Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 2:14:
- Noongar: “‘Great, great thanks to God, high in his Holy Country, and peace on our Earth. Peace to all good people. God is happy with them.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
- Uma: “‘Come let us worship God who is in heaven! and on earth, people whom he likes receive goodness of life.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “‘God is worthy to be praised in heaven and on earth may the people who please God be in peace/have peace.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “they said, ‘Let us (inc.) praise God who is in Heaven. And here on the earth may the situation become peaceful of all those people with whom God is pleased.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “‘God in heaven is honored/praised. The people on earth who make-him-happy will-be-at-peace.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “‘Praise God who is in the high-part of the sky/heaven. And here under the heavens, peace/protection of mind/inner-being is what he will give to people who are pleasing to him.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Kupsabiny: “God is big/great in heaven/up | peace is coming | to people who please/love God.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
- Bariai: “Let’s lift up Deo’s name who is living very high up! | And the people on earth whom Deo is happy with, his action of peace (lit. “of a smooth interior”) remains with them.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
- Mairasi: “‘We who are in the Heaven, we must honor Great Above One [God]! And then you guys, you who live in the world, you who are in Above-One’s vision [who are pleasing to Him], good peace is intended to be yours!’ said they.” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)
- Hausa Common Language Bible: “’Glory to God over there in heaven! | On earth let peace it remain | together with those whom God he feels pleasure of them!’” (Source: Hausa Common Language Back Translation)
- Pfälzisch translation by Walter Sauer (publ. 2012): “Honor belongs to God in heaven | and peace shall reign on earth | among the people | because he loves them.”
- Low German translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006: “Praise and honor for God the Lord above | and peace down here on earth for people who mean it with all their heart and have the favor.”
- Hawai’i Creole English: “Up in heaven where God lives, | may he continue to be awesome! | And here on earth | If God likes what people are doing | He’ll make their hearts rest within them.” (Source for this and two above: Zetzsche)
- English: “‘God is great! He lives in the highest place above. | He will bless the people on earth who please him. | They will have peace in their minds.’” (Source: EasyEnglish Bible)
- English: “‘May all the angels in the highest heaven praise God! And on the earth may the people to whom God has shown his favor have peace with him!’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The Greek in Romans 8:31 that is translated as “if God is for us” in English is translated as
- “if God is in fellowship with us” in Chicahuaxtla Triqui
- “if God does not abandon us” in Miahuatlán Zapotec
- “if God is united with us” in Yatzachi Zapotec
- “God is the one who helps us” in Huehuetla Tepehua
- “God himself loves us” in Teutila Cuicatec
- “if God is in our favor” in Isthmus Zapotec
- “if God is our helper” in Highland Totonac (source for this above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
- “if God is ours” in Kupsabiny (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
- “if God is on our side” in Low German translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006
- “we can say that God is really defending us” in Hiligaynon (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
- “now we are friends with God” in Tenango Otomi (source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
- “if Above-One is the One who guards us” in Mairasi (source: Enggavoter 2004)
The Greek in Matthew 9:23 that is translated in English as “flute players” (who were hired to express grief) is translated in Muna as “flute players” as well but has an explanatory note in brackets following the translation “[as-a-sign of grief].”
René van den Berg explains: “Music in Muna is always associated with joyous occasions, and to indicate that the presence of the flute players was perfectly normal then (such people were often hired musicians) the explanatory note in brackets was added.”
in Kankanaey it is translated as “nose-fluters” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation), in Tagbanwa as “players of stringed-instruments” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation), and in Tenango Otomi as “musicians” (source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation).
See also flute (Jeremiah 48:36) and flute.
