joy

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The Greek, Latin, Ge’ez, and Hebrew that is translated with “joy” or “gladness” in English is translated with various strategies:

  • Baoulé: “a song in the stomach” (see also peace (inner peace))
  • Bambara: “the spirit is made sweet”
  • Kpelle: “sweet heart”
  • Tzeltal: “the good taste of one’s heart”
  • Uduk: “good to the stomach”
  • Mískito: “the liver is wide open” (“happily letting the pleasures flooding in upon it”) (source for this and above: Nida 1952)
  • Mairasi: “good liver” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Noongar: koort-kwabba-djil or “heart very good” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “refreshed heart” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.).
  • Hausa Common Language Bible: farin ciki or “white stomach.” Other languages that use the same expression include Southern Birifor (pʋpɛl), Dera (popolok awo), Reshe (ɾipo ɾipuhã). (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

See also Seat of the Mind for traditional views of “ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling,” happiness / joy, and exceeding joy.

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (1John 1:4)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, translators typically select the exclusive form for the first occurrence (“we write” in English) (excluding the reader) and the inclusive or the exclusive form for the second (“our joy” in English). Note that some manuscripts and therefore some translations have “your joy” instead.

Source: SIL International Translation Department (1999).

complete verse (1 John 1:4)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 John 1:4:

  • Uma: “We(excl.) write this so that our (incl.) joy [will] be complete.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “I write this to you so that our (incl.) joy will be complete.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And because of that, I am writing to you like this so that our (incl.) joy might be drawn tight.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “so that we (incl.) will thus be thoroughly happy.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “We(excl.) are writing these things so that we can be happy with happiness which has no lack.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Now I write these words so that you will more greatly rejoice.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “And these things I write to you in order that you may be very well off (happy).”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: This here I am writing to you so that we (inclusive) all will have very much joy.”
  • Tzotzil: “Therefore thus I write to you (pl.) this in order that thus most happy we (inclusive) all will be.” (Source for this and two above: John Beekman in Notes on Translation 12, November 1964, p. 1ff.)

    • 1 John 1.4″

  • Candoshi-Shapra: “I’m writing this in order that you might live with happy hearts.”
  • Yanesha’: “We, we write to you these things, therein completely you will be happy.”
  • Aguaruna: “I write this to you in order that you also, with us, may stay very content.” (Source for this and two above: Mildred Larson in Notes on Translation, July 1965, p. 1-15)

Translation commentary on 1 John 1:4

And we are writing this, namely, ‘to you,’ which may have to be added for reasons of idiom. The Greek present tense can better be rendered simply by “we write” (King James Version, New English Bible [New English Bible], Good News Translation). The connective “And” has resultative force here and may be rendered by ‘Therefore’ or ‘So.’

The plural pronoun we is confusing in some languages, because it is after all one person who is writing, though as the representative of many eyewitnesses. Some versions therefore have to shift to the first person singular.

This refers to the message of the letter as a whole rather than to a specific item in what directly precedes or follows.

† The reference of the verb are writing is to the fact rather than to the manner of communication, to information rather than to the actual tracing of a series of characters. For this reason some versions use a verb meaning ‘to tell,’ ‘to inform of,’ ‘to communicate.’ The same holds true in the other occurrences of the verb in 2.1, 7-8, 12-14, 21, 26; 2 John 5, 12; 3 John 9, 13.

In that our joy may be complete (or ‘so that we may have complete joy,’ ‘so that we may rejoice fully/completely’), the conjunction that refers to intended result again.

Our is given inclusive force in some versions, but it is more in line with the structure of verses 1-4 to take it as exclusive, referring to the group of eyewitnesses only, not including the persons addressed. The clause indicates that the joy the eyewitnesses have because of their fellowship with God through Christ can be complete only when other Christians share that fellowship.

† Joy, or ‘gladness,’ is an important Johannine term; compare, for example, John 15.11; 16.20, 22, 24; 17.13. In these Letters it occurs also in 2 John 12; 3 John 4; compare also “rejoice” in 2 John 4; 3 John 3. Receptor languages often possess one specific term for the concept but sometimes express it by an idiomatic phrase such as ‘happiness of life,’ ‘warmth (or smiling, or good feeling) of heart,’ ‘the being lifted up of the heart,’ ‘the good taste of one’s heart,’ ‘the spirit being made sweet,’ ‘a song in the stomach,’ ‘having a sweet (or wide open) liver,’ ‘expansion of the inner-being.’

† Complete is in the Greek literally “filled,” then, “full.” The same term occurs in 2 John 12. It expresses that the joy will lack nothing, that it will fill their hearts to the brim. The term refers to the highest degree: they will be as glad as they possibly can be.

The concept, of course, can be expressed in different ways, dependent on the specific idiom used for joy; compare, for example, ‘that our hearts may be lifted up to the highest point.’ In one language, where fullness of joy is associated with tranquillity, the clause is rendered by ‘that our hearts may sit down.’ In another language one says ‘that joy may be equal to our minds.’

Quoted with permission from Haas, C., de Jonge, M. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on The First Letter of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 1:4

1:4a

these things: (Alternative Interpretations) There are two opinions about what the words these things refer to here:

(1) It probably refers to what John has said in verses 1–3.

(2) Some think it refers to the rest of the letter.

1:4b

so that our joy may be complete: (Logical Relationship) John’s purpose in writing is not primarily to make himself joyful. He is writing so that his readers will learn about true fellowship and have fellowship with him. If they do, that is what will cause him to be joyful. If this is not clear in translation some of this information should be made explicit.

our joy: (Text) The King James Version “your joy” is from an inferior Greek text. The other versions have “our joy.”

our: (Alternative Interpretations) There are two interpretations of this word here:

(1) It is probably inclusive, meaning “(joy) of you and us apostles.”

(2) Some think it is exclusive, meaning “(joy) of us apostles.”

complete: (Meaning) This means “as great as it can be,” “without any sadness or anything to spoil it.”

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