The Greek that is translated in English as “devil” (itself via late Latin from Greek diabolos: “accuser, slanderer”) is sometimes translated with indigenous specific names, such as “the avaricious one” in Tetelcingo Nahuatl, “the malicious deity” in Toraja-Sa’dan (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel), or in Yoruba as èṣù. “Èṣù is thought of as bringing evil, but also as giving protection. The birth of a child may be attributed to him, as the names given to some babies show, Èṣùbiyi (Èṣù brought this forth), and Èṣùtoyin (Èṣù is worthy of praise).” (Source: John Hargreaves in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 39ff. . See also this article by Tunde Adegbola: Èṣù is not Satan: A Christian apologist’s perspective .)
Other translations include:
Muna: Kafeompu’ando seetani or “Master of the evil-spirits” (source: René van den Berg)
Mairasi: owe er epar nan or “headman of malevolent spirits” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Ojitlán Chinantec: as “head of the worldlings” (source for the last two: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125).
Mandarin Chinesemóguǐ (魔鬼), literally “magical ghost.” This is a term that was adopted from Buddhist sources into early Catholic writings and later also by Protestant translators. (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 32)
Uma: “King of Evil-ones” (source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “leader of demons” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
Bariai: “the bad man” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
Kupsabiny: “the Enemy” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
In Lak and Shughni it is translated with terms of feminine gender. Vitaly Voinov tells this story (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):
“In the Lak language of Dagestan, the names ‘Iblis’ and ‘sheytan’ (referring to Satan and his minions, respectively) in this language were borrowed from the Arabic Islamic tradition, but they entered Lak as feminine nouns, not masculine nouns. This means that they grammatically function like nouns referring to females in Lak; in other words, Laks are likely to think of Iblis as a woman, not a man, because of the obligatory grammatical patterning of Lak noun classes. Thus, when the team explained (in Russian) what the Lak translation of Jesus’ wilderness temptation narrative at the beginning of Matthew 4 said, it sounded something like the following: ‘After this, the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by Iblis… .The temptress came to Jesus, and she said to Him…’
“Since this information (that the devil is a female spirit) is part of the very name used for Satan in Lak, nothing can really be done about this in the translation. The Lak translator did not think that the feminine gender of Iblis should cause any serious misunderstandings among readers, so we agreed to leave it in the translation. Prior to this, I had never heard about languages in which the devil is pictured as a woman, but recently I was told by a speaker of the Shughni language that in their language Sheytan is also feminine. This puts an interesting spin on things. The devil is of course a spirit, neither male nor female in a biologically-meaningful sense. But Bible translators are by nature very risk-aversive and, where possible, want to avoid any translation that might feed misleading information to readers. So what can a translator do about this? In many cases, such as the present one, one has to just accept the existing language structure and go on.”
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Timothy 3:11:
Uma: “Thus also their wives, their character must be clear [wise, mature] and fit to be honored, not ones who carry words here and there. They must know how to hold-in-check the evil desires of their heart, and their deeds must be upright so that the can be trusted in everything.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Likewise their wives, their custom should also be good and they should not slander their companions. They should also not give-into/indulge-in their greedy-desires and they ought to be trustworthy/faithful in everything.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The woman who is the wife of a deacon must be the same way, for she must be a respected person. She is not a gossip, but rather she regulates properly her thinking about everything and can be trusted to do any kind of good work.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Their spouses also, they must be worthy to be respected and also not be given-to-gossip. They must also be circumspect and trustworthy in all that they do.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “And not only them who are men, but rather including their wives, it’s necessary that they have good nature/ways so that they will be respected by others. It’s not acceptable for them to be gossips, but rather knowing self control and being trustworthy in all things.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Like this is for the women who help at the church, they must be seen to be good people. They must not be gossipers. They must control themselves. They must not give up on the work they start.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Translations of the Greek pistis and its various forms that are typically translated as “faith” in English (itself deriving from Latin “fides,” meaning “trust, faith, confidence, reliance, credence”) and “believe” (from Old English belyfan: “to have faith or confidence in a person”) cover a wide range of approaches.
