The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated in English as “joy” or “happiness” is translated in the HausaCommon Language Bible idiomatically as farin ciki or “white stomach.” In some cases, such as in Genesis 29:11, it is also added for emphatic purposes.
Other languages that use the same expression include Southern Birifor (pʋpɛl), Dera (popolok awo), Reshe (ɾipo ɾipuhã). (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
The Greek that is translated in English as “glad” or similar is translated in Enlhet as “innermosts are spread out.” “Innermost” or valhoc is a term that is frequently used in Enlhet to describe a large variety of emotions or states of mind (for other examples see here). (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
The Greek that is translated as “my flesh will live in hope” or similar in English is translated these ways in the following languages.
Eastern Highland Otomi: “when my body rests in the grave I will wait what good he will do for me”
Morelos Nahuatl: “I have much confidence that my body will come alive”
Isthmus Mixe: “even though my body should die, I know that I will come to life
Falam Chin: “my whole body will be filled with hope”
Huichol: “even though my corpse is there while I wait I believe (you will not leave my soul dead)” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
“Hope is sometimes one of the most difficult terms to translate in the entire Bible. It is not because people do not hope for things, but so often they speak of hoping as simply ‘waiting.’ In fact, even in Spanish, the word esperar means both ‘to wait’ and ‘to hope.’ However, in many instances the purely neutral term meaning ‘to wait’ may be modified in such a way that people will understand something more of its significance. For example, in Tepeuxila Cuicatec hope is called ‘wait-desire.’ Hope is thus a blend of two activities: waiting and desiring. This is substantially the type of expectancy of which hope consists.
In Yucateco the dependence of hope is described by the phrase ‘on what it hangs.’ ‘Our hope in God’ means that ‘we hang onto God.’ The object of hope is the support of one’s expectant waiting.
In Ngäbere the phrase “resting the mind” is used. This “implies waiting and confidence, and what is a better definition of hope than ‘confident waiting’.” (Source for this and above: Nida 1952, p. 20, 133)
In Mwera “hope” and “faith” are translated with the same word: ngulupai. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Enlhet: “waitings of (our) innermost” (“innermost” or valhoc is a term that is frequently used in Enlhet to describe a large variety of emotions or states of mind — for other examples see here) (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
Kwang: “one’s future is restored to one’s soul like a fresh, cool breeze on a hot day.” (Source: Mark Vanderkooi right here )
Noongar: koort-kwidiny or “heart waiting” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Anjam: “looking through the horizon” (source: Albert Hoffmann in his memoirs from 1948, quoted in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 7)
Ron: kintiɓwi or “put lip” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
Alekano: “wait not hearing two ears” (meaning to “wait without being double-minded” — source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation June 1986, p. 36ff.)
Marathiaasha (आशा) with a stronger emphasis on desire
C.M. Doke looks at a number of Bantu languages and their respective translations of “hope” with slightly varying connotations (in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 9ff. ):
Xhosa and Zulu: themba “hope, expect,” also “have faith in, rely upon”
Tswana: tsholofelo “hope, expect, look for confidently”
Southern Sotho: tshepo “trust, rely on, believe in, have confidence in”
“Unlike English, which uses the word hope broadly, the French language uses two words that derive from the word espérer (to hope): espoir and espérance. Both can first refer to something hoped for. In this sense, the word espoir usually refers to an uncertain object; that is, someone who hopes for something in this way does not have the certainty that it will happen (“I hope the weather will be nice tomorrow”). On the other hand, espérance describes what, rightly or wrongly, is hoped for or expected with certainty. It often refers to a philosophical or eschatological object (‘I hope in the goodness of human beings’; ‘I hope for the return of Jesus Christ’).
“When we speak of espoir or espérance, we then have in mind different types of objects hoped for. This difference matters, because both terms also commonly refer to the state of mind that characterizes the hopeful. And this state of mind will be different precisely according to the object hoped for.
“Having espoir for an uncertain yet better future in these difficult times may be a good thing, but it is not enough. Such hope can be disappointed and easily fade away when our wishes and expectations (our hopes) do not materialize.
“The opposite is true with espérance, which is deeper than our desire and wish for an end to a crisis or a future without pain and suffering. To face the trials of life, we need peace and joy in our hearts that come from expecting certain happiness. This is what espérance is: a profound and stable disposition resulting from faith in the coming of what we expect. In this sense, it is similar in meaning to the English word hopefulness.
“If we have believed in the Son of the living God, we have such a hope. It rests on the infallible promises of our God, who knows the plans he has for us, his children—plans of peace and not misfortune, to give us a hope and a future (Jer. 29:11). By using the two meanings of the word, we can say that the espérance that the fulfillment of his promises represents (the object hoped for) fills us with espérance (the state of mind).”
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 2:26:
Uma: “That is why my heart is very glad, and I continually praise you (sing.), Lord. My body is ready/quiet waiting for you (sing.).” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “That’s why my liver is happy/joyful and I express-in-words my joy. And even if my body dies, I have (something) I hope for/expect.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Because of this, my breath is very good, and what I have to say is joyful. Oh Lord, I entrust to you my body.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Therefore, I am-made-happy and I praise you (sing.). My mind/thoughts are also peaceful, because I have hope for my body/myself” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “This is what my mind/inner-being can be happy about, and it’s necessary that I tell this happines of mine. And also, my God, even though my body will die, I am certain that” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
My words are full of joy translates “my tongue rejoiced,” but in many languages it is difficult to say “my words are full of joy,” for obviously the words do not experience the joy, but the person has this experience, as manifested in his speaking. Hence, one may be required to shift the semantic structure so as to translate “I am very joyful as I speak.”
One may argue that such shifts inevitably impair the poetic character of such a passage. From our standpoint this is certainly true, for the semantic shifts seem to be much less poetic. However, the poetic character of such a passage may be enhanced in many languages by appropriate shifts in word order, fixed length of lines, alliterative devices, and parallelism of structure, so that not all the poetic values are lost. When certain semantic shifts are required, it is important for the translator to attempt to compensate for these by such formal modifications as may be appropriate so as to reflect as much as possible of the poetic structure.
The Greek use of sarks, literally “flesh,” is a singular type of poetic figure which must be changed in English if the passage is to make sense. The Good News Translation has compensated somewhat for the loss of the figure of speech by introducing a rather elaborate syntactic device, and I, mortal though I am. This is entirely in keeping with the somewhat elaborate introductory particles in Greek eti de kai “yet but also.”
The phrase mortal though I am is equivalent in many languages to “just a man like all others” or “a person destined to die.” When David spoke of “his flesh” he would have been characterizing himself as a mortal being, weak and frail, in contrast to God who is eternal and powerful.
The phrase rest assured in hope involves two different events, which in most languages must be specified as related events, often as coordinate, for example, “rest and hope.” However, an expression for “confidence” may require a specification of the goal of the confidence, such as “rest, having confidence in God.” Other languages may employ such phrases as “hope in what God will do for me” or “hope for God’s promises.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .