sporting analogies

In the Kahua translation sporting analogies are avoided because they imply that winning involves putting other people down.

no dealings

The phrase in John 4:9 that is translated in English translations as “for Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans” or similar is translated into Mono is translated as “It is taboo for you people to drink from our buckets.” (Source: Carl Gross)

In Telugu the more unspecific “have no dealings” rendering was used since even members of the same family do not use each other’s dishes. (Source: David Clark)

In Chitonga it is translated with the existing idiom “(Jews and Samaritans) do not step on each other’s toes” and in Chichewa (interconfessional translation) as “(do not) look one another in the eyes.” (Source: Wendland 1987, p. 130)

lilies

The Greek that is translated as “lilies” in English is translated in Kalmyk as “tulips” (lilies are not known). “These have grown in the area for a very long time (since before the tulip mania of the 1630s in Western Europe) and have spread widely. Nowadays they provide a very colorful addition to the steppe in spring time, and fit the context of what Jesus was saying just as well as lilies.” (Source: David Clark in The Bible Translator 2015, p. 117ff. )

rejoice more (Matthew 18:13)

The phrase in Matthew 18:13 that is translated in English as “rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine” is translated into Fuyug as “thinking of the 99 he was happy, thinking of the lost one he was very happy.”

little flock

Since the words for “flock” and “girl friend” are homonyms in Khakas, the translators decided to translate the occurrence in Luke 12:32 as “you little lambs” rather than “flock” to avoid misunderstandings.

In Chechen, “little flock” sounds scornful and insulting, so it needed to be restructured as, “though you are few and weak, above you is a shepherd,” “with the implication that the shepherd is the heavenly father already mentioned in the wider context.“ (Source: David Clark in The Bible Translator 2015, p. 117ff. )

See also flock.

figs are not gathered from thorns𖺗 nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush

The Greek in Luke 6:44 that is translated in English as “figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush” or similar is translated in Upper Guinea Crioulo as “You wouldn’t pick guavas [very similar to figs] from a thorn bush, or cashews from a thorn tree.” (Source: David Frank in this blog post )

In Chechen it becomes “thorns do not yield mulberries or dog roses grapes” and in Khakas the grapes become “cherries.” (Source: David Clark in The Bible Translator 2015, p. 117ff. )

Toposa does not have a generic terms in this semantic field. “Since all that was needed in the context of this verse was an example of a shrub or bush considered worthless and not capable of producing good fruit, the translators chose to render thornbush as nyerekedae ‘hook thorn’ (acacia mellifera) and ‘brier’ as nyekabuuru ‘pink jacaranda’ (stereospermum kunthianum). The former shrub has vicious thorns and bears no fruit, the latter has no thorns and produces only inedible pods, both are classified as worthless in Toposa economy.” (Source: Schröder 2026, p. 101).

See also complete verse (Luke 6:44).