Bratcher and Nida say this (1961, p. 38) (click or tap here to read more):
“Since belief or faith is so essentially an intimate psychological experience, it is not strange that so many terms denoting faith should be highly figurative and represent an almost unlimited range of emotional ‘centers’ and descriptions of relationships, e.g. ‘steadfast his heart’ (Chol), ‘to arrive on the inside’ (Chicahuaxtla Triqui), ‘to conform with the heart’ (Uab Meto), ‘to join the word to the body’ (Uduk), ‘to hear in the insides’ (or ‘to hear within one’s self and not let go’ — Nida 1952) (Laka), ‘to make the mind big for something’ (Sapo), ‘to make the heart straight about’ (Mitla Zapotec), ‘to cause a word to enter the insides’ (Lacandon), ‘to leave one’s heart with’ (Baniwa), ‘to catch in the mind’ (Ngäbere), ‘that which one leans on’ (Vai), ‘to be strong on’ (Shipibo-Conibo), ‘to have no doubts’ (San Blas Kuna), ‘to hear and take into the insides’ (Kare), ‘to accept’ (Pamona).”
Following is a list of (back-) translations from other languages (click or tap here to read more):
Limos Kalinga: manuttuwa. Wiens (2013) explains: “It goes back to the word for ‘truth’ which is ‘tuttuwa.’ When used as a verb this term is commonly used to mean ‘believe’ as well as ‘obey.'”
Ngiemboon: “turn one’s back on someone” (and trusting one won’t be taken advantage of) (source: Stephen Anderson in Holzhausen 1991, p. 42)
Mwera uses the same word for “hope” and “faith”: ngulupai (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Yala: ɔtū che or “place heart” (in John 5:24; 5:45; 6:35; 6:47; 12:36; 14:1); other translations include chɛ̄ or “to agree/accept” and chɛ̄ku or “to agree with/accept with/take side with” (source: Linus Otronyi)
Matumbi: niu’bi’lyali or “believe / trust / rely (on)” and imani or “religious faith” (from Arabic īmān [إيما]) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
Ebira: “place one’s liver on something” (source: Scholz /Scholz 2015, p. 60)
Barí: a word related to standing in a hammock. Bruce Olson (1972, p. 159f.) tells this story — click or tap here to read more)
One evening, though, Bobby began to ask questions. We were sitting around a fire. The light flickered over him. His face was serious.
‘How can I walk on Jesus’ trail?’ he asked. ‘No Motilone [speakers of Barí] has ever done it. It’s a new thing. There is no other Motilone to tell how to do it.’
I remembered the problems I had had as a boy, how it sometimes appeared impossible to keep on believing in Jesus when my family and friends were so opposed to my commitment. That was what Bobby was going through.
‘Bobby,’ I said, ‘do you remember my first Festival of the Arrows, the first time I had seen all the Motilones gathered to sing their song?’ The festival was the most important ceremony in the Motilone culture.
He nodded. The fire flared up momentarily and I could see his eyes, staring intently at me.
‘Do you remember that I was afraid to climb in the high hammocks to sing, for fear that the rope would break? And I told you that I would sing only if I could have one foot in the hammock and one foot on the ground?’
‘Yes, Bruchko.’
‘And what did you say to me?’
He laughed. ‘I told you you had to have both feet in the hammock. ‘You have to be suspended,’ I said.’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘You have to be suspended. That is how it is when you follow Jesus, Bobby. No man can tell you how to walk His trail. Only Jesus can. But to find out you have to tie your hammock strings into Him, and be suspended in God.’
Bobby said nothing. The fire danced in his eyes. Then he stood up and walked off into the darkness.
The next day he came to me. ‘Bruchko,’ he said, ‘I want to tie my hammock strings into Jesus Christ. But how can I? I can’t see Him or touch Him.’
‘You have talked to spirits, haven’t you?’
‘Oh,’ he said. ‘I see now.’
The next day he had a big grin on his face. ‘Bruchko, I’ve tied my hammock strings into Jesus. Now I speak a new language.’
I didn’t understand what he meant. ‘Have you learned some of the Spanish I speak?’
He laughed, a clean, sweet laugh. ‘No, Bruchko, I speak a new language.’
Then I understood. To a Motilone, language is life. If Bobby had a new life, he had a new way of speaking. His speech would be Christ-oriented.
Awabakal: ngurruliko: “to know, to perceive by the ear” (as distinct from knowing by sight or by touch — source: Lake, p. 70) (click or tap here to read more)
“[The missionary translator] Lancelot Threlkeld learned that Awabakal, like many Australian languages, made no distinction between knowing and believing. Of course the distinction only needs to be made where there are rival systems of knowing. The Awabakal language expressed a seamless world. But as the stress on ‘belief’ itself suggests, Christianity has always existed in pluralist settings. Conversion involves deep conviction, not just intellectual assent or understanding. (…) Translating such texts posed a great challenge in Australia. Threlkeld and [his indigenous colleague] Biraban debated the possibilities at length. In the end they opted not to introduce a new term for belief, but to use the Awabakal ngurruliko, meaning ‘to know, to perceive by the ear,’ as distinct from knowing by sight or by touch.”
Language in southern Nigeria: a word based on the idiom “lose feathers.” Randy Groff in Wycliffe Bible Translators 2016, p. 65 explains (click or tap here to read more):
What does losing feathers have to do with faith? [The translator] explained that there is a species of bird in his area that, upon hatching its eggs, loses its feathers. During this molting phase, the mother bird is no longer able to fly away from the nest and look for food for her hungry hatchlings. She has to remain in the nest where she and her babies are completely dependent upon the male bird to bring them food. Without the diligent, dependable work of the male bird, the mother and babies would all die. This scenario was the basis for the word for faith in his language.
Teribe: mär: “pick one thing and one thing only” (source: Andy Keener)
Tiv: na jighjigh: “give trust” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
Luba-Katanga: Twi tabilo: “echo” (click or tap here to read more)
“Luba-Katanga word for ‘Faith’ in its New Testament connotation is Twi tabilo. This word means ‘echo,’ and the way in which it came to be adapted to the New Testament meaning gives a very good idea of the way in which the translator goes to work. One day a missionary was on a journey through wild and mountainous country. At midday he called his African porters to halt, and as they lay resting in the shade from the merciless heat of the sun. an African picked up a stone and sent it ricocheting down the mountain-side into the ravine below. After some seconds the hollow silence was broken by a plunging, splashing sound from the depths of the dark river-bed. As the echo died away the African said in a wondering whisper ‘Twi tabilo, listen to it.’ So was a precious word captured for the service of the Gospel in its Luba Christian form. Twi tabilo — ‘faith which is the echo of God’s voice in the depths of human sinful hearts, awakened by God Himself, the answer to his own importunate call.’ The faith that is called into being by the divine initiative, God’s own gift to the responsive heart! (Source: Wilfred Bradnock in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 49ff. )
J.A. van Roy (in The Bible Translator 1972, p. 418ff. ) discusses how a translation of “faith” in a an earlier translation into Venda created difficult perceptions of the concept of faith (click or tap here):
The Venda term u tenda, lutendo. This term corresponds to the terms ho dumela (Southern Sotho), and ku pfumela (Tsonga) that have been used in these translations of the Bible, and means “to assent,” “to agree to a suggestion.” It is important to understand this term in the context of the character of the people who use it.
The way in which the Venda use this term reveals much about the priority of interpersonal relationships among them. They place a much higher priority on responding in the way they think they are expected to respond than on telling the truth. Smooth interpersonal relationships, especially with a dominant individual or group, take precedence over everything else.
It is therefore regarded as bad form to refuse directly when asked for something one does not in fact intend to give. The correct way is to agree, u tenda, and then forget about it or find some excuse for not keeping to the agreement. Thus u tenda does not necessarily convey the information that one means what one says. One can tenda verbally while heartily disagreeing with the statement made or having no intention whatsoever to carry out what one has just promised to do. This is not regarded as dishonesty, but is a matter of politeness.
The term u sokou tenda, “to consent reluctantly,” is often used for expressing the fatalistic attitude of the Venda in the face of misfortune or force which he is unable to resist.
The form lutendo was introduced by missionaries to express “faith.”
According to the rules of derivations and their meanings in the lu-class, it should mean “the habit of readily consenting to everything.” But since it is a coined word which does not have a clearly defined set of meanings in everyday speech, it has acquired in church language a meaning of “steadfastness in the Christian life.” Una lutendo means something like “he is steadfast in the face of persecution.” It is quite clear that the term u tenda has no element of “trust” in it. (…)
In “The Christian Minister” of July 1969 we find the following statement about faith by Albert N. Martin: “We must never forget that one of the great issues which the Reformers brought into focus was that faith was something more than an ‘assensus,’ a mere nodding of the head to the body of truth presented by the church as ‘the faith.’ The Reformers set forth the biblical concept that faith was ‘fiducia.’ They made plain that saving faith involved trust, commitment, a trust and commitment involving the whole man with the truth which was believed and with the Christ who was the focus of that truth. The time has come when we need to spell this out clearly in categorical statements so that people will realize that a mere nodding of assent to the doctrines that they are exposed to is not the essence of saving faith. They need to be brought to the understanding that saving faith involves the commitment of the whole man to the whole Christ, as Prophet, Priest and King as he is set forth in the gospel.”
