winter

The Greek in 2 Timothy 4:21 that is translated as “winter” in English is translated in Lambya as “wet season.” Winters in Malawi are the cool season when it is dry and quiet weather, here winter stands for stormy and wet weather which makes traveling across the Mediterranean dangerous. (Source: project-specific notes in Paratext)

Eubulus

The name that is transliterated as “Eubulus” in English is translated in Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) with a sign that combines “prudent” (the meaning of the name), an indication that he is Paul’s friend (the hand on the chest) and an indication that he was probably a Roman. (Source: Missão Kophós )


“Eubulus” in Libras (source )

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

brother (fellow believer)

The Greek that is translated in English as “brother” or “brother and sister” (in the sense of fellow believers), is translated with a specifically coined word in Kachin: “There are two terms for brother in Kachin. One is used to refer to a Christian brother. This term combines ‘older and younger brother.’ The other term is used specifically for addressing siblings. When one uses this term, one must specify if the older or younger person is involved. A parallel system exists for ‘sister’ as well. In [these verses], the term for ‘a Christian brother’ is used.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae)

In Matumbi is is translated as alongo aumini or “relative-believer.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)

In Martu Wangka it is translated as “relative” (this is also the term that is used for “follower.”) (Source: Carl Gross)

In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is often translated as Mitchristen or “fellow Christians.”

See also brothers.

complete verse (2 Timothy 4:21)

Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Timothy 4:21:

  • Uma: “You come quickly before the cold time arrives! Many greetings from Ebulus, Pudes, Linus and Klaudia, and from all the one-faith relatives who are here.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Timoteo, really try to come to me soon (lit. easily) so that you are not reached by the strong winds on the way. Ubulus, Pudes, Linus and Kalauda send word there to you that they remember you. Likewise the rest of our (incl.) brothers who trust Isa here.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Quickly come here before the rainy season starts. Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the believers here send greetings to you.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Put-yourself-(sing.)-to-hardship to come here before (lit. then) frost-season. Eubulus, Pudens, Linus and Claudia and all the other believers who are here, likewise also of-course they send-you (sing.) -greetings.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Well as-was-said, supposing you have the opportunity, it’s good if you will be able to come here at once, before the time of cold season. You are greeted by Eubulo, Pudente, Lino, Claudia and others here who are our siblings in believing.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “And you, earnestly try to come before the cold rains begin. Concerning Eubulus, he sends you greetings. Also Pudens greets you. Also Linus along with Claudia, and all the other brethren here, all of them greet you.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Japanese benefactives (kīte)

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 benefactive construction as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.

Here, kite (来て) or “come” is used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on 2 Timothy 4:21

For Do your best see 2 Tim 2.15. It is important for Timothy to get to Rome before winter because, for one thing, Paul needs his winter coat (verse 13), but more importantly, it would be extremely difficult to travel from Ephesus to Rome during winter time, since ships didn’t sail in the Mediterranean from November to March. If Timothy was unable to get to Rome before winter, it meant that he had to postpone his trip until the spring. Other ways to express winter are “the cold season,” “the time of the year when the weather is cold,” or even “the hard season,” meaning the one when there are storms accompanied by snow and bitter cold.

Eubulus, Pudens, Linus and Claudia appear only here in the whole New Testament. They are obviously known to both Paul and Timothy, but nothing more is known about them. All the names are masculine except Claudia.

For greetings see comments on “Greet” in verse 19.

For brethren see 1 Tim 4.6. One can restructure as “all the other Christians here in Rome.” There seems to be a contradiction between this verse and 4.16, where Paul stated that all the Christians in Rome had deserted him. But perhaps those who did not stand by Paul or witness on his behalf during his first trial still remained believers, and there is no reason then why they should not send their greetings to Timothy.

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1995. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator's Notes on 2 Timothy 4:21

4:21a

Make every effort to come to me before winter: Make every effort is an English phrase that translates one Greek verb. It means “to work/try hard” or “to put the most effort into it that you can.” This same verb is found in 2:15a and 4:9.

winter: Timothy would have had to travel from Ephesus to Rome by sea. In winter, a trip across the sea in a ship was dangerous because of storms. If Timothy did not travel to Rome soon after he received Paul’s letter, he might have to wait another five or six months until there was good sailing weather again.

If there is no cold season in your area, you could translate winter as “the time when there are many storms.”

4:21b

Eubulus sends you greetings, as do Pudens, Linus, Claudia: The people that Paul named in this list were in Rome and knew that Paul was sending a letter to Timothy. They each wanted Timothy to know that they were thinking about him and desiring that all would be well with him. Claudia was a woman. The other three were men.

4:21c

all the brothers: The word brothers here means “the believers” and probably includes both men and women. In your translation, you can say “all the other believers” or “all the brothers and sisters.”

© 2003 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.