The Hebrew that is translated as “mighty arm” in English is translated in Newari as “the strongest arm of all” (source: Newari Back Translation).
complete verse (Genesis 28:15)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 28:15:
- Kankanaey: “It is moreover utterly true that I will be with you (sing.) continually so-that I will take-care-of you (sing.) wherever (lit. even-if where) you-(sing.)-go. Then I will also escort you (sing.) to return to this country here. I will not moreover leave/abandon you (sing.), but rather I will fulfill all that I promised to you (sing.),’ God said.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Newari: “I am with you. No matter where you go I will be caring for you. And I will bring you back here. I will not leave you until the work of [my] promise to you has been fulfilled.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
- Hiligaynon: “Always remember that I am-with you and I will-watch-over you wherever you go. I will-have- you -return to this land and I will- not -leave you until I have-fulfilled my promise to you.'” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
- English: “I will help you and protect you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you; I will continue to do for you all that I have promised to do.'” (Source: Translation for Translators)
discharge
The Hebrew that is translated as “discharge” or similar in English is translated in Kalanga with tjigwele, a term that refers to sexually transmitted diseases. (Source: project-specific notes in Paratext)
In Kwere, the term ufila is used which implies pus (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext) and in Newari it is translated as “disease of the semen.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
the land was very broad (1 Chronicles 4:40)
The Hebrew in 1 Chronicles 4:40that is translated as “the land was very broad” or similar in English is translated in Newari as “they found many nice and good places” (source: Newari Back Translation).
sailor
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “sailor(s)” in English is translated in Kouya as “worker(s) in the big canoe.”
Philip Saunders (p. 231) explains:
Acts chapter 27 was a challenge! It describes Paul’s sea voyage to Italy, and finally Rome. There is a storm at sea and a shipwreck on Malta, and the chapter includes much detailed nautical vocabulary. How do you translate this for a landlocked people group, most of whom have never seen the ocean? All they know are small rivers and dugout canoes.
We knew that we could later insert some illustrations during the final paging process which would help the Kouya readers to picture what was happening, but meanwhile we struggled to find or invent meaningful terms. The ‘ship’ was a ‘big canoe’ and the ‘passengers’ were ‘the people in the big canoe’; the ‘crew’ were the ‘workers in the big canoe’; the ‘pilot’ was the ‘driver of the big canoe’; the ‘big canoe stopping place’ was the ‘harbour’, and the ‘big canoe stopping metal’ was the ‘anchor’!”
In Rincón Zapotec, it is translated as “men having the care of the boat” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), in Newari as “the ones operating the ship” (source: Newari back-translation), and in Toposa as “people who turn the ship” or “workers on the ship” (source: Schröder 2026, p. 141).
plant / gourd / ivy
The Hebrew term for the plant that is translated in a variety of ways in English, including “vine,” “gourd,” or simply “plant” or “bush” has a long history of controversial translations.
Law (2013, p. 170) quotes from one of the letters of Augustine (354-430 AD) who was a strong defender of the Ancient Greek Septuagint translation: “In Oea [ancient city in present-day Tripoli, Libya], a bishop read from Jerome’s translation of Jonah, and because of the strange new rendering he almost lost his congregation. The [Greek] Bible of the church had ‘gourd’ (kolokýnthi / κολοκύνθῃ) in Jonah 4:6, but Jerome had changed it to the Latin word for ‘ivy’ [hedera]. The congregation in attendance fumed upon hearing the new translation and accused it of being ‘Judaized.’ Jews were called in to explain the rendering, and they claimed that Jerome was wrong and the Septuagint was right all along. Whether this actually happened is irrelevant. Augustine has either reported a real event or has created a literary fiction, but either way he provides a window into the struggle of parting with the church’s Bible in favor of Jerome’s new translation.”
This divergence in opinion can be seen up to the present day. Older Catholic versions that are based on the Latin Vulgate (for instance the English Douay-Rheims or the translation by Knox) will use a word for a climbing plant such as “ivy” or “vine,” other translations use a large variety of translations, including the “safe” choice “plant.” In the UBS handbook Plants and Trees in the Bible, Koops (2012, p. 127) says: “The identity of Jonah’s qiqayon plant has been debated since the days of St. Jerome and St. Augustine. [Several scholars] advocate the castor oil plant (Ricinus communis) as the qiqayon. But the King James Version’s ‘gourd’ has a long history, including its use in the Septuagint. The Vulgate translated qiqayon as hedera (‘ivy’) but that rendering has not had further botanical support. In 1955 an in-depth study of the literature going back as far as St. Jerome was made and its author votes hesitantly for the gourd (colocynth). Some scholars even suggest it could be an Assyrian word inserted in the story just to make it sound foreign, or even a made-up word.”
In Newari it is translated as “pumpkin plant” (source: Newari Back Translation).
See also cucumber, melon, and bottle gourd / calabash.