The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “love” in English is typically translated in Hakka Chinese as thung-siak / 痛惜 or “pain-love” when it refers to God’s love.
The same term is used for a variety of Hebrew terms that cover a range of English translations that refer to God as the agent, including “love,” “compassion,” and “mercy.”
Paul McLean explains: “[Thung-siak / 痛惜] has been used for many years in a popular Hakka-Christian mountain song based on John 3:16. The translation team decided that for this and other reasons it would be a good rendering here. It helps point to the fact that God’s ‘love’ is a compassionate (cum passio, with suffering) love.”
The Hebrew that is translated as “steadfast love,” “lovingkindness” (Goldingay 2018: “commitment”) or similar in English is translated in a number of ways:
Vidunda: “love of enduring” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Bura-Pabir: “love which cannot be-changed” (hyirkur na a palidzi wa)
HausaCommon Language Bible “his love without changing” (kaunarsa marar canjawa) (source for this and above: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
Elhomwe: “love that does not finish” (echikondi yoohisintheya) (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Nyamwezi: chelu, combining “love,” “faithfulness,” “loyalty,” and “kindness” (source: James Lundeen)
Newari: dayāmāyā (दयामाया), a compound word made from two Sanskrit-derived terms: dayā (दया) or “compassion, mercy, kindness” and māyā (माया) or “love, affection” (source: Newari Back Translation)
In Pijintinghevi long or “think heavy about” is used. “The Pijin expression ‘think heavy about’ is very much within the domain of committed relationships. The relationship between father and child, husband and wife, God and His people. There is a very strong element of ‘loyalty’ in this expression.” (Source: Bob Carter)
In Latvian the term žēlastība is used both for “steadfast love” and grace.
In a number of languages, the terms for for “steadfast love” and mercy are used interchangeably.
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Ge’ez, and Latin terms that are typically translated as “mercy” (or “compassion” or “kindness”) in English are translated in various ways. Bratcher / Nida classify them in (1) those based on the quality of heart, or other psychological center, (2) those which introduce the concept of weeping or extreme sorrow, (3) those which involve willingness to look upon and recognize the condition of others, or (4) those which involve a variety of intense feelings.
While the Englishmercy originates from the Latinmerces, originally “price paid,” Romance languages (Italian, Spanish, Corsican, Catalan, Friulian) and other Germanic languages (German, Swedish, Danish — Barmherzigkeit, barmhärtighet and barmhjertighed, respectively) tend to follow the Latin misericordia, lit. “misery-heart.”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Chronicles 17:13:
Kupsabiny: “I shall be his father and he shall be my child. I shall not turn my back on him as I turned my back on the one you have replaced (as king).” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “I will be his father and he will be my son. I will never take back my love from him like I took back my love from Saul who reigned before you.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I will-be-like a father to him, and he-will-be-like a son to me. My love will-remain for him, (it is) not like what- I -did to Saul whom you (sing.) succeeded as king.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “I will be like a father to him, and it will be as though he is a son to me. I stopped loving Saul, the one who was the king before you became king, but I will never stop loving your son.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
I will be his father, and he shall be my son: This language is often found in treaties between a sovereign king and a subordinate king. These concepts belong to the theme of the covenant and the promise of the Messiah. The divine adoption of the king assured the stability of the dynasty of David’s descendants and required loyalty by the king and his descendants (see Psa 2.7; 89.26-27). In the New Testament this verse is applied to the relationship between God the Father and Jesus Christ (Heb 1.5) and to the relationship between God the Father and Christians (2 Cor 6.18). The Hebrew pronoun for I is emphatic here; compare “I, I shall be a father to him…” (Knoppers). The Hebrew pronoun for he is emphatic as well.
I will not take my steadfast love from him: For steadfast love, see the comments on 1 Chr 16.34. Moffatt and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy say “kindness.”
As I took it from him who was before you: This is an allusion to King Saul (see 1 Sam 15.28), as several functional equivalent translations make explicit (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, La Biblia: Traducción en Lenguaje Actual). However, since the author probably intentionally left out the name of Saul, some translators may prefer to put this information in a footnote rather than including the name of Saul in the text here.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
17:13a I will be his Father, and he will be My son.
I ⌊Yahweh⌋ will be his father and ⌊your descendant⌋ will be my son. -or-
I ⌊Yahweh promise that⌋ I will be ⌊like⌋ a father ⌊to your son⌋ . I ⌊also promise that your son⌋ will be ⌊like⌋ a son ⌊to me⌋ .
17:13b And I will never remove My loving devotion from him
I ⌊Yahweh⌋ will never remove my love from ⌊your descendant⌋ . -or-
I ⌊promise that⌋ I will never stop loving ⌊your son⌋ .
17:13c as I removed it from your predecessor.
I ⌊will never remove it from your descendant⌋ as I did from the one who was before you(sing) . -or-
⌊I will never stop loving your son⌋ as I did to ⌊Saul⌋ , who was ⌊king⌋ before you.
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