The Greek that is translated in English as “sanctify” or “sanctification” is translated in Balanta-Kentohe “separated to God.” (Source: Rob Koops)
Other translations include:
- San Blas Kuna: “giving a man a good heart”
- Panao Huánuco Quechua: “God perfects us”
- Laka: “God calls us outside to Himself” (“This phrase is derived from the practice of a medicine man, who during the initiation rites of apprentices calls upon the young man who is to follow him eventually and to receive all of his secrets and power. From the day that this young man is called out during the height of the ecstatic ceremony, he is identified with his teacher as the heir to his position, authority, and knowledge.”) (Source for this and above: Nida 1952, p. 147)
- Mairasi: “one’s life/behavior will be very straight” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
- Enlhet: “new / clean innermost” (“Innermost” or valhoc is a term that is frequently used in Enlhet to describe a large variety of emotions or states of mind (for other examples see here).) (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff.)
The Hebrew that is translated into “(taking) bribes” in English is rendered as “receive punch underneath” in Upper Guinea Crioulo.
The Greek that is translated in English as something like “stifle (or: extinguish) the Spirit” is translated in Balanta-Kentohe “don’t snuff out the fire of the Spirit of God.”
The Hebrew that is translated into “(acting) presumptuously” in English is rendered as “to lift shoulders” in Upper Guinea Crioulo.
The Hebrew and the Greek that are translated in English versions as “prophesy” are translated into Anuak as “sing a song” (source: Loren Bliese), into Balanta-Kentohe as “passing on message of God” (source: Rob Koops), and into Ixcatlán Mazatec with a term that does not only refer to the future, but is “speak on behalf of God” (source: Robert Bascom).
Other translations include: “God making someone to show something in advance” (Ojitlán Chinantec), “God causing someone to think and then say it” (Aguaruna), “speaking God’s thoughts” (Shipibo-Conibo), “God made someone say something” “Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac) (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125), and “say what God wants people to hear” (tell people God wod dat e gii oona fa say) (Gullah) (source: Robert Bascom).
In Luang it is translated with different shades of meaning:
- For Acts 3:18, 3:21, 3:25: nurwowohora — “mouth says words that don’t come from one’s own mind.” (“This term refers to an individual’s speaking words that are not his because either a good or bad spirit is at work through him. The speaker is not in control of himself.”)
- For Acts 19:6, Acts 21:9: nakotnohora — “talk about.” (“The focus of this term is on telling God’s message for the present as opposed to the future.”)
- For Acts 21:11: rora — “foretell” (“The focus of this term is giving God’s message concerning the future. The person who speaks is aware of what he is doing and he is using his own mind, yet it is with God’s power that he foretells the future.”)
Source: Kathy Taber in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 9-16.
See also prophet and prophesy / prophetic frenzy.
The Greek that is translated in English as “slave” (or “servant”) is translated in Balanta-Kentohe as “a bought person.”
The Greek term that is translated as “apostle(s)” in English is (back-) translated in the following ways:
- Eastern Highland Otomi, Tzeltal, Western Kanjobal, Western Highland Purepecha, Navajo, Copainalá Zoque, Chol, Balanta-Kentohe: “the sent ones”
- Kituba, Pamona, Mezquital Otomi, Central Pame: “messengers”
- Ngäbere: “word carriers”
- Southern Subanen: “those commanded to carry the message”
- San Blas Kuna: “witnesses to God” (meaning “those who speak up and out for God” (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida, except Balanta-Kentohe: Rob Koops)
- Mairasi: sasiri atatuemnev nesovnaa or “sent witnesses” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
- Ekari: “one-who-goes-and-tells-for-someone” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
- Khmer: “Christtout” (“messenger representing Christ”) or when Jesus addresses them: “Tout robas Preah Ang” (“his messengers-representatives”) (source: Joseph Hong in The Bible Translator 1996, p. 233ff.)
- Pwo Karen: “eyeballs” (i.e., “right-hand men”) (source: David Clark)
The Greek in 1 Peter 3:2 that is translated in English as “pure conduct” (or “chaste behavior”) is translated in Balanta-Kentohe as “good walk.” (Source: Rob Koops)
The standalone term that is translated as “pure” is translated in Mezquital Otomi as “that which cleanses one’s thoughts,” and in Alekano as “making our insides white.” (Source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.).
See also snow (color).
The Hebrew that is translated as “firmament,” “expanse,” or “dome” in English is translated in Roviana as galegalearane: “the open space between the earth and the sky” and in Moru as “empty space.”
In Idoma it is translated as okpanco — “the top of the sky.” “According to tradition, when the world began, the okpanco was low. A woman was pounding yams and her pestle kept hitting okpanco and it started going higher and higher.”
In Naskapi it is translated as “sky skin” — “like a caribou skin.”
(Sources: Roviana: Carl Gross; Moru: Jan Sterk; Idoma: Rob Koops; Naskapi: Doug Lockhart in Word Alive 2013)
In Lingala it is translated as “surface.” Sigurd F. Westberg (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 117ff.) explains: “The ‘firmament’ in Genesis 1 gave us another problem. Its meaning in English is certainly not immediately obvious. The dictionary tells us that the Hebrew means something close to our English word ’expanse*. It seems, however, that the Hebrew idea may not always have been as abstract as that, for Isaiah says that the Lord ‘stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.’ But the Greek word used in the Septuagint gives the idea of a firm and solid structure, and this is the idea that is carried out in our English word ‘firmament.’ Modern translations into English, Swedish, Norwegian and French take one or the other of these two leads. It is the predicament of the translator that he dare not hesitate too long between ideas. (…) In this case we tried to arrive at ’expanse’ by the use of a word meaning ’width,’ but we found that it is not really understandable except as it is associated with the noun of which it indicates the width. It cannot be used alone. The word we finally used means ‘surface,’ but it also has the idea of something stretched out or smoothed out. It is more concrete than we should like, but it does not require identity with a concrete object as does the word for width’.’
The Greek that is translated in English as “in the love of God” is translated in Balanta-Kentohe as “under the love of God.”
The Hebrew that is translated as “medium” in English is translated in Basa as “the people of the grave.”
The Greek that is rendered as “faithful” in English is (back-) translated in various ways:
- Toraja-Sa’dan: “honest/straight”
- Inupiaq: “unchangeable”
- Highland Totonac “who fulfils” (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
- Tsou: “actively following closely” (source: Peng Kuo-Wei)
- Mende: “doesn’t turn this way and that” (source: Rob Koops)
- Sinasina: “follow well” (source: ParaTExt Consultant Notes)
Enlhet “does not go past his word” (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff.)
See also faith / believe.