We quote at length from this article because what Martin says of the current concept of faith in the Church is even to a greater extent true of the Venda Church, and because the terms used for communicating that concept in the Venda Bible cannot be expected to communicate anything more than “a mere nodding of assent”. I have during many years of evangelistic work hardly ever come across a Venda who, when confronted with the gospel, would not say, Ndi khou tenda, “I admit the truth of what you say.” What they really mean when saying this amounts to, “I believe that God exists, and I have no objection to the fact that he exists. I suppose that the rest of what you are talking about is also true.” They would often add, Ndi sa tendi hani-hani? “Just imagine my not believing such an obvious fact!” To the experienced evangelist this is a clear indication that his message is rejected in so far as it has been understood at all! To get a negative answer, one would have to press on for a promise that the “convert” will attend the baptism class and come to church on Sundays, and even then he will most probably just tenda in order to get rid of the evangelist, whether he intends to come or not. Isn’t that what u tenda means? So when an inexperienced and gullible white man ventures out on an evangelistic campaign with great enthusiasm, and with great rejoicing returns with a list of hundreds of names of persons who “believed”, he should not afterwards blame the Venda when only one tenth of those who were supposed to be converts actually turn up for baptismal instruction.
Moreover, it is not surprising at all that one often comes across church members of many years’ standing who do not have any assurance of their salvation or even realise that it is possible to have that assurance. They are vhatendi, “consenters.” They have consented to a new way of life, to abandoning (some of) the old customs. Lutendo means to them at most some steadfastness in that new way of life.
The concept of faith in religion is strange to Africa. It is an essential part of a religion of revelation such as Christianity or Islam, but not of a naturalistic religion such as Venda religion, in which not faith and belief are important, but ritual, and not so much the content of the word as the power of it.
The terms employed in the Venda Bible for this vital Christian concept have done nothing to effect a change in the approach of the Venda to religion.
It is a pity that not only in the Venda translation has this been the case, but in all the other Southern Bantu languages. In the Nguni languages the term ukukholwa, “to believe a fact,” has been used for pisteuo, and ukholo, the deverbative of ukukholwa, for pistis. In some of the older Protestant translations in Zulu, but not in the new translation, the term ithemba, “trust”, has been used.
Some languages, including Santali, have two terms — like English (see above) — to differentiate a noun from a verb form. Biswạs is used for “faith,” whereas pạtiạu for “believe.” R.M. Macphail (in The Bible Translator 1961, p. 36ff. ) explains this choice: “While there is little difference between the meaning and use of the two in everyday Santali, in which any word may be used as a verb, we felt that in this way we enriched the translation while making a useful distinction, roughly corresponding to that between ‘faith’ and ‘to believe’ in English.”
Likewise, in Noongar, koort-karni or “heart truth” is used for the noun (“faith”) and djinang-karni or “see true” for the verb (“believe”) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
This verse presents a real problem of interpretation. Commentators are divided as to the meaning of women in this verse: does it refer to the wives of the deacons (Good News Translation text) or to deacons who are women (Good News Translation margin)? The Greek word used for women does not provide much help, since it can mean either “woman” or “wife.” Some translations keep the ambiguity by simply translating The women (Revised Standard Version, also Jerusalem Bible, and New American Bible, Revised has simply “women”). Translations that don’t retain the ambiguity generally opt for “wives” (in addition to Good News Translation, also King James Version, New English Bible, New International Version). Below is a summary of the arguments for either position:
Arguments for “wives of deacons”:
1. Deacons are mentioned in verse 8 and again in verse 12, which leads to the deduction that verse 11 refers to a category other than deacons. But of course one can counter that there was not yet at that time a feminine term for deacons.
2. One would have expected a more detailed description of this new office. But then there is very little description of bishops and deacons, so why should one expect this of woman deacons?
3. It would have been possible for Paul to use the feminine form of “deacon.” But of course one can counter that such a form did not exist at that time, and besides, there is evidence that the term “deacon” was used of women during Paul’s time; for example, the case of Phoebe in Rom 16.1-2.
Arguments for “woman deacons”:
1. The structure of the sentence allows it to be read as introducing a new category, that is, woman deacons. The word likewise is used in verse 8 to introduce the category of deacons, and its presence in this verse may indicate the same intent.
