Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 2:9:
- Uma: “Every person who does evil will suffer/groan and have difficulty, beginning with the Jews, down to [lit., arrive-arrive at] the people who are not Jews also.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “All who do bad are given trouble by God and they are made to suffer/be-in-tight-place. Not only the Yahudi but including the other tribes/nations also.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For everyone who does wickedly, especially Jews extending to non-Jews, hardship and trouble is what He will punish them with.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “Yes, all who do evil will experience extreme pain and hardship/suffering, especially the Jews but so also the Gentiles.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “Great suffering will be what comes to all who live in evil. Not only for Jews, but also those who are not Jews, overflowing will be the pain.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
- Teutila Cuicatec: “Sinners of all nations, especially those of the nation of Israel, will suffer, God punishing them.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 8:32:
- Uma: “Even his own Child he was not stingy with, he ordered him here to die in place of us all. So if-even his own Child he was not stingy with, certainly he will also give us every sort of thing.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “God did not hold back his Child/Son but he surrendered/yielded (him) to be killed for the good of us (incl.) all. If he could do that we (incl.) are assured that he will really give us (incl.) all we (incl.) need.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Because even his son Jesus, He did not set his heart on (this word means He did not hold him back so as not to allow him to be used fo anything) but rather He sent him in order that he might let himself be killed as a substitute for us (incl.). If His kindness to us is like that, it’s not possible that He will not also give us everything that He promised us.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “Because even his own (lit. exact) Child, he didn’t protect him but rather he turned-him -over to be punished for us all. If God did that to his Child for us, is it perhaps possible that he won’t also give us all we need?” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “God did not hold back from sending his Son to die for us. Thus we realize that all the words God said he would give us he will surely give.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
- Hopi: “For God was not stingy with his Son but he turned him over to death for all of us. And having done that, clearly he will give to us all things freely.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 14:12:
- Uma: “So, every one of us must answer God’s questions about our behavior.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “So-then all of us (incl.) ought/must tell to God about what we (incl.) have done here in the world.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And at that time, we (incl.) will have to be before God and He will check up on us and we will have to tell Him about everything that we did here on the earth.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “Therefore God is the one each one of us will face so that we will tell him what we have done.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “Therefore at that time each one of us will give account to God concerning how we have lived.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
- Huehuetla Tepehua: “Each of us will really tell God what we have done here in this world.”
- Central Tarahumara: “Thus it is very sure that each one of us will confess to God how we ourselves have done.”
- Isthmus Zapotec: “That is the way it is: God is the one to show the deeds of each one.”
- Teutila Cuicatec: “Because of this we knew that God will have to judge each one of us.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 3:23:
- Uma: “For we have all sinned, and we are not fit/worth to get/obtain a share in God’s glory [lit. God’s bigness of life].” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “All have equally sinned, there is not even one of them praised by God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “All mankind have sinned and they do not count even as much as one fingernail toward the very high rank of God.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “Because all of us have sinned, and we cannot attain/reach God’s goodness.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “For all people have sin. No one comes out doing that good God wants that people do.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
- Tzeltal: “We all have sin. Equally we have not been able to equal the goodness of God.”
- Huehuetla Tepehua: “All men have sinned. There is no one really straight like God has measured it.”
- Isthmus Zapotec: “We have all of us sinned and now not one of us is worth anything in God’s sight.”
- Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “And all of them have committed sin and God can’t say a good word about any of them because all of them fail to become good.” (Source for this and three above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 10:8:
- Uma: “Musa also says like this: ‘The News of the Lord is just close-by, it is on our lips and it is in our heart.’ This [cataphoric] is the news that we announce to all people, the news of faith:” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “Because it is said in the holy-book, ‘God’s message is there with you already. You are able to/can speak it and put it away/store it in your livers.’ That means the message we (excl.) proclaimed to you about how God forgives and considers straight the ones who trust Isa Almasi.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For there is another written word of God which tells us that it is very easy for us to believe in the word of God, as for the word of God, it is already here with us, and it’s possible for us to tell it to other people. And as for this word of God about believing in Christ, this is also what we preached.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “Because God’s word is near you. It is in your minds and you can tell-about it.’ This word of God is what we (excl.) are preaching concerning faith saying:” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “Now it isn’t necessary that you search about this word concerning how people’s sins are cleared. Because the word is written which says: ‘This word now, is not far from you. You are now speaking this word. It is in your hearts now’ it says. This word it is speaking of is the word I tell you to believe in.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
- Highland Totonac: “But what does it say? It says that God’s word, it is already close by, even so that you can say it and you can store it in your heart. It is this same word that we preach to you about faith.”
