Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Kings 6:2:
Kupsabiny: “So, allow us to go to the river Jordan to cut down trees and we build where we can stay/live.’ Elisha answered, ‘Go (plur.).’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Shall we go to the Jordan River to get wood? We will build a house to live in." Elisha replied, "It’s all right, go."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “So let- us (incl.) -go to the River Jordan where there are many trees. Let- us (incl.) -make there a place where we can-gather.’ Elisha said, ‘Alright, you (plur.) go now.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Allow us to go to the Jordan River and cut down some trees to make logs to build a new meeting place.’ So Elisha said, ‘Okay, go.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Lamentations 1:22:
Kupsabiny: “Look at all their sins and punish them also like you have done to me for all the sins that I have done. I groan with many words until it is like I am going to faint.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “May all their evil deeds come before you. Punish them as you have punished me for my sins. My groanings are many and my heart is totally exhausted.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Look-at their wicked doing, and punish them as you punish me because of all my sins. There is no stopping of my groaning and feeling hurts.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Yahweh, see all the evil things that they have done and punish them! Punish them like you have punished us for all the sins that we committed! We say this to you because we suffer and groan very much, and we faint/are very sad.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Judges 12:2:
Kupsabiny: “Jephthah answered those people, ‘The people of Ammon went on raids against us. But I called you and you did not come to save us.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Jephthah responded — "My men and I had started a great struggle with the Ammonites. And I called to you for help but you did not deliver us from their hand.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “But Jefta said to them, ‘When our fighting was great against the Ammonhon, I asked-for help from you (plur.). But you (plur.) did- not -help me.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Jephthah replied, ‘The Ammon people-group were oppressing us greatly. When we were prepared to start to attack them, I requested you to come and help us, but you refused. My men and I defeated the Ammon people-group, but you did not help us.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Song of Solomon 5:11:
Kupsabiny: “His head is beautiful like gold and his hair is completely black! His hair beautifully combed.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “His head is purest gold, his hair is wavy his hair is black as a crow.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “His head (is) more precious than gold. His head-hair (is) wavy/a-little-curly and (is) just as black as a raven/crow.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “His head is beautiful, like purest gold; his hair is wavy and as black as a raven/crow.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 14:41:
Kupsabiny: “But Moses said, ‘Why are you in the process of refusing the words that God is saying? You will not succeed at all!” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “But Moses said, "Why do you disobey the command of the LORD? What you are about to do will not succeed.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “But Moises said, ‘Why do you (plur.) disobey the command of the LORD that you (plur.) return to the desert first? You (plur.) will- never -be-successful!” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “But Moses/I said, ‘Yahweh commanded you to return to the desert, so why are you now disobeying him ? It will not succeed/be possible.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Zechariah 14:16:
Kupsabiny: “Every year the remainder of those communities that had fought against Jerusalem shall come to worship the God of authority as their king and celebrate the Festival of Shelters.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Then all the survivors of the nations that had attacked Jerusalem will go to Jerusalem every year to worship the LORD Almighty as King and to celebrate the Festival of Shelters.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “‘Then all (of those) left from the nations that have-attacked Jerusalem will-go-up to this city each year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Building of the Shelters.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “The people of other nations who previously came to fight against Jerusalem, all those who are still alive, will return to Jerusalem every year to worship the King, the Commander of the armies of angels, and to celebrate the Festival of Living in Temporary Shelters.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
German translation by Fridolin Stier (1989): “false (or: perverted) spirit (Abergeist).
Adioukrou: abŋ ŋuŋ, originally “evil spirit (‘the spiritual/invisible part of a person that leaves the body at death, not an independent spirit being’).” “Exactly what abŋ ŋuŋ evokes for Adioukrou is the question. One thing Adioukrou know is that when a person’s abŋ leaves his or her body after death, it can enter someone else and speak through them to reveal the cause of death, a practice forbidden by the church. It is clear to all that abŋ eŋuŋ in Scripture is not speaking of this, however, because contexts that involve evil spirits in Scripture do not involve the Adioukrou post-mortem interrogation of a corpse. (…) Although the expression abŋ ŋuŋ is made up of Adioukrou words, it does not refer to a category in the Adioukrou worldview.” (Source: Hill 2006)
Sissala: kaŋtɔŋ, which traditionally referred to “either a spirit of natural phenomena such as trees, rivers, stones, etc., or the spirit of a deceased person that has not been taken into the realm of the dead. Kaŋtɔŋ can be good or evil. Evil kaŋtɔŋ can bring much harm to people and are feared accordingly. A kaŋtɔŋ can also dwell in a person living on this earth. A person possessed by kaŋtɔŋ does not behave normally.” (Source: Regina Blass in Holzhausen 1991, p. 48f.)
