truth

Nida (1947, p. 230) says this about the translation of the concept of “truth”: “The words for ‘truth’ and ‘true’ are not always the most readily discovered in aboriginal languages. In some instances the only expression which corresponds to ‘true’ is something like ‘it happened.’ A falsehood is something that ‘did not happen.’ In a good many languages the meaning of ‘truth’ is expressed by the words signifying ‘straight’ and ‘direct.’ Untruth is accordingly ‘crookedness.’ An abstract noun such as English “truth” is quite difficult to find in some instances. Only an expression such as ‘true statement’ or ‘true word’ will be found to correspond to English ‘truth.’”

The Greek, Latin, Ge’ez, and Hebrew that is usually translated in English as “truth” is translated in Luchazi with vusunga: “the quality of being straight” (source: E. Pearson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 160ff. ), in Obolo as atikọ or “good/correct talk” (source: Enene Enene), and in Ekari as maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (esp. in John 14:6 and 17; bokouto — “enormous” — is being used as an attribute for abstract nouns to denote that they are of God [see also here]; source: Marion Doble in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 37ff. ).

Helen Evans (in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) tells of the translation into Kui which usually is “true-thing.” In some instances however, such as in the second part of John 17:17 (“your word is truth” in English), the use of “true-thing” indicated that there might be other occasions when it’s not true, so here the translation was a a form of “pure, holy.”

The translation committee of the Malay “Good News Bible” (Alkitab Berita Baik, see here ) wrestled with the translation of “truth” in the Gospel of John:

“Our Malay Committee also concluded that ‘truth’ as used in the Gospel of John was used either of God himself, or of God’s revelation of himself, or in an extended sense as a reference to those who had responded to God’s self-disclosure. In John 8:32 the New Malay translation reads ‘You will know the truth about God, and the truth about God will make you free.’ In John 8:44 this meaning is brought out by translating, ‘He has never been on the side of God, because there is no truth in him.’ Accordingly Jesus ‘tells the truth about God’ in 8:45, 46 (see also 16:7 and 8:37a). Then, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’ (John 14:6) becomes ‘I am the one who leads men to God, the one who reveals who and what God is, and the one who gives men life.” At 3:21 the translation reads ” … whoever obeys the truth, that is God himself, comes to the light …’; 16:13a appears as ‘he will lead you into the full truth about God’; and in 18:37 Jesus affirms ‘I came into the world to reveal the truth about God, and whoever obeys God listens to me.’ On this basis also 1:14 was translated ‘we saw his glory, the glory which he had as the Father’s only Son. Through him God has completely revealed himself (truth) and his love for us (grace)’; and 1:17 appears as ‘God gave the law through Moses; but through Jesus Christ he has completely revealed himself (truth) and his love for us (grace).'” (Source: Barclay Newman in The Bible Translator 1974, p. 432ff. )

The German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) has followed a somewhat similar path to the Malay committee 50 years earlier in the gospel of John. In John 1 it translates “truth as “God’s nature,” in John 3 as “God’s will,” in John 8 as “God’s reality,” in John 14 as “encountering God,” and in John 16 as “God’s truth.”

complete verse (2 Timothy 4:4)

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

  • Uma: “They will pretend-to-be-deaf / make-themselves-deaf when they hear true teaching, and they will set/cock their ears [i.e., be attentive] when they hear teaching that is just made up.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “They will not listen when the true teaching is taught to them. What they heed are the legends/stories made-up by people only.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “They will not listen to the truth, rather, what they will believe is false histories.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Therefore they will turn-a-deaf-ear-to (object focus of deaf) the true teaching while at the same time they follow the not true tales of people long ago.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “That next is what they really like best to hear, folk stories that aren’t true. They will deafen their ears to the teaching of what really is the truth.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Because the people will not want to hear the word which is true. Rather they listen only to the word made up by the lying teachers.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 2 Timothy 4:4

The result of all this is that these people will turn away from the truth and instead wander into myths. For turn away see 2 Tim 1.15. These people deliberately refuse to listen to the truth, that is, the gospel message (for which see 1 Tim 6.5). Wander into (Good News Translation “give their attention”) may also be rendered as “eagerly listen to” (Contemporary English Version) or “become fascinated by.”

The word translated myths occurs only four times in the whole New Testament, three times in the Pastorals, and once in 2 Peter (1.16). Here the term refers to teachings that are not true and have no historical basis; hence Good News Translation “legends.” For further discussion see 1 Tim 1.4.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• The result is that they will stop listening to the true message and will become fascinated with made-up stories (or, legends).

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 .

Sung version of 2 Timothy 4

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®).

For more information, see here .