virgin

The Hebrew and Greek that is mostly translated as “virgin” in English can be translated as “woman that is untouched” in Batak Toba or “a woman with a whole (i.e. unopened) body” in Uab Meto.

“Similar words for ‘girl,’unmarried young woman,’ suggesting virginity without explicitly stating it, are found in Marathi, Apache, or Kituba. Cultural features naturally influence connotations of possible renderings, for instance, the child marriage customs in some Tboli areas, where the boy and girl are made to sleep together at the initial marriage, but after that do not live together and may not see each other again for years. Hence, the closest attainable equivalent, ‘female adolescent,’ does not imply that a young girl is not living with her husband, and that she never had a child, but leaves uncertain whether she has ever slept with a male person or not. Accordingly, in Luke one has to depend on Luke 1:34 to make clear that Mary and Joseph had not had sexual intercourse. A different problem is encountered in Pampanga, where birhen (an adaptation of Spanish virgen — ‘virgin’), when standing alone, is a name of the ‘Virgin Mary.’ To exclude this meaning the version uses “marriageable birhen,” thus at the same time indicating that Mary was relatively young.” (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel, see here)

In Navajo (Dinė), the term that is used is “no husband yet” (Source: Wallis, p. 106) and in Gola the expression “trouser girl.” “In the distant past young women who were virgins wore trousers. Those who were not virgins wore dresses. That doesn’t hold true anymore, but the expression is still there in the language.” (Source: Don Slager)

The term in Djimini Senoufo is katogo jo — “village-dance-woman” (women who have been promised but who are still allowed to go to dances with unmarried women). (Source: Übersetzung heute 3/1995)

In Igbo translations, typically a newly-created, multi-word phrase is used that very explicitly states that there has not been any sexual relations and that translates as “a woman (or: maiden) who does not know a man.” This is in spite of the fact that there is a term (agb͕ọghọ) that means “young woman” and has the connotation of her not having had sexual relations (this is for instance used by the Standard Igbo Bible of the Bible Society of Nigeria for Isaiah 7:14). Incidentally, the euphemistic expression “know” (ma in Igbo) for “having sex” has become a well-known euphemism outside of Bible translation. (Source: Uchenna Oyali in Sociolinguistic Studies Vol. 17 No. 1-3 (2023): Special Issue: Gender and sexuality in African discourses )

In Chichewa, it is translated as namwali which is used to refer to a girl who has reached puberty stage and is ready to get married. Apart from the physical aspect, the word also has social implications in the sense that it is used to recognize the fact that the girl has become responsible enough to make informed decisions and take care of herself and others. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

See also virgins (Revelation 14:4) and complete verse (Matthew 1:23).

complete verse (2 Corinthians 11:2)

Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Corinthians 11:2:

  • Uma: “I am angry with those leaders there [where you are] who want to take you away from me. But my anger is anger that follows God’s desire. For I am the one that first taught you to believe in Kristus. My desire is that you keep believing in Kristus. You can be compared to a young-girl that is engaged to a young-man. Your fiancee is Kristus.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “I cherish you as God cherishes. Figuratively you are like a young girl without stain and I have caused you to be engaged to a certain man, he is Almasi.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For I really want that you will not separate from the Lord. You are like a young girl promised in marriage; but Christ is the one I’ve promised you to, and it’s my desire that no one else will be able to marry you.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because I am-jealous-of you like God’s being-jealous-of his people. Because you can-be-compared to a young-lady whose-marriage-I -have-arranged to the one-only that she will marry who is Cristo, so I am watching-over-you -carefully so that you will be clean on the day when-your -wedding-will-take-place.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “I say this out of the big-size of my jealousy, which is like God’s jealousy. For I am jealous of the ones teaching there who are misleading your believing/obeying. For as for you, what you are like is, a still unmarried girl whom I have pledged to a certain man, that man being Cristo. Well since it’s like that, of course I don’t want you to be like encroached upon by somebody else.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “I, along with God very much do not want you to separate from Christ. I have caused that you believe in Christ. And now, like a girl when she is about to be married, who only loves the bridegroom, this is like the word I tell you now. That one whom you must supremely love is Christ.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

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 2 Corinthians 11:2

Paul considers himself to be like a father to the Christians of Corinth (see 1 Cor 4.15), a father who keeps a watchful eye on his daughter who has been promised in marriage.

Verse 2 is connected to the preceding verse in Greek with the word “for.” Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation leave this word untranslated, but translators in other languages may choose to translate this word, which expresses the reason for Paul’s wish and command in verse 1.

I feel a divine jealousy is literally “I have zeal [or, jealousy] with a zeal of God.” A formal equivalent for the English adjective divine may be very difficult to find in some languages. It may be more natural to be closer to the Greek in this case: “I am jealous for you, and this jealousy comes from God.” Others may reflect the fact that this “jealousy” is not to be understood in a negative sense, by saying “I love you as God loves you” or “I care deeply for you…” (Anchor Bible). The word jealousy in English is usually used for the strong, angry feelings of people who are worried that they will lose the affection of a spouse or of someone else whom they love. Therefore it will be important to use a term that is suitable for this context, namely, that of a parent, for example, who is deeply concerned for a betrothed child and is therefore constantly watchful, constantly protecting the child.

I betrothed you: New Revised Standard Version makes the meaning clearer and more natural English with “I promised you in marriage.” Or one may prefer “it was I who arranged for your engagement” (Barclay). In some languages it may be advisable to make the figurative character of this image more obvious in translation. Good News Translation does this by saying “you are like a pure virgin whom I have promised in marriage.” Or one may say “I see you as a young woman who has never known a man, and I have arranged for you to marry one man, that is, Christ.”

A pure bride is rendered in Revised English Bible as “a chaste virgin.”

The one husband, or “one man,” that is, Jesus Christ. Compare 1 Cor 7.2, where Paul indicates that “each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 11:2

11:2a I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy.

For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-

I tell you to do that⌋ because I am concerned about you (plur.) like God is.
-or-
I am concerned about you, just as God is,

11:2b For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ. (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
I promised to give you to Christ, as your only husband. I want to give you as his pure bride. (New Century Version)
-or-
for/because I promised to give/present you to Christ as a people devoted to him, and to him alone. This is like a father gives/presents his daughter to her husband ⌊when they marry⌋.

© 2016 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
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.