The Greek that is translated as “wild honey” in English was difficult to translate in Toba and Iyojwa’ja Chorote.
Bill Mitchell (in Omanson 2001, p. 435) explains why: “Unlike urban, industrialized society, the indigenous way of life is inextricably linked with the land. A deep relationship with nature permeates all of life. This can sometimes be seen in the wealth of vocabulary for certain items. Mark 1:6 and Matthew 3:4 state that John the Baptist ate ‘wild honey.’ The Tobas of northern Argentina have ten different words for ‘wild honey,’ the Chorotes have seven or eight. The biblical text does not specify a type of wild honey, but Toba translators live in the Gran Chaco and harvest wild honey. They want to use the exact word; they do not have a generic term.”
In both cases the translators ended up using the most common term for “wild honey.”
Apali: “God’s one with talk from the head” (“basically God’s messenger since head refers to any leader’s talk”) (source: Martha Wade)
Michoacán Nahuatl: “clean helper of God” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
Noongar: Hdjin-djin-kwabba or “spirit good” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Wè Northern (Wɛɛ): Kea ‘a “sooa or “the Lord’s soldier” (also: “God’s soldier” or “his soldier”) (source: Drew Maust)
Iwaidja: “a man sent with a message” (Sam Freney explains the genesis of this term [in this article ): “For example, in Darwin last year, as we were working on a new translation of Luke 2:6–12 in Iwaidja, a Northern Territory language, the translators had written ‘angel’ as ‘a man with eagle wings’. Even before getting to the question of whether this was an accurate term (or one that imported some other information in), the word for ‘eagle’ started getting discussed. One of the translators had her teenage granddaughter with her, and this word didn’t mean anything to her at all. She’d never heard of it, as it was an archaic term that younger people didn’t use anymore. They ended up changing the translation of ‘angel’ to something like ‘a man sent with a message’, which is both more accurate and clear.”)
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One way to do this is through the use of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) is used as in mi-tsukai (御使い) or “messenger (of God).” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Bender / Belt (2025, p. 2f.) report about the translation of “angel” in Cherokee: “In John, the concept of angel is translated using a descriptive neologism rather than a semantic extension, suggesting the lack of a ready parallel. The plural is dmikahnawadidohi, ‘the law-givers’ or ‘those who go around looking after the medicine.’ Cherokee speakers argue that the Cherokee word for ‘law,’ dikahnawadvsdi, expresses the intent to maintain social, physical, and spiritual health and has at its core the word for ‘medicine,’ mwoli, which encompasses all aspects of social and spiritual well-being, including balance and order (Altman and Belt 2009), much more than the English word. Thus, the Cherokee word for ‘angel’ represents a new perspective on this category of spiritual beings named in the Bible. It does not derive from the concept of messenger present in both its Greek (angelos) and Hebrew (malak) antecedents perhaps because the Cherokee word for ‘messenger,’ atsinvsidasdi, is widely used to translate the foreign lexeme ‘servant.'”
Low German translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006: “steppe”
Yakan: “the lonely place” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “a land where no people lived” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “the place with no inhabitants” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Cherokee: inage or “far away downstream” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 16)
Matumbi uses various term: lubele (desert, sandy place without water) — used in John 11:54, lupu’ngu’ti (a place where no people live, can be a scrub land, a forest, or a savanna) — used in Mark 1:3 et al.), and mwitu (a forest, a place where wild animals live) — used in Mark 1:13 et al.) (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
Chichewa Contemporary translation (2002/2016): chipululu: a place uninhabited by people with thick forest and bush (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Adioukrou: loj or “savannah” — “land that is not village, nor forest, nor field (source: Hill 2006)
Isthmus Mixe: “dry country” (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Note that in Luke 15:4, usually a term is used that denotes pastoral land, such as “eating/grazing-place,” in Tagbanwa (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 1:11:
Uma: “God spoke from heaven saying to him: ‘You (sing.) are my Son whom I love. You (sing.) are the one who makes-happy my heart.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “And there was a voice from heaven saying, ‘You are my beloved Son. I am really pleased with you.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Then God in heaven was heard saying, he said, ‘You are my dear Son. I am very much pleased with you.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Then there was a voice from heaven that said, ‘You (sing.) are my much-loved child. You (sing.) are the one-with-whom-I-am-continually-satisfied.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “At the same time there was speech coming from heaven/sky which said, ‘You (sing.) really are my held-very-dear Son. I really am very pleased with you.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Balinese: “And then there was a voice from heavens. as follows: ‘You my child 1are Father’s Son who is loved by Father, only to you is the pleasing of Father’s heart.'” (Source: J.L. Swellengrebel in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 75ff. )
English translation by Michael Pakaluk (2019): “And there was a voice from heaven: ‘You are my son, my beloved one. I delight in you.’”
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 1:22:
Uma: “The people were surprised to hear his teaching. Because he did not teach like the religion teachers. His teaching [was] like a person who really had-authority/power.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “The people were amazed/wondered when they heard his preaching/teaching. For the teaching of Isa was really different from the teaching (usihat) of the religious-teachers of the religious law. For Isa had power when he spoke.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The people, when they heard his teaching, were very amazed, for his teaching was not like the teaching of the teachers of the law of the Jews. For Jesus, by contrast, had great power to teach.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “The many-people were surprised by the way he taught, because in his teaching, they could-see that he had authority, which was not like the way of the teachers of the law.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “The people were amazed, because it was clear from his words/speech that he was one who had true wisdom/understanding of what he was teaching. Not like the explainers of law who always mention/refer-to what had been taught by others.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Shipibo-Conibo: “Then, when he was teaching them. they were all startled. He taught them like one who had strength, not as the book wise ones did.” (Source: James Lauriault in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 32ff. )
Balinese: “Ah, astonished were all the people there at His teaching, because He taught in the way of a man full of power, wholly otherwise than is the way of those learned in the religion of Taurat [Torah].” (Source: J.L. Swellengrebel in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 75ff. )
English translation by Michael Pakaluk (2019): “Well, they were overwhelmed by his teaching, because he taught them as someone who had authority, and not as the scribes.”
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 1:33:
Uma: “Many townspeople came and gathered in the yard at Simon’s house.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “And the people of that town, gathered outside that house.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Very many people there in the village were gathered in the yard of the house where Jesus was.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “All the inhabitants also gathered outside the house where he was.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “There in front of the house was full of people for the whole town of people were there.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 1:12:
Uma: “After that, the Holy Spirit took Yesus to the wilderness [lit., empty field].” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “So-then immediately Isa was brought by the Holy Spirit into the lonely place.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And immediately then, Jesus was caused by the Holy Spirit to go into a place where nobody lived.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Right-then the Holy Spirit directed Jesus to the place that had no inhabitants.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Well after Jesus was baptized, he was at once taken by that Espiritu Santo who had-entered-to-indwell him, where he was taken to being a wilderness place.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Bariai: “And suddenly, the Straight Spirit sent Iesus so that he went to the desolate area.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
Kupsabiny: “The Holy Spirit immediately drove Jesus to the wilderness where there were also animals of the bush.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Mairasi: “From-that-happening Great Above One’s Spirit sent Yesus to the place where noisiness stops.” (Source Enggavoter 2004)
Balinese: “That had just happened. then Jesus, by the might of the Holy Spirit, went forth to the barren field.” (Source: J.L. Swellengrebel in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 75ff. )
English translation by Michael Pakaluk (2019): “So right away, the Spirit carries him out into the desert.”