2. Had the wives of deacons been in view, the verse might have said “their wives” (as, for example, Good News Translation, New International Version, King James Version).
3. No special requirements are mentioned for the wives of bishops. Both of these arguments (numbers 2 and 3) are arguments from silence.
4. The four qualities are roughly the equivalent of four qualities of the deacons in verse 8.
It is difficult to be certain as to what interpretation one should hold. A compromise solution has been offered by some commentaries to the effect that the verse speaks of women who were in some way involved in service as deacons, although perhaps at that time the title of “deacon” was not yet applied to them. This does not exclude the position that these women were indeed the wives of deacons, but it does allow the possibility for these wives (and other women as well) to be performing services as deacons.
It should be further noted that, if one holds to the position that the verse indeed refers to woman deacons, then a possible structure of the passage would be: 8-10, general qualifications for both men and women deacons; 11, specific qualifications for women deacons; and 12-13, specific qualifications for men deacons.
As has been noted, the four qualities of these women are parallel to the qualities mentioned in verse 8: serious – translates the same Greek word in verse 8 slanderers – “double-tongued” temperate – “not addicted to much wine”
The word for temperate also occurs in 3.2, for which see discussion there. Slanderers may be also expressed as “those who say harmful things about others.”
A fourth trait is mentioned, namely, faithful in all things. Some take this to mean that they should be honest (Good News Translation) and absolutely trustworthy (New English Bible, Moffatt [Moffatt]). All in all this evidence seems to point toward women deacons being the focus of this verse, and it is recommended by this Handbook that translators follow this interpretation. The alternative “their wives” may be put into a footnote.
An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• The women (or, female) church helpers must also have a good character (or, be respectable). They should not say evil things about people and should not drink too much wine.
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to Timothy. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1995. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
In the same way: This verse begins with a Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as In the same way. Paul also used this word in 3:8a where he began to list the requirements for deacons. In that verse the Berean Standard Bible translates it as “likewise.”
the women: There is a major interpretation question in this verse. The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the women means “women” in some contexts and “wives” in other contexts. There is no special word that only means “wife.” Therefore, there are two possible ways to interpret this word and therefore this verse:
(1) It means wives and therefore refers to the wives of the deacons.
(New International Version (2011 Revision), Good News Translation, King James Version, NET Bible, God’s Word, New Living Translation (2004 Revision))
(2) It means “women” and therefore refers to female deacons (deaconesses).
(Berean Standard Bible, Revised English Bible)
Many English versions are ambiguous but most of those that do choose an interpretation follow interpretation (1). Therefore it is recommended that you also translate this word as wives. Here are some reasons why Paul was probably referring to wives of deacons:
(a) Paul talked about male deacons in 3:8–10, then he continued talking about male deacons in 3:12–13. Paul probably did not interrupt himself here to talk about female deacons. It is more likely that he was talking about the wives of the deacons.
(b) Paul followed 3:11 by saying that a deacon (like an overseer) needed to be a “husband of one wife” (3:12a). If he had been referring to female deacons in 3:11a, he would probably have said that female deacons should be faithful to their husbands.
However, it is impossible to be absolutely certain which interpretation is correct. (Fee, page 88, says, “This sentence is one of the genuine puzzles in 1 Timothy.”) If possible, you should explain both possibilities in a footnote.
dignified: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as dignified is a general word. It means that these women must behave in a way that deserves respect from other people. That is, other people will esteem and honor them because they had earned that respect by the way they behave.
This is the same word that Paul used in 3:8a. You should use the same term here.
3:11b
slanderers: When Paul said that deacons’ wives must not be slanderers, he meant that they must not gossip or say hurtful things about other people. It does not matter whether or not the things are true. If they are meant to be hurtful, the women should not say them. Paul used the same word in Titus 2:3. You should try to use the same term in both verses.
3:11c
temperate: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as temperate means “behaving in a sober, restrained manner.” It often refers to not drinking too much alcohol. But most commentators agree that the meaning is more general here. It includes not getting drunk, but also includes not losing control of themselves in any other way. The same word is used in 3:2c and Titus 2:2.
faithful: If a person is faithful, people can trust him to fulfill his responsibilities and to do what he promises. He is trustworthy, dependable, and reliable. Two ways to translate this are:
a person whom others trust
-or-
a person who always does what he says he will do
in all things: Most scholars and English versions agree that in all things is grammatically attached to the word faithful. So the Berean Standard Bible expression faithful in all things could be translated “completely faithful.”
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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.
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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