The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “casting” or “drawing lots” in English is often translated with a specific idiom, such as “to take out bamboo slips” — 掣 籤 chè qiān (in most Mandarin Chinese Bibles), “each to pick-up which is-written (i.e. small sticks inscribed with characters and used as slots)” (Batak Toba), a term for divination by means of reed stalks (Toraja-Sa’dan).
In some cases a cultural equivalent is not available, or it is felt to be unsuitable in this situation, e.g. in Ekari where “to spin acorns” has the connotation of gambling, one may have to state the fact without mentioning the means, e.g. “it came to him” (source for this and all above: Reiling / Swellengrebel). In Shipibo-Conibo there was no equivalent for “casting lots” so the translation for Mark 15:24 is descriptive: “they shook little things to decide what each one should take” (source: Nida 1952, p. 47).
Chol: “choose by a game” (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125)
Lalana Chinantec: “there were little round things that they played with which made evident who it would be who would be lucky” (source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation, March 1965, p. 2-20)
Chichimeca-Jonaz: “threw one or two little hard things that had a sign…to see which person it would be”
Ayutla Mixtec: “put out luck” (Source for this and five above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Lacandon: “play with small stones in order to see who was going to win” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
Matumbi: mpumbe a game of chance, typically done with a stone hidden in one hand while you present two fists to a guesser (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
In North Alaskan Inupiatun a term for “gambling” is used. The same Inupiatun term is also used in Esther 3:7, “though there winning and losing is not in view, but rather choosing by chance” (source: Robert Bascom)
The stand-alone term that is translated “lots” in English is translated as “two pieces of potsherd” in Highland Totonac. (Source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.)
The Greek in Romans 8:39 that is translated in English as “nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” or similar is translated into Tezoatlán Mixtec as “And nothing that God has made is able to cause that God stops loving us, for He shows His great love for us through what Jesus Christ, our Lord, did for us.” (Source: John Williams in the Seeing Scripture Anew blog.)
Just the latter part (“separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord”) is translated as “make God forget us so that he won’t love us who have put our confidence in our chief Jesus Christ” in Huehuetla Tepehua, as “God on account of Jesus Christ our Lord loves us. And therefore nothing which is made can tear us away from him.” in Hopi, and as “cause that God should lose his grip on us because God loves us thanks to Jesus Christ our Lord” in Chicahuaxtla Triqui. (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
Teutila Cuicatec: “people from other nations who believe the same as those of the nation of Israel”
Chuj: “those who have received the religion of the Israel people”
Morelos Nahuatl: “those who entered the religion of the Jews”
Lalana Chinantec: “those who worship God as the Israel people do”
Chichimeca-Jonaz: “those who joined with the Jews because they went to believing like them”
Falam Chin: “those who entered/joined the Jews’ religious party from other tribes” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
The Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated in English as “reptiles” or “creeping things” or similar is translated as “those which crawl along upon their stomach” in San Mateo del Mar Huave, “those that crawl the way they travel” in Chichimeca-Jonaz, and “animals that crawl on the ground” in Lalana Chinantec. (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
In Nyamwezi it is translated as as vitundwa vya ku’yu’mba or “creatures that move.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
The Hebrew words zachal and remes literally mean “creeping [things]” or “crawling [things]”, which is the Hebrew way of referring to small unclean creatures, reptiles in particular. The Greek word herpeton is also a general word for reptile; it includes snakes and lizards. All of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin words usually exclude fish.
The Hebrew words carry the connotation of uncleanness.
In languages which have a word meaning “reptile”, this will fit most contexts. In languages which do not, phrases such as “snakes and lizards”, “wriggling things”, and so forth could be used.
The Greek that is often translated as “flesh” in English (when referring to the lower human nature) can, according to Nida (1947, p. 153) “very rarely be literally translated into another language. ‘My meat’ or ‘my muscle’ does not make sense in most languages.” He then gives a catalog of almost 30 questions to determine a correct translation for that term.
The Toraja-Sa’dan translation uses a variety of terms for the translation of the same Greek term (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight)
A form of kale tolinona or “corporeal” is for instance used in Romans 9:5 or Colossians 1:22 (and also in Genesis 6:3 and Exodus 30:32)
A form of mentolinona or “the human” is for instance used in Matthew 16:17 or John 1:14
Phrases that include pa’kalean or “bodiliness” (also: “human shape”) are for instance used in Romans 6:6 or 1 Peter 2:11 (as well as in Isa 52:14, Isa 53:2, and Lamentations 4:7)
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “root of Jesse” or similar in English is translated as “descendant of the ancient man of God who was called Jesse” in Huehuetla Tepehua, as “a person born in the family line of Jesse” in Yatzachi Zapotec, and as “a son from the people of Jesse the father of David” in Mezquital Otomi. (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
Photo by Zorba the Geek, hosted by Wikimedia Common under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license
Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )
The Greek in Acts 4:32 that is translated as “everything they owned was held in common” or similar in English is translated as “no one said, ‘This is mine.’ They owned everything together” in Isthmus Mixe, as “not one of them considered their things apart, because they considered their things as if they belonged to all of them” in Teutila Cuicatec, as “there was no person who said that one thing was his alone. But everything of theirs one only its thusness by them all” in Chuj. (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
The Greek that is often translated as “intelligent” in English is translated as “of much mind” in Isthmus Mixe, “a great deal of wisdom” in San Mateo del Mar Huave, “really can think” in Lalana Chinantec (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), or “ear much” in Noongar (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