The Greek that is typically translated as “virtue” or “excellence” in English is translated in other languages in the following ways:
- Doondo / Bhele / Komo: “good behavior” (source: Madel M’Pandzou; Ung’i Atido)
- Bariai: “good behaviors” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
- Mairasi “improved lives/behavior” (Enggavoter 2004)
- Bali / Bila / Vanuma: “goodness” (source: Ung’i Atido)
- Ngiti (Ndruna): “doing good” (source: Ung’i Atido)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “good works” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “really good nature/ways” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “earnestly live good” (source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
- Hausa: “character of goodness” (Hausa Common Language Back Translation)
- Mandarin Chinese: déxíng 德行 or “moral behavior” (Protestant) / yìlì 毅力 or “willpower” (Catholic)
- English EasyEnglish Bible (publ. 2018): “try to do what is good”
- Low German translation by Johannes Jessen (publ. 1937, republ. 2008): “stand your ground as a Christian”
- Pennsylvania Dutch: goot layva or “good life”
- Mukulu (Guerguiko): sooru ki diine or “walk in the middle” (source: Barnabas Al-Nadif Nidjei)
- Bokoto (Bhogoto): dɛɛmɔ nɛ riwarɛɛ or “behavior on the path (of life)” (source: Adam Huntley)
- Budu-Nita translation by CITBA (Centre Interconfessionnel de la Traduction de la Bible et Alphabétisation): mʉkyananakɨa wɔta uɗo or “good character” (source: François Anzabati)
- Ngiemboon : mà wembóŋo or “good habit,” i.e. something that is recognized as the right way to do things (source: Moise Yonta)
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 10:6:
- Uma: “But there are other words of Musa that say we can become straight in God’s sight because of our faith. They sound like this: ‘Don’t say in your (sing.) heart: ‘Who is able to climb up to heaven? Who can go down to the dwelling of the dead?’ ‘ Its meaning: it is not necessary for us to climb up to heaven to search for goodness [i.e., salvation], because Kristus has already come down here to us. Nor is it necessary for us to go down to the dwelling of the dead to search for goodness, because Kristus, has risen from the dead to give us goodness.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “But just one thing must/ought be done by us (dual) so that we (dual) are considered straight by God, we (dual) must trust Isa Almasi. And about this there is also (something) written in the holy-book, it says, ‘Don’t say (pl.), ‘There should be first someone going to heaven,’ ‘ (that means to get Almasi to bring him here to earth.)” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “However, concerning the regarding people that can be means of faith, there’s also a written word which says, ‘You must not suppose that we (incl.) can only be considered righteous by God if someone goes to Heaven to get Christ.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “But there is also that which God caused-to-be-written which makes-known to us that the righteousness based on faith is not difficult to gain/enjoy. It/He says, ‘Don’t say to yourselves (lit. with your minds) that someone needs to go to heaven to go call Cristo to come-down here.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “But there is the word about how God clears our sins. He clears our sins because we believe in Jesus Christ. Because it is written ‘Therefore let no one say that is necessary to go to heaven to bring back Christ to save him. Because he has already come.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
- Huehuetla Tepehua: “But this is what the word of God says about those who have put their confidence in Christ and because of that they are seen as if their life was straight before God. He said: Don’t say in your heart, Who can go up to heaven so that he could bring Christ here to this world to help us?”
- Teutila Cuicatec: “As for God justifying those who believe, perhaps there are those who scoff and say as follows: ‘Just who has ever gone to heaven and seen if Jesus Christ came from there?'” (Source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
The Greek in John 14:6 that is translated as “no one comes to the father, but by me” is translated in various ways:
- Huehuetla Tepehua: “one can’t go to my Father unless he is saved by me”
- Aguaruna: “no one, just by himself, is able to arrive where my Father is, but with me he is able to arrive”
- Asháninka: “no one just goes to my Father. I am the one who will take you”
- Yanesha’: “no one approaches to where Father is if they do not first come to me”
- Chol: “there is no one who will arrive where my Father is, except those who are in my care
- Alekano: “by passing me there is no way to approach my Father” (source for this and above: John Beekman in Notes on Translation 12, November 1964, p. 1ff.)
- Kupsabiny “nobody can go to my Father’s Homestead if he does not pass through me” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “There’s no-one who can go there to God the Father unless I am the trail he travels” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “Only those who believe in me will arrive where my Father is” (source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The Greek that is usually translated as “the whole land” in English is translated in
- Uma as “all over the village” (source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan as “that whole place/country” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo as “the whole world” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi as “all the earth” (source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Catholic translations that rely on the Latin Vulgate‘s ambiguous totam terram (which, just as the Greek, could refer to the terrestrial globe or a particular place of land) tend to also stay ambiguous. The Spanish Reina Valera has toda la tierra and the English Douay Rheims likewise reads the whole earth. (Source: Knox 1949, p. 20)
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “fringe” or “tzitzit” in many English translations is translated in Uma as “the decorations [lit.: “fruit”] of clothes” (source: Uma Back Translation), in Tenango Otomi as “clothing that reaches the ground” (source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation) and in Mairasi as “wings of the garments” (source: Enggavoter 2004).
In Bura-Pabir a term is used that is traditionally used for the tassels worn on clothes by hunters. (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
In Paasaal it is translated as “cloth mouth.” (Source: Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
See also suspended and their fringes long.
Click or tap here to see a short video clip about tzitzvits (source: Bible Lands 2012)
