Cherokee: “putting one’s hand up to someone” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 16)
In Bauzi “swear” can be translated in various ways. In Hebrews 6:13, for instance, it is translated with “bones break apart and decisively speak.” (“No bones are literally broken but by saying ‘break bones’ it is like people swear by someone else in this case it is in relation to a rotting corpse’ bones falling apart. If you ‘break bones’ so to speak when you make an utterance, it is a true utterance.”) In other passages, such as in Matthew 26:72, it’s translated with an expression that implies taking ashes (“if a person wants everyone to know that he is telling the truth about a matter, he reaches down into the fireplace, scoops up some ashes and throws them while saying ‘I was not the one who did that.'”). So in Matthew 26:72 the Bauzi text is: “. . . Peter took ashes and defended himself saying, ‘I don’t know that Nazareth person.'” (Source: David Briley)
The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is typically translated as “sin” in English has a wide variety of translations.
The Greek ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō) carries the original verbatim meaning of “miss the mark” and likewise, many translations contain the “connotation of moral responsibility.”
Loma: “leaving the road” (which “implies a definite standard, the transgression of which is sin”)
Navajo (Dinė): “that which is off to the side” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
Toraja-Sa’dan: kasalan, originally meaning “transgression of a religious or moral rule” and in the context of the Bible “transgression of God’s commandments” (source: H. van der Veen in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 21ff. )
Bariai: “bad behavior” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
Sandawe: “miss the mark” (like the original meaning of the Greek term) (source for this and above: Ursula Wiesemann in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 36ff., 43)
Nias: horö, originally a term primarily used for sexual sin. (Source: