The Greek in Matthew 13:48 that is translated as “threw out the bad” or similar in English is translated in the German translation by Fridolin Stier (1989) as “threw out the spoiled (or: “rotten”).”
break the Sabbath
Let anyone with ears to hear listen
The Greek that is translated as “Let anyone with ears to hear listen” or similar in English was translated in Costa Rican Sign Language as “If you want to understand, understand!” (See also Mark 4:1-9 in Mexican Sign Language and Mark 4:1-9 in Russian Sign Language.)
Elsa Tamez (in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 59ff. ) explains: “A literal translation of this verse: ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’ (Luke 8:8) is not appropriate for the Deaf community; it is difficult to understand and it can easily be misunderstood. Deaf people have ‘ears to hear’ but they cannot hear.”
In Tzotzil it is translated as “You all who with one heart want to learn, think about what I said,” in San Mateo Del Mar Huave as “Every one of you have heard this story. Now put it in your hearts,” in Gwichʼin as “He that will hear me, let him pay attention to me” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.), and in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) as Denkt gut darüber nach or “Think about it carefully.”
In the German translation by Fridolin Stier (1989) it is translated as “Whoever has ears that are able to hear: listen.”
Willy Wiedmann rendered this phrase artistically in the following way:
Click here to see the image in higher resolution.
Image taken from the Wiedmann Bible. For more information about the images and ways to adopt them, see here .
For other images of Willy Wiedmann paintings in TIPs, see here.
not partial to any
The Greek that is often translated as “(you are) not partial to any” into English is translated as “you do not look at what is on the surface” into Shipibo-Conibo) and “you do not just see a man’s face” into Copainalá Zoque (source: Bratcher / Nida).
In Gumuz it is translated as “you do not look into face of men” (= do not make people bigger) (source: Loren Bliese) which is the same way the German translation by Fridolin Stier (1989) translates it.
The German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) as unparteiisch und unbestechlich or “impartial and incorruptible.”
the one who is from God
net
The Greek terms that are used for what is translated as “net” in English are translated in languages like Navajo (Dinė) where fishing with nets is not known as “instruments to catch (or: bring out) the fish.” (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
In Rundi the term urusenga is used. Rosemary Guillebaud (in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 15ff. ) tells this story:
“[People living close to lakes] produced further problems for us over fishing terms when we reached the revision of the Gospels. Fishing is practically unknown in the mountain streams and rivers, so there is hardly any vocabulary for it up-country. In Mat. 4:18 we read that Jesus saw two brethren “casting a net into the sea.” The word we used for net (urusenga) is used all over Rundi for a fishing net, whatever it is like, but when I read this to some people who live by the lake they said it was the wrong word, as from the context this happened during the daytime, and urusenga-fishing is only done at night. It appears that the urusenga is something like a shrimping net, and is used on moonless nights, when the fishermen hold flares over the side of the boat and attract a certain variety of very small fish which swim about in shoals. The net they use for day-time fishing is something like a drag-net and is called urukwabu. On enquiry inland, I never discovered a single person who knew this word. It was obviously the right one, technically speaking, but we felt that the few thousand lake-dwellers could not be weighed against almost the entire population of the country, so we had to employ the up-country word, putting an explanatory note in the margin that by the lake this net is called urukwabu.”
In Matthew 13:47 the German translation by Fridolin Stier (1989) translates it as “drag net” (Schleppnetz).
Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing net-fishing in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
my soul is troubled
The Greek in John 12:27 that is translated as “my soul is troubled” or similar in English is translated in the German translation by Fridolin Stier (1989) as “my life is all shook up (or: discombobulated)” (mein Leben ist durcheinandergeraten).
the one destined to be lost
The Greek in John 17:12 that is translated as ” the one destined to be lost” or similar in English is translated in the German translation by Fridolin Stier (1989) as “‘son of demise'” (‘Sohn des Untergangs’).