- Huehuetla Tepehua: “Well, what does the word of God say about the straight life? This is what it says: The word about the straight life isn’t hard to find. Just say it with your mouth and believe it with your heart. That word that I told you when I said that it is necessary for you to have confidence in Christ.” (Source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, translators typically select the exclusive form (excluding the readers of the letter). Chicahuaxtla Triqui, one the other hand, selects the inclusive form.
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff. and Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 1:5:
- Uma: “By the lips of that Yesus, God gave me a big blessing, appointing [lifting] me as his apostle [messenger], so that I take the Good News to people all over the world, teaching them to believe and submit to the Lord Yesus, so that the name of Yesus is made-big.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “Because of Isa Almasi I was given work/doing by God. I was commissioned by him to proclaim the good news so that there would be some from all nations/peoples/tribes that I would carry/influence to be people trusting and following/obeying Isa Almasi so that he can-be-praised/is-praised.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Through Christ sending me, I was given wisdom and God made me an apostle, which is to say, send one, in order that Jesus might be honored. The reason that he did this was so that I might teach the people who aren’t Jews in the towns everywhere, so that they might obey and believe Jesus Christ.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “Because of him, God showed-me -kindness/grace and made me an apostle so that I would persuade people in all countries/towns to believe and obey Cristo so that he would be praised/honored.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “Jesus Christ did me the favor of giving me the work of being his representative. He wants that in whatever land I tell the good news to the people and that they will believe, they will do what it says. By this then the people will praise Jesus Christ.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
- Hopi: “Because of Him, God through his pity sent me to preach in order that I might speak the good message to all people in order to persuade some. And then they will walk according to our beliefs. In doing this I make Jesus Christ very big.”
- Central Mazahua: “Jesus Christ looked on me well. He sent me to do his work, in order that the people in the world will believe-obey, listen-obey him.”
- Central Tarahumara: “And Jesus Christ very lovingly sent us to preach in his name, so that the people who live in all the world, believing well, should reverence Jesus Christ himself.” (Source for this and two above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 5:15:
- Uma: “But the work of Adam and the work of Yesus are indeed different. The free gift [lit., dry gift] of God to us is bigger than the transgression of Adam. From the transgression of that one person, all mankind die. But indeed bigger is the goodness of God’s heart that he gave freely to mankind with the mediation of Yesus Kristus.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “But they are different because we (dual)/one cannot compare the sin done by Apu’ Adam and the love-gift of God. For because of the sin done by one person only, Apu’ Adam, the destiny of all men is to die. But much greater/important is the good done by one person also, Isa Almasi, for because-of what he did many people can receive the love-gift of God, that means his love and pity/mercy to them.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But the two of them are not the same, because the transgression of the one is not like the becoming righteous which God makes possible. Adam was just one person, but because of his transgression all mankind die. And in spite of that, much greater was that which was made possible by means of the kindness of God; for because of the kindness of one man also, who is Jesus Christ, God gave righteousness and He made many people righteous.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “But admittedly the outcome of what they did was not the same, because what God gifted on account of Cristo is far different from what happened on account of Adan’s sin. Because due to the sin of that one, all people were condemned to die, but much-weightier is the outcome of God’s grace and what he gifted to all people because of the grace of the one who was Jesu Cristo.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “Here is what happened because of Adam’s sinning and here is what happened because of the grace of God which was given us. Adam committed sin, and thus many people had brought on them that they die. But Jesus Christ is the one who brought us God’s grace and many people had brought on them that they will be saved. It is more powerful what Jesus did than what Adam did.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
- Central Mazahua: “What Adam gave us is not at all like what Jesus Christ gave us. Many people died because one person did sin, who is Adam. It was given to many people that God would look on them well, that they would live, because one person did good, who is Jesus Christ.”
- Teutila Cuicatec: “Adam’s sin was not the same as God’s mercy for us. Because of that one person all people owed sin but that’s not how it was with God’s mercy. He sent our Lord Jesus Christ and that one person in all love saved a great many people.” (Source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
