pearl” in English is translated in Matumbi as samani ngu’lu’ or “valuable thing,” since pearls are not known. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
In Cherokee it is translated as “like oysters or mussels.” (Source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 18)
“The word ‘offend’ as a translation of the Greek skandalizó seems to cause all sorts of trouble for translators. The difficulty is that the meaning of this word covers such a wide area. The basic meaning of the Greek is ‘to cause to stumble by putting some impediment in the way.’ The present central meaning of English ‘offend’ is often quite different. In some languages there is no metaphorical value in a translation ‘to cause someone to stumble.’ If the language permits no such metaphor, the translator should not attempt to force it. In Highland Totonac, the metaphor ‘to show the wrong road to’ is used in a manner almost exactly parallel to the Greek idiom.” (Source: Nida 1947)
The Greek and Ge’ez that is translated in English versions as “hell” (or “Gehenna”) is translated (1) by borrowing a term from a trade or national language (this is done in a number of Indian languages in Latin America, which have borrowed Spanishinfierno — from Latininfernus: “of the lower regions”), (2) by using an expression denoting judgment or punishment, e.g. “place of punishment” (Loma), “place of suffering” (Highland Totonac, San Blas Kuna) and (3) by describing a significant characteristic: (a) the presence of fire or burning, e.g. “place of fire” (Kipsigis, Mossi), “the large bonfire” (Shipibo-Conibo), or (b) the traditionally presumed location, e.g. “the lowest place” (a well-known term in Ngäbere), “the place inside” long used to designate hell, as a place inside the earth (Aymara). (Source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
In Noongar it is translated as Djinbaminyap or “Punishing place” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang), in Tagbanwa as “the fire which had no dying down” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation), and in Cherokee as “Devils’ (lit. Ghosts’) place” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 16).
The Mandarin Chinesedìyù (地獄 / 地狱), literally “(under) earth prison,” is a term that was adopted from Buddhist sources into early Catholic writings and later also by Protestant translators. (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 32)
The Hebrew in Genesis 3:16 that is translated as “your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you” in English is translated in Cherokee as “you will think of your husband with longing, and he will be the one who speaks for you.” (Source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 45)
The Greek that is translated as “one stroke of a letter” or similar in English is translated in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) with ein i-Punkt or “one dot on the i.” In Matthew 5:18, the Greek that is translated as “not one letter, not one stroke of a letter” in English is translated as kein Punkt und kein Komma or “no period and no comma.”
In Cherokee it is translated as “one little thing nor one of the littlest things” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 157).
The Hebrew, Greek, and Ge’ez that is translated as “the poor” in English is translated in Chichewa as “people without power.” In Chichewa context this refers to those who are in the lower class in terms of both social status and political influence in a community. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
In Cherokee it is translated as “those who are not doing well.” “The concept of poverty was unknown to Cherokee prior to European arrival due to the sharing of resources among clan members and the shared and welfare tradition known as gadugi (ᎦᏚᎩ). In contrast, the concepts of rich and poor play a large role in the world and message or the New Testament (…) This phrase (‘those who are not doing well’), still used today for ‘poor,’ speaks to a more general understanding of well-being than the presence of monetary resources.” (Source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 45)
