The Book of 1 Meqabyan

1 Meqabyan (also known as 1 Ethiopian Maccabees and 1 Ethiopic Maccabees) is canonical scripture for the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. While “Meqabyan” is the Ge’ez equivalent of “Maccabees,” the content is completely different from 1 Maccabees. The only complete copies of 1 Meqabyan are available in Ge’ez (Classical Ethiopic), here used with permission by the Bible Society of Ethiopia.

The translation into English was provided by Haileyesus Woldemariam (UBS).

covetousness, greed

The Greek and Ge’ez that is translated in English as “greed” or “covetousness” (or “avarice”) is translated in these ways:

  • Zande: “having a big heart for everything” (source: Jan Sterk)
  • Akan: “close-fisted” (pɛpɛe) (source: J.E.T. Kuwornu- Adjaottor)
  • Tzeltal: “small-hearted”
  • Yucateco “desiring what other have”
  • Shipibo-Conibo; “going crazy for things” (source and two above: Nida 1952, p. 133f.)
  • Bariai: “rotten intestines” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Mairasi: “desiring peoples’ things” (source: Enggavoter 2004)

See also covet, extortioner / swindler, all who are greedy for gain, one who is greedy..

fornication, sexual immorality

The Greek and Ge’ez that is translated as “sexual immorality” or “fornication” or similar is translated much more specifically in some languages. Morelos Nahuatl has “let a man not yield himself to another woman except only to his wife. Also let a woman not yield herself to another man except only to her husband” or in Lalana Chinantec as “not proper for them to mix themselves with other women. The same is true of women for other men also.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

In Low German as Hurenkram or “things related to prostitution (and/or sleeping around)” (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006) and in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) typically as Sexgier or “sex cravings” (exceptions: Acts 15:10 and 15:29).

See also sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery and adulterous and sinful generation.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Sexual Immorality (Word Study) .

Jerusalem

The name that is transliterated as “Jerusalem” in English is signed in French Sign Language with a sign that depicts worshiping at the Western Wall in Jerusalem:


“Jerusalem” in French Sign Language (source: La Bible en langue des signes française )

While a similar sign is also used in British Sign Language, another, more neutral sign that combines the sign “J” and the signs for “place” is used as well. (Source: Anna Smith)


“Jerusalem” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Jerusalem .