The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “anger” or similar in English in this verse is translated with a variety of solutions (Bratcher / Nida says: “Since anger has so many manifestations and seems to affect so many aspects of personality, it is not strange that expressions used to describe this emotional response are so varied”).
Chichewa: “have a burning heart” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation) (see also anger burned in him)
Citak: two different terms, one meaning “angry” and one meaning “offended,” both are actually descriptions of facial expressions. The former can be represented by an angry stretching of the eyes or by an angry frown. The latter is similarly expressed by an offended type of frown with one’s head lowered. (Source: Graham Ogden)
In Akan, a number of metaphors are used, most importantly abufuo, lit. “weedy chest” (the chest is seen as a container that contains the heart but can also metaphorically be filled with other fluids etc.), but also abufuhyeε lit. “hot/burning weedy chest” and anibereε, lit. “reddened eyes.” (Source: Gladys Nyarko Ansah in Kövecses / Benczes / Szelid 2024, p. 21ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of Colossians 3:8:
Uma: “But at this time, we release / let-go-of all behavior like that. Don’t be angry, don’t hold-grudges, don’t be-hateful. Don’t let disparaging, critical or profane words be-uttered from our lips.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “But now you ought to abandon your customs which are bad, like anger, hating and having bad thoughts toward your companion. You must/ought not to slander your companion or talk obscenely to your companion.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And now it’s necessary that we (incl.) abandon every kind of evil behavior like getting angry and being against other people, harming people, gossip, and insulting anyone.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “But now you must avoid all these-things: don’t get-angry, don’t think-about treating-your fellows -maliciously, and don’t speak-evil of them. Don’t also come-out-with (lit. cause-to-come-out) filthy words.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “But now throw away from your lives the spurning/ignoring and anger/hatred against your fellowman, that being the origin of your wanting to harm them. Drop now abusive-speech toward others. You must not now rudely-criticise your companions.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “But now in this day separate from all this I will tell you here: Don’t be angry, don’t want to just to dispute, don’t be insulters. Don’t want to be enemies. Don’t speak bad words.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
In Nicholas King’s English translation of the New Testament (2004), the translator decided to use bullet point lists in some case in the Ephesians, Colossians, and Titus. “There are elaborate groups of nouns strung together, and the sentences are rather long. I have tried, not entirely successfully, to make these long sentences more manageable by the use of bullet points.” One such list is Colossians 3:1-11:
So, if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at God’s right hand;
think of the things that are above, not of things on earth.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ appears, [who is] your life, then also you will appear with him in glory-
So put to death your earthly parts: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry);
through these things the anger of God is coming on the children of dis¬obedience;
among them you once walked, because you lived among them;
now, however, you have also put everything aside: anger, rage, evil, blasphemy, filthy talk from your mouth;
don’t tell lies to others,
having put off the old person, with all its practices, and
having put on the new person who is made new in knowledge, in accordance with the likeness of the one who created him,
where there is no ‘Greek and Jew’, circumcision and uncircumcision’, ‘barbarian’, ‘Scythian’, ‘slave’, ‘free’,
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).
Now: Translator’s New Testament takes it not as simply temporal, but as a consequence of the preceding argument, and translates “now as Christians” (see Note). But it would appear that now is best interpreted as suggesting a contrast with the temporal expression at one time in the previous verse.
You must get rid of all these things must undergo rather considerable change in some languages if the correct meaning is to be preserved. In the first place, these things refer to actions and emotions, not to objects, and you must get rid of must often be expressed as “you must no longer do” or “you must stop doing.” Such phrases can then be best linked directly with the wrong attitudes or actions by saying “you must no longer be angry.”
This verse lists five sins which the Colossians are to get rid of (see the same verb in Rom 13.12; Eph 4.22, 25; 1 Peter 2.1; James 1.21). The first two are practically synonymous: anger and passion. Some commentators see the first (orgē) as the settled condition and the second one (thumos) as occasional outbursts of passion. Anger and passion are frequently expressed in metaphorical language. For example, anger may be referred to as “being hot in the face” or “burning in your heart,” and passion is sometimes referred to as “exploding with anger” or “his heart is fighting.”
Hateful feelings translates a Greek word which means “evil” or “wickedness” in its most general aspect. The more specific “malice” (Revised Standard Version) is a possible interpretation (also PhillipsNew English BibleNew American BibleNew International Version). An ancient Greek lexicographer, Suidas, defined kakia thus: “the eagerness to harm one’s neighbor”f 9 fr 3.8 ft Quoted by Abbott, op. cit., p. 144. (so Lightfoot, Peake). Kakia may thus be translated as “desire to do bad to others,” or “desire to harm others,” or “… cause them to suffer.”
Insults (Good News Translation) or “slander” (Revised Standard Version and others) is abusive speech against someone by telling lies or otherwise insulting him. (The word may mean “blasphemy,” that is, irreverent speech about God, but this meaning is hardly possible here.) Since insulting is an element of universal behavior, there is generally no difficulty involved in finding an adequate term to express such actions. In some cases, however, a more descriptive expression may be used, for example, “saying bad things about people.”
“Foul talk” (Revised Standard Version) represents a Greek word which occurs only here in the NT (see a close parallel in Eph 5.4). New English Bible has “filthy talk,” New American BibleNew International Version “filthy language.”
Obscene talk may simply be expressed as “using words that should never be spoken” or as in some instances, “speaking taboo words.”
Why “from your mouth” (Revised Standard Version) is added is hard to tell, since the last sin mentioned is by definition a matter of speaking. It is not necessary to represent this phrase formally in translation as Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version have done; see Jerusalem BiblePhillipsNew English BibleNew American Bible. Rather than from your lips many languages use “from you mouth,” or “from your tongue,” or “from your throat.” It is, however, usually more natural to say “you must not insult people or use bad words,” rather than to speak of insults and obscene talk “coming from one’s lips.”
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Colossians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
But now: Paul was contrasting the way the Colossians should behave now that they had trusted Christ with the way they used to behave (3:7).
you must put aside all such things as these: In Greek the verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates put aside can literally mean “take-off/remove” clothes. Here Paul was using it as an idiom. It means almost the same thing as “Put to death” in 3:5a: “Do not do any of these things any more.” This same idiom is used in Romans 13:12; Ephesians 4:22, 4:25; 1 Peter 2:1; and James 1:21.
all such things as these: It is possible that all such things refers back to the list of evil things in 3:5. But most scholars and translations say that these words refer forward to the evil things that Paul listed in 3:8b and 3:9.
3:8b
anger, rage: These two words, anger and rage, mean almost the same thing. If you have two synonyms in your language for anger, you can use them here, otherwise you can combine the two words and say, “do not be angry in any way.”
malice: To act with malice means to act in wicked, hateful ways, to do things to people just to be unkind. Here is another way to translate this word:
hateful feelings (Good News Translation)
slander: This means to say hateful, unkind, insulting things about people. This may mean telling lies about people, but it can also include saying true things about people, but with the intent to hurt them.
filthy language: This probably refers to obscene talk or cursing. If you do not have an expression in your language for speaking in this offensive or profane manner, you may be able to say, “using words that should not be spoken.”
from your lips: The Greek is literally “from your mouth.” Notice that the Berean Standard Bible, along with several other English versions, has translated the Greek word for “mouth” with lips. This is because in English it is more natural to refer to words being “on someone’s lips” than “in their mouth.” In other languages, it may be more natural to refer to the throat or the tongue. You should use the term that is most natural in your language.
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®).
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.