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.”
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)
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)
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 1:31:
Uma: “From there, he went to her sleeping-place, he held her hand, and he helped-her-get-up. She immediately got well, and she served them.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Isa went there and took the hand of the woman and caused her to get up. So-then she was already healed. Then she got up and they were fed by her.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Jesus went to her and took her by the hand and caused her to get up, and immediately the fever left, and she cooked a meal for Jesus and company.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Then Jesus approached her, and took-her-hand to help her to get-up. Right-then her fever was-removed, and she fed them.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Jesus approached that woman, took hold of (her) hand and sat her up. The fever of that woman immediately dropped and she prepared-food to set-a-meal for Jesus and company.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Shipibo-Conibo: “Then Jesus having neared her. raised her up, having hand-grasped her. Just then, having left the fever, she made them eat.” (Source: James Lauriault in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 32ff. )
Balinese: “Jesus then approached her, took her hand and made her rise up; verily, did the fever leave her, after which she served the people there.” (Source: J.L. Swellengrebel in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 75ff. )
English translation by Michael Pakaluk (2019): “And so, going to her, he raised her up by taking her hand. Well, the fever left her. So she began taking care of them.”
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 1:10:
Uma: “Thus after he was baptized, he came out of the water, and he saw heaven open and the Holy Spirit in-the-shape of a dove bird come down land on him.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “When Isa came out from the water, he saw the sky open and the Holy Spirit coming down to him like the appearance of a dove.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when Jesus came out of the water, immediately he saw heaven opened and the Holy Spirit came down on him like a dove.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “When Jesus came-out of the water, right-then he saw heaven being opened and the Holy Spirit like a pigeon/dove coming-down until it landed on him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Just as Jesus was coming-out-of-the-water, he saw that the sky/heaven suddenly/unexpectedly opened, and the Espiritu Santo of God came down to him, the body/physical-appearance being like a dove.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Shipibo-Conibo: “Then just as he walked up out of the water, he saw the sky opening up. He saw the Spotless Spirit coming like a dove and falling on himself.” (Source: James Lauriault in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 32ff. )
Balinese: “Just did He come up out of the water. then He saw the heaven splitting up and the Holy Spirit descending on Him as a dovebird.” (Source: J.L. Swellengrebel in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 75ff. )
English translation by Michael Pakaluk (2019): “And immediately, as he was emerging from the water, he saw heaven opened up and the Spirit coming down upon him as a dove.”
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 1:21:
Uma: “From there, Yesus with his followers went to Kapernaum-town. On the Yahudi worship day, he entered into the worship house and began to teach.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Isa and company went to the town Kapernaum. When Saturday came, the day of-no-work of the Yahudi, Isa went to the prayer-house to preach/teach to the people.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “They went to the town Capernaum, and when it was Saturday which is the Day of Rest, Jesus went into the Church of the Jews and there Jesus taught the people.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Plural Jesus went to Capernaum. On the day for-resting, they entered the sinagoga (synagogue), and Jesus began to teach.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “They went to Capernaum. When it was the Day of Rest, they entered the worship-place and then Jesus taught there.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Shipibo-Conibo: “Then they arrived at Capernaum. Then on the very day to rest, having entered into the small house to praise God in. he taught them.” (Source: James Lauriault in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 32ff. )
Balinese: “Then He together with those followers went to the city Kapernaum. There, when it was Sabat, He entered the place of worship and gave teaching.” (Source: J.L. Swellengrebel in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 75ff. )
English translation by Michael Pakaluk (2019): “So they make their way into Capernaum. And right away he began teaching in the synagogue there, on the Sabbath.”
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 usage (or a lack) 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. )
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 1:32:
Uma: “That late-afternoon , the sun was setting, many people came to Yesus bringing all who were sick or possessed by demons.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “When the sun had set, the people brought to Isa whoever was sick and those people (who were) demon possessed.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when the sun had gone down, all the sick and the afflicted with demons were brought by people to Jesus.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “As the sun was going-down, the inhabitants brought to Jesus all who were possessed by evil-spirits and the sick.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “When the sun set, all who were sick and were possessed by evil spirits were brought to Jesus.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Balinese: “When it was evening and the sun had set, all the sick people and those that were possessed by demons were brought before Jesus.” (Source: J.L. Swellengrebel in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 75ff. )
English translation by Michael Pakaluk (2019): “In the evening, when the sun set, they brought to him everyone who had something wrong, and everyone afflicted by devils.”
