Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )
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.”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Daniel 10:21:
Kupsabiny: “But before I go, I will show you something that is written in the book of truth. I do not have any other person who will help me defeat those spirits, apart from Michael, the angel protecting you.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Then he asked, "Do you know why I have come to you? THAT I have come to your place to tell [you]that which has been written in the book of truth. Now I will soon go to fight with the Prince of Persia. After I have gone, the Prince of Greece will come. There is no one else to help me except the chief angel of Israel, Michael.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I came in-order to explain to you (sing.) what is-written in the Book of Truth. In my fighting, no one helps me except Micael alone, the leader/[lit. head] of Israel.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Then he said, ‘Do you know why I came to you?/I will tell you why I came to you. It is to reveal to you what is written in the book which reveals/contains God’s truth. But now I must return to fight against the evil spirit who rules the kingdom of Persia. After I have defeated him, the evil angel who guards Greece will appear and I must defeat him. Michael, who guards you Israeli people, will help me, but there is no one else to help me.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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).
The clauses in these two verses are in an unusual order. Several translations and commentaries decide that they must be rearranged in order to make good sense. The most common restructuring consists of transposing verse 20b (“But … Greece will come”) to the middle of verse 21. This makes the answer follow the question of verse 20a more closely (as in Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible). Some versions, however, move verse 21a to a position at the end of the first verse in chapter 11 and omit the date there. Another possibility is to place 10.21b and 11.1 in parentheses (New International Version). But the restructuring of Good News Translation and New Jerusalem Bible will probably be best for most languages.
The prince of Persia: as in verse 13, this refers to the angel designated to protect Persia.
When I am through with him: this seems to be a deliberately vague expression for giving somebody a bad time; there are similar idiomatic expressions in many languages which may be used here. In some languages, however, what is meant may have to be made clearer by saying something like “when I have defeated him” or “after he is subdued.”
Lo: see comments on the Aramaic equivalent for this term at 7.6.
The prince of Greece: literally “the prince of Javan.” As seen above, the word for prince: is used here in the sense of an angel who watches over and protects the area mentioned. See 8.21 for comments on the word “Javan.”
I will tell you: in this context the verb in Hebrew has the sense of “explain,” “reveal”, or “make known” something that is not generally known or that has not been known before, or something hidden or mysterious. Revised English Bible “expound” and Good News Translation “reveal” express this sense better than the more general term tell.
What is inscribed: this is not the usual word for “what is written,” since it occurs only here in all the Old Testament. But it is very similar to an Aramaic word having to do with writing. The main translation problem here will be the passive form for many languages. In this case translators should not make the subject too definite, since we do not know who did the writing. It will be better to say something like “someone wrote” or “they (indefinite) wrote.”
The book of truth: literally “the writing of truth.” It is not known exactly what this refers to. In 9.2 there was the reference to the “(holy) books,” which contained the revelation of God to human beings, including among others the Book of Jeremiah. Here the Hebrew expression is different. It may refer to a heavenly book in which, according to an ancient notion, God wrote in advance the destiny of individuals and of nations. Knox translates “the book of doom.” It is, however, better not to give such details in translation, since the meaning is not certain. If the translators see a need, this kind of information can be included in a footnote on this passage.
None who contends by my side against these: the would-be adversaries are the protecting angels of Persia and Greece. Another possible wording is “no one supported me in my struggle with them.”
Your prince: while the English pronoun your may be singular or plural, the Hebrew form on which it is based is plural in this case and is taken to refer to the people of Israel as a whole rather than just to Daniel. This is why Good News Translation and Bible en français courant say clearly “Israel’s guardian angel.” This plural form should be clearly reflected in the language of translation.
Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René & Ellington, John. A Handbook on Daniel. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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