The Hebrew that is translated in English as “basket” is translated in Newari as “bamboo basket.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
complete verse (Proverbs 3:5)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 3:5:
- Kupsabiny: “Trust God with all your stomach/heart. Do not depend on your own thoughts alone.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
- Newari: “Trust God from [your] inmost heart.
Don’t go just on your own understanding.” (Source: Newari Back Translation) - Hiligaynon: “[You (sing.)] trust in the LORD with all your (sing.) heart, and you (sing.) do- not -trust on your (sing.) own wisdom.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “Concentrate all your (sing.) thoughts to trust in God, so-that it will not be your (sing.) own understanding that you (sing.) trust-in.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Hdi: “In the grain grain of your heart, put your head on Yawe, do not go lean your body/self on your intelligence!” (Source: Drew Maust)
concubine
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “concubine” in English is translated in Kutu as “slave made to be his woman” or “female slave he married” and similarly in Makonde, “a slave who is/was a wife.”
In Kwere it is translated as “small wife.” This is the term for subsequent wives when polygamy is practiced among the Kwere. While they enjoy most of the same rights and privileges as the first wife, their status is not necessarily the same. In Kalanga it is likewise translated with balongwana or “small wife.” (Source for all: project-specific notes in Paratext)
In Newari it is translated as “illegitimate wife” (source: Newari Back Translation).
In Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) it is translated with a sign that shows a couple, in a legitimate union between a man and a woman with the left hand. The right hand refers to another woman, who is subordinate to the lawful wife; therefore, the X shape symbolizes “submission and obedience.” (Source: Missão Kophós )
“Abihail” in Libras (source )
Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Concubine .
in the image of God
The Hebrew that is translated in English as “in the image of God (he created them)” or similar is translated in Newari as “(He made them so that they) closely resembled God.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
with whole heart
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “with whole heart” in English is translated in Newari as “from in-most heart” (source: Newari Back Translation).
complete verse (Exodus 33:19)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 33:19:
- Kupsabiny: “God told Moses that, ‘I will come and pass in front of you so that you see my goodness then I will tell you my name. I will have mercy upon the one whom I have accepted to have mercy on and sympathize with the one I have accepted to sympathize with.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
- Newari: “He said, ‘I will show all my good works before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will have mercy on whom I want to have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I want to have compassion.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
- Hiligaynon: “The LORD answered, ‘I will-show to you all my goodness, and I will-mention to you my name, the LORD. I will-show-kindness to whom I want to show-kindness.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
- Bariai: “And then God said, ‘Right now I will show you (sing.) that I am a very good person, and so I will call my name Chief to you. Listen. If I want to have compassion (lit. have a wounded interior) toward someone, then I will have compassion toward him. And if I want to feel sorry for someone, then I will feel sorry for him.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
- Opo: “And he say to him «I will make my goodness [so that] it come pass you in front, calling my name namely Yahweh. Therefore, my heart will be good with one who my heart will become good with him, and it will be cold with one who it will be cold with him.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
- English: “Yahweh replied, ‘I will let you see how great and glorious I am, and I will tell you clearly that my name is Yahweh. I will act very kindly and be merciful to all those whom I choose.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
bronze
The Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “bronze” in English is translated in Newari as “bell-metal,” since bells are made of bronze in Nepal (source: Newari Back Translation).
See also bronze vessel.
large lyre / harp
The musical instrument that is most often translated as “harp” or “large lyre” in English is translated in the following ways:
- Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016: “two stringed instrument” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
- Hiligaynon: “instruments which have strings to praise you,” “beautiful to-be-listened-to instruments,” or kudyapi (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
- Newari: sarəngi (source: Newari Back Translation)
- Adilabad Gondi: karnaat (source: Adilabad Gondi Back-Translation)
- Nyakyusa-Ngonde: zeze (source: Nyakyusa-Ngonde back translation)
- Mairasi: kecapi (“like a ukulele”) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
- Natügu: “ukulele” (source: Brenda Boerger in Open Theology 2016, p. 179ff. )
- Cherokee: “musical instrument made of suspended wires” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 16)
In the UBS Helps for Translators‘ Human-made Things in the Bible (original title: The Works of Their Hands: Man-made Things in the Bible) it says the following:
Description: The exact identification of the nevel is very problematic. Some take it to be a kind of harp. The harp consisted of a neck projecting out of a soundbox. Strings were stretched from the extremity of the neck down its length and into the sound box. The body of the harp was made of wood and its strings of animal intestines (perhaps from sheep). The number of strings varied.
Others place the nevel in the category of lyres, where the strings are stretched over top of and parallel to the soundbox. While this is the interpretation preferred here, we will discuss the harp-type of instrument, since the identification is problematic and many translations have preferred “harp” for nevel.
Usage: The strings were plucked either with the fingers or with a thin piece of ivory or metal to give a resonating sound, probably in a lower register than that made by the kinor.
Translation: In several Psalms (33.2; 92.3; 144.9), the nevel is linked to the Hebrew word ‘asor, which could indicate it was “ten-stringed.”
Some degree of cultural adaptation must be made in the translation of these stringed instruments since cultures differ from each other in the shape, the number of strings, and the function of their instruments. Translators will have to select an equivalent instrument in the receptor language. In most passages the most accurate translation for nevel will be “guitar” or some equivalent medium-sized stringed instrument on which the strings are stretched over a sound box and are plucked.
In those passages where nevel and kinor appear together it is recommended that the translator use an instrument that can vary in size and then render the two words as “large and small X,” for example, “large and small guitars.” Alternately, it may be possible to select two stringed instruments that are similar in construction but different in size, for example, “guitar and lute.” It is also possible to say “large and small stringed instruments” or to combine the two, saying “stringed instruments.”
Psalms 33:2: “Praise the LORD with the lyre” (New Revised Standard Version, updated edition) contains two major translation problems. The first problem is that in many languages, the phrase “with the lyre” must be changed into a verb phrase or clause; for example, the whole line may be rendered “Praise the LORD by playing music on the lyre” or “Make music with the lyre, and praise the LORD.” The second problem, which applies also to the second line of this verse, is the terms to be used for the musical instruments here. In languages in which there are several stringed instruments, translators may use one of the smaller ones for kinor (“lyre”) and a larger one for nevel (“harp” in New Revised Standard Version, updated edition). In languages where there is little or no choice, they should use the known local stringed instrument for the kinor, and a more generic expression for the nevel. Where there are no known stringed instruments, it will often be necessary to say “small instruments with strings” for kinor and “large instruments with strings” for nevel.
Harp (source: Knowles, revised by Bass (c) British and Foreign Bible Society 1994)
Quoted with permission.