Translation Insights and Perspectives
For the phrase that is translated as “implanted (word)” or “(word that he plants) in your hearts” in English versions, Kahua uses a term for belly/chest as the seat of the emotions. (Source: David Clark)
In Owa it is translated as “planted in your soul” (=hearts). (Source: Carl Gross)
See also heart, soul, mind.
The Greek text of Matthew 7:24 is translated in Martu Wangka as “If a person hears/obeys my talk and sits obedient to me, he who belongs to Jesus will be like another, like this working-bloke. This knowledgeable working-bloke will build correctly a house on a big flat rock.”
The Greek that is translated in English as “though he has escaped from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live” is translated in Kwara’ae as “the god whose name is ‘Payback’ does not want him to live even though he lived from the sea.”
The Greek that is translated as “casting” or “drawing lots” in English is often translated with a specific idiom, such as “to take out bamboo slips” — 規 矩 掣 籤 guījǔ chè qiān (in most Chinese Bibles), “each to pick-up which is-written (i.e. small sticks inscribed with characters and used as slots)” (Batak Toba), a term for divination by means of reed stalks (Toraja-Sa’dan). In some cases a cultural equivalent is not available, or it is felt to be unsuitable in this situation, e.g. in Ekari where “to spin acorns” has the connotation of gambling, one may have to state the fact without mentioning the means, e.g. “it came to him” (source for this and all above: Reiling / Swellengrebel). In Shipibo-Conibo there was no equivalent for “casting lots” so the translation for Mark 15:24 is descriptive: “they shook little things to decide what each one should take” (source: Nida 1952, p. 47).
In Purari it is translated as “throw shells” (source: David Clark), in Kwara’ae (in Acts 1:26) as “they played something like dice to find out who of the two God chose (God revealed his will that way)” (source: Carl Gross), and in a term for “gambling” is used. The same Inupiaq term is also used in Esther 3:7, “though there winning and losing is not in view, but rather choosing by chance” (source: Robert Bascom)
The Greek (originally quotes from the Hebrew in Isaiah) that is translated as “(make ready the way of the Lord,) make His paths straight” or something similar in English is translated in Sa’a as “You, tidy up well the paths that are dirty.” Carl Gross reports: “The Sa’a people have a practice which beautifully captures the idea expressed in the Isaianic quote. One line of this was rendered ‘You, tidy up well the paths that are dirty.’ This may conjure up the idea of an anti-litter campaign, but assurances were given that, before a feast when other villages would come to visit, or when an important person was about to come, the whole village would go out and tidy up the road, removing stones, branches, and other obstacles, as well as litter. It is a road maintenance exercise, as well as a way of welcoming honored visitors.” (Source: Carl Gross)
In Chol it says “Make straight the way of the Lord: Go, clean up the path of our Lord.” (Source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
The Greek that is translated as “(I will make you) fishers of men (or: people)” in English is rendered in Martu Wangka as “before you used to work getting fish for people, now i think you should do another work getting people and teaching them to be my relatives” (source: Carl Gross).
In Galela it is translated as “. . . you teach people to follow me, which is similar to you netting fish to gather them in” (source: Howard Shelden in Kroneman 2004, p. 501).
The Greek that is translated in English as “crown of life” is translated in Navajo as “the life-way prize.” (Source: Nida 1964, p. 238)
In Owa it is translated as “the wage of your souls.”
See also complete verse (James 1:12). (Source: Carl Gross)
Following are a number of back-translation of 1John 4:18:
Yatzachi Zapotec: “If we love God there is nothing for us to fear. And if we love God as we ought, there is nothing left for us to fear, because it is like a punishment for us when we are afraid. And if we fear anything, we do not love God as we ought.”
Eastern Highland Otomi: “He who fears the judgment, he fears it because he hasn’t yet known well the love that God does to him. God’s love removes fear. When we fear, we think God will punish us.”
Tzotzil: “If we believe that God loves us, therefore we are not afraid. Because if we are afraid, it is because we think that God is going to punish us. If we believe that God really and truly loves us, not thus we think. Therefore if we are afraid it is because we have not believed that God loves us.”
Sayula Popoluca: “He who loves God, doesn’t fear. Because he who truly loves God will not fear anything. Because he who fears will suffer. He who fears, he doesn’t truly love God.” (Source for all above: John Beekman in Notes on Translation 12, November 1964, p. 1ff.
Eastern Arrernte “The person who knows that God loves him does not fear God. But the person who fears that God will punish him, he does not yet know that God loves him very much.” (Source: Carl Gross)
The Greek that is translated as “God is love” in most English versions is translated in Arrernte as “God always shows his love to people.” (Source: Carl Gross)
In Mairasi, this is translated as “Above-One Himself (=God) is ‘The Person Who Desires People’s Faces (=Love)’.” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)
See also love (by God) and complete verse (1John 4:8).
The Greek that is translated in English as “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” is translated in Martu Wangka as “I came to the earth to teach bad people who are like those sick ones so that they can hear the Father’s word and become his relatives. I didn’t come for the good people — no.”
The Greek that is translated in English as “genealogies” is translated in Kwara’ae as “long stories about generations.”
The Hebrew and the Greek that is usually directly translated as “kiss” in English is translated more indirectly in other languages because kissing is deemed as inappropriate, is not a custom at all, or is not customary in the particular context (see the English translation of J.B. Phillips, 1960 in Rom. 16:16: “Give each other a hearty handshake”). Here are some examples: