The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Sarai” and “Sarah” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign depicting coins on a headband, referring to women from the Middle East and North Africa who wear a headband decorated with small coins. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Peter 3:6:
Uma: “For example, Sara followed the commands of Abraham her husband, and called him master. And you, relatives, we can say that you are children of Sara if you follow her good behavior and you are not afraid if there is someone who bothers/persecutes you.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Sara was like that; she always followed/obeyed what her husband Ibrahim wanted and she considered her husband as her master. Now, you women nowadays, if you do good and don’t get easily afraid, you are like descendants of Sara.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “like Sarah, who submitted herself to her husband Abraham. She considered Abraham to be her master. And as for you women today, you can be like children of Sarah if you imitate her activity which was righteous, and if you do not permit your minds to be troubled by fear.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Like that was the behavior of Sara long ago who obeyed Abraham and acknowledged him as her master. You are counted/considered as her children if you do what is right and you are not afraid.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Like Sara of long ago. She was truly obedient to her husband Abraham, and what she called him was, ‘My Master.’ Well as for you, what you are like is her descendants as long as you persevere in doing good, and you aren’t afraid that you may suffer hardship because of your believing/obeying.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Like this Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him her boss. Sarah did not fear anything, she did what was good. And you are her daughter now if you do like she did.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The name that is transliterated as “Abraham” in English is translated in the vast majority of sign languages, including American Sign Language with the sign signifying “hold back arm” (referring to Genesis 22:12).
In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with a sign for that demonstrates his new destiny. Previously, he had been called to wander from his home, and the name “Abram” reflected this movement (see here). The new sign name is in one location and stays there, showing Abraham will be given a land to call his own. At this time, Abraham was in the southern part of Canaan, which is shown on the base arm by the location near the elbow. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)
“Abraham” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL
In Tira it is transliterated as Abaram. The choice of this, rather than the widely-known “Ibrahim,” as used in the Tira translation of the Qu’ran, was to offset it against the Muslim transliteration which originates from Arabic. (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )
Click or tap here to see two short video clips about Abraham (source: Bible Lands 2012)
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).
Among these devout women, Peter chooses one, namely Sarah, the wife of Abraham. Obeyed is in the aorist tense, which suggests that Peter had a specific incident in mind. Since the only time Sarah referred to Abraham as “lord” (in the Hebrew) is in Genesis 18.12, some scholars suggest that Genesis 18.1-15 may have been in Peter’s mind, but this is not at all certain.
Sarah was like that may be rendered as “Sarah was one of those devout women” or “Sarah was a women like that” or “Sarah herself did that.”
She obeyed Abraham may be rendered explicitly as “she did what Abraham told her to do.”
The expression and called him her master must be expressed in many languages as direct discourse, for example, “and spoke to him, My master” or “when she addressed him she said, My master.”
You are now her daughters suggests the idea that in much the same way that Abraham is the father of those who trust in God (Rom 4.11; Gal 3.6-29; etc.), so also Sarah could be regarded as their mother; particularly, Christian women would be her daughters. Their becoming her daughters, however, is conditioned by two factors: if you do good and are not afraid of anything. For do good, see 2.14; 2.15; and 2.20. Are not afraid of anything is literally “you are not afraid of any fear,” a quotation from Proverbs 3.25. The word for “fear” (ptoēsis) is used only here in the whole New Testament, although the verbal form is used in Luke 21.9 and 24.37 with the meaning “to terrify.” It may mean fear of any kind or anything that causes fear or terror. Most translations take afraid and “fear” as cognates, and render the expression in much the same way that the Good News Translation does (for example, New English Bible “show no fear”; Phillips “do not give way to hysterical fears”; Barclay “you refuse to allow anything to reduce you to frightened panic”; Moffatt “yield to no panic”; Knox “let no anxious thoughts disturb you”).
You are now her daughters is a highly specialized Semitic idiom which frequently cannot be translated literally, since it would be seriously misunderstood. An equivalent expression may be “you are now like Sarah” or “you can be like Sarah” (the use of “can be” may be required because of the condition which follows).
If you do good may require some expansion in certain languages, for example, “if you do good to others” or “if you are helpful to others.”
In rendering are not afraid of anything it is important to avoid the suggestion that this means “bravado” or “reckless courage.” The implication seems clearly to be something related to “anxious fears” or “fearful concerns.”
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The First Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
just as Sarah obeyed Abraham: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as just as introduces an example of one of the holy women who adorned herself by submitting to her own husband. Peter is using Sarah as an example, not as a comparison. If using a comparison with “like” or “as” might suggest in your language that Sarah was not one of these holy women, you could say:
Sarah was ⌊an example of⌋ one of these
Sarah obeyed Abraham: In some languages it may be necessary to make it explicit that Sarah was Abraham’s wife or that Abraham was Sarah’s husband. For example:
Sarah, who obeyed her husband Abraham
-or-
Sarah, the wife of Abraham, who obeyed him
called him lord: This is an allusion to Genesis 18:12. In the Genesis passage, Sarah was speaking about rather than directly to her husband.
The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as lord was a common title of respect for any person in authority. It did not imply that the speaker was a servant or slave. In your translation, you could:
• Use a word that women in your culture use to speak politely of and to their husbands.
• Use a general expression such as:
gave honor to her husband when she spoke to/of him
3:6b
And you are her children: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as you are her children is literally “you became her children.” The term could refer to descendants, but most of Peter’s readers were probably not physical descendants of Abraham and Sarah (that is, Jews). Peter meant this in a figurative sense: “you became like Sarah in character.” Consider if your readers would understand a literal translation. If not, you may need to say something like:
you have become like her
3:6c
refuse to give way to fear: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as refuse to give way to fear is literally “not fearing any terror.” Peter was probably implying that the women should not be afraid of their non-Christian husbands. But he did not limit it to this, and so it is better to supply a general object:
do not be terrified ⌊of anyone/anything⌋
General Comment on 3:6b–c
In some languages it may be natural to reverse the order of 3:6b and c. For example:
6c By doing good and showing no fear, 6b you have become her daughters. (Revised English Bible)
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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