worship

The Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek terms that are often translated as “worship” (also, “kneel down” or “bow down”) are likewise translated in other languages in certain categories, including those based on physical activity, those which incorporate some element of “speaking” or “declaring,” and those which specify some type of mental activity.

Following is a list of (back-) translations (click or tap for details):

  • Javanese: “prostrate oneself before”
  • Malay: “kneel and bow the head”
  • Kaqchikel: “kneel before”
  • Loma (Liberia): “drop oneself beneath God’s foot”
  • Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “wag the tail before God” (using a verb which with an animal subject means “to wag the tail,” but with a human subject)
  • Tzotzil: “join to”
  • Kpelle: “raise up a blessing to God”
  • Kekchí: “praise as your God”
  • Cashibo-Cacataibo: “say one is important”
  • San Blas Kuna: “think of God with the heart”
  • Rincón Zapotec: “have one’s heart go out to God”
  • Tabasco Chontal: “holy-remember” (source of this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Bariai: “lift up God’s name” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Q’anjob’al: “humble oneself before” (source: Newberry and Kittie Cox in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. )
  • Alur: rwo: “complete submission, adoration, consecration” (source: F. G. Lasse in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 22ff. )
  • Obolo: itọtọbọ ebum: “express reverence and devotion” (source: Enene Enene)
  • Ngäbere: “cut oneself down before” (“This figure of speech comes from the picture of towering mahoganies in the forest which, under the woodman’s ax, quiver, waver, and then in solemn, thunderous crashing bury their lofty heads in the upstretched arms of the surrounding forest. This is the experience of every true worshiper who sees ‘the Lord, high and lifted up.’ Our own unworthiness brings us low. As the Valientes say, ‘we cut ourselves down before’ His presence. Our heads, which have been carried high in self-confidence, sink lower and lower in worship.)
  • Tzeltal: “end oneself before God.” (“Only by coming to the end of oneself can one truly worship. The animist worships his deities in the hope of receiving corresponding benefits, and some pagans in Christendom think that church attendance is a guarantee of success in this life and good luck in the future. But God has never set a price on worship except the price that we must pay, namely, ‘coming to the end of ourselves.'”) (Source of this and the one above: Nida 1952, p. 163)
  • Folopa: “die under God” (“an idiom that roughly back-translates “dying under God” which means lifting up his name and praising him and to acknowledge by everything one does and thanks that God is superior.”) (Source: Anderson / Moore, p. 202)
  • Chokwe: kuivayila — “rub something on” (“When anyone goes into the presence of a king or other superior, according to native law and custom the inferior gets down on the ground, takes a little earth in the fingers of his right hand, rubs it on his own body, and then claps his hands in homage and the greeting of friendship. It is a token of veneration, of homage, of extreme gratitude for some favor received. It is also a recognition of kingship, lordship, and a prostrating of oneself in its presence. Yet it simply is the applicative form of ‘to rub something on oneself’, this form of the verb giving the value of ‘because of.’ Thus in God’s presence as king and Lord we metaphorically rub dirt on ourselves, thus acknowledging Him for what He really is and what He has done for us.”) (Source: D. B. Long in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 87ff. )
  • In the German New Testament translation Fridolin Stier (1989) it is consistently translated as “bow (to someone) deeply” (tief verneigen)

In Luang it is translated with different shades of meaning:

Source: Kathy Taber in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 9-16.

complete verse (1 Kings 9:6)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Kings 9:6:

  • Kupsabiny: “But in case you or your children turn against me and refuse to follow my rules that I gave you, and you worship idols which other people worship,” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “’But if you or your descendants turn away from me and do not obey the commands and decrees I have given you, and if they do puja to other gods,” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “But if you (plur.) or your (plur.) descendants will-turn-away from me and will- not -obey my commands and regulations/decrees which I gave to you (plur.), and if you (plur.) will-serve and worship other gods,” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “‘But if you or your descendants turn away from me and disobey the commands and decrees that I have given to you, and if you start to worship other gods,” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on 1 Kings 9:6

Verses 6-7 are a conditional sentence. Verse 6 is the “if” part, and verse 7 is the conclusion or “then” part. In some languages it will be more natural to break this complex sentence up into several sentences. Verse 6 begins in Hebrew with the word “if.” However, since verses 6-7 express a contrast with verses 4-5, many translations begin verse 6 with the word But (Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, New International Version, Contemporary English Version).

If you turn aside from following me is literally “if to turn you [plural] turn from after me.” The Hebrew construction of an infinitive followed by a finite form of the same verb serves to intensify or reinforce what is said. See the discussion on reinforcing verbs in “Translating 1–2 Kings,” page 15. New American Bible attempts to express this emphasis by adding the word “ever,” so it says “if you … ever withdraw from me.” The Hebrew verb rendered turn is used here in a figurative sense with the meaning “to stop obeying God.” In certain languages it will be quite natural to say “if ever you turn your back on me.” The thought is parallel in meaning to the words do not keep my commandments and my statutes.

You or your children: If a literal translation of your children will mean sons and daughters born directly to Solomon, it will be better to use a word in the receptor language that corresponds to the English word “descendants.” Another way of expressing the meaning is “you, your people, your sons and the sons of their sons” (Parole de Vie).

Commandments … statutes: See the comments on these nouns in 1 Kgs 2.3.

Go and serve is literally “walk and serve.” Perhaps the verb go is to be understood literally as “go to places where other gods are worshiped.” But sometimes when the Hebrew verb “walk” is with another verb, it functions to illustrate the following verb. New American Bible renders this phrase as “proceed to venerate.” This may be rendered “undertake to serve.” Notice that Good News Translation does not translate these two verbs separately but combines them with the verb “worship” as one single event.

In those languages where the word “God” can refer only to the one true God, it will be possible to translate other gods as “idols [as if they were God].”

Worship them: The Hebrew verb rendered worship is literally “bow down to.” In languages where bowing down carries the meaning of worship, it may be preferable to translate literally in order to indicate the form in which they worshiped God. Revised English Bible preserves the form with “bow down before them.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on 1 Kings 9:6

9:6a But if indeed you or your sons turn away from following Me

But if you (plur) or your descendants turn ⌊your backs⌋ on me
-or-
But if you or your descendants/children ever abandon/leave me
-or-
But, I told him, it may be that his family and their sons will stop following/serving me

9:6b and do not keep the commandments and statutes I have set before you,

and do not obey the commands and decrees I have given you
-or-
and stop obeying the commands and decrees I have given you
-or-
and stop listening to the various/different rules I have made for you.

9:6c and if you go off to serve and worship other gods,

and begin to serve other gods and worship them,
-or-
and start serving other gods and bowing down before them,
-or-
Instead they may start to serve/worship ⌊false⌋ gods.

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