The Greek in Hebrews 12:2 that is translated as “(Jesus) the pioneer (and perfecter) of our faith” in English is translated as “Jesus first has opened a path for us to believe God” in Citak. (Source: Graham Ogden)
In Masai, “pioneer” is translated as “one who treads on the thorns ahead.” Nida (1972, p. xiv) explains: “Such a person goes down the pathway ahead of others and becomes the ‘thorn-treader.’ What more fitting description of the role of Jesus, who promised always to go ahead of his disciples?”
The Greek in 1 Corinthians 1:25 that is translated as “foolishness of God” in English is translated into Bunun as “if God was foolish then even his foolishness would exceed our wisdom.” (“The notion that God was foolish was thought to be a problem.”) (Source: Graham Ogden)
TIn Huixtán Tzotzil it is translated as “they mistakenly think that it is in vain what God says.” Huixtán Tzotzil frequently uses the verb -cuy to express “to mistakenly think something” from the point of view of the speaker. (Source: Marion M. Cowan in Notes on Translation 20/1966, pp. 6ff.)
The German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) navigates the issue of calling God foolish (and weak) by putting the words “foolishness” (»Unsinn«) and “weakness” (»Schwäche«) in quotation marks.
See also tempt God / put God to the test.
The Greek that is translated as “free (woman)” in English is translated into Bunun as “the lady master” (a parallel to the “master” or “husband”). (“Bunun have no word ‘free’ — they claim that they were always free so have no concept of not being so!”)
During the translation of one of the miracles of feeding or crowds with fish and bread into Yami, Graham Ogden tells this story:
“A small population on tiny Orchid Island, off the S-E coast of Taiwan, depended to a large extent on fishing as a source of food. When translating the story of the Five Loaves and Two Fish the translator asked a question that took me by surprise. He asked what kind of fish they were. I said they were just fish! But he said, I have to know what kind of fish they were because we have no word ‘fish.’ How come? I asked. He said we have no general word, because every fish has a name. So I suggested he choose a common type. He then said, But was it a fish that only men can eat or only women? Do you mean that there are cultural restrictions on who can eat which kind of fish? Yes, he said. Is there not one kind of fish that everyone can eat, given the circumstances? Oh yes, he said, there is one kind. Then that’s the name to use, I said. He was satisfied with that answer.”
The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “anger” or similar in English in this verse is translated with a variety of solutions (Bratcher / Nida says: “Since anger has so many manifestations and seems to affect so many aspects of personality, it is not strange that expressions used to describe this emotional response are so varied”).
- Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “be warm inside”
- Mende: “have a cut heart”
- Mískito: “have a split heart”
- Tzotzil: “have a hot heart”
- Mossi: “a swollen heart”
- Western Kanjobal: “fire of the viscera”
- San Blas Kuna: “pain in the heart”
- Chimborazo Highland Quichua: “not with good eye”
- Chichewa: “have a burning heart” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation) (see also anger burned in him)
- Citak: two different terms, one meaning “angry” and one meaning “offended,” both are actually descriptions of facial expressions. The former can be represented by an angry stretching of the eyes or by an angry frown. The latter is similarly expressed by an offended type of frown with one’s head lowered. (Source: Graham Ogden)
In Akan, a number of metaphors are used, most importantly abufuo, lit. “weedy chest” (the chest is seen as a container that contains the heart but can also metaphorically be filled with other fluids etc.), but also abufuhyeε lit. “hot/burning weedy chest” and anibereε, lit. “reddened eyes.” (Source: Gladys Nyarko Ansah in Kövecses / Benczes / Szelid 2024, p. 21ff.)
See also God’s anger and angry.