Umiray Dumaget Agta: hayup or “creature, animal, general term for any non-human creature, whether natural or supernatural.” Thomas Headland (in: Notes on Translation, September 1971, p. 17ff.) explains some more: “There are several types of supernatural creatures, or spirit beings which are designated by the generic term hayup. Just as we have several terms in English for various spirit beings (elves, fairies, goblins, demons, imps, pixies) so have the Dumagats. And just as you will find vast disagreement and vagueness among English informants as to the differences between pixies and imps, etc., so you will find that no two Dumagats will agree as to the form and function of their different spirit beings.” This term can also be used in a verb form: hayupen: “creatured” or “to be killed, made sick, or crazy by a spirit.”
Yala: yapri̍ija ɔdwɔ̄bi̍ or “bad Yaprija.” Yaprijas are traditional spirits that have a range presumed activities including giving or withholding gifts, giving and protecting children, causing death and disease and rewarding good behavior. (Source: Eugene Bunkowske in Notes on Translation 78/1980, p. 36ff.)
Lamnso’: aànyùyi jívirì: “lesser gods who disturb, bother, pester, or confuse a person.” (Source: Fanwong 2013, p. 93)
Paasaal: gyɩŋbɔmɔ, “beings that are in the wild and can only be seen when they choose to reveal themselves to certain people. They can ‘capture’ humans and keep them in hiding while they train the person in herbalism and divination. After the training period, which can range from a week to many years, the ‘captured’ individual is released to go back into society as a healer and a diviner. The gyɩŋbɔmɔ can also be evil, striking humans with mental diseases and causing individuals to get lost in the wild. The Pasaale worldview about demons is like that of others of the language groups in the area, including the Northern Dagara [who use kɔ̃tɔmɛ with a similar meaning].” (Source: Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
In the still widely-used 1908 Tswana (also: Setswana) translation (by Robert Moffat, revised by Alfred Wookey), the term badino or “ancestor spirit” is used for “demon,” even though in the traditional understanding there is nothing inherently negative associated with that term. Musa Dube (in: Journal of Society of New Testament 73, 1999, p. 33ff. ) describes this as an example of “engaging in the colonization of the minds of natives and for advancing European imperial spaces. The death and burial of Setswana culture here was primarily championed through the colonization of their language such that it no longer served the interests of the original speakers. Instead the written form of language had equated their cultural beliefs with evil spirits, demons and wizardry. This colonization of Setswana was in itself the planting of a colonial cultural bomb, meant to clear the ground for the implantation of a worldwide Christian commonwealth and European consciousness. It was a minefield that marked Setswana cultural spaces as dangerous death zones, to be avoided by every intelligent Motswana reader or hearer of the translated text.”
In Kachin, the term Nat (or nat) us used for “demon” (as well as “devil” and “unclean/evil spirit“). Like in Tswana, the meaning of Nat is not inherently negative but can be positive in the traditional Nat worship as well. Naw Din Dumdaw (in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 94ff.) argues that “the demonization of Nat created a social conflict between Kachin Christians and Kachin non-Christians. Kachin converts began to perceive their fellow Kachins who were still worshipping Nats as demonic and they wanted to distance themselves from them. Likewise, the Nat-worshiping Kachin community perceived the Kachin converts as betrayers and enemies of their own cultural heritage. (…) The demonization of the word Nat was not only the demonization of the pre-Christian religion but also the demonization of the cultural heritage of the Kachin people. When the word Nat is perceived as demonic, it creates an existential dilemma for Kachin Christians. It distances them from their cultural traditions.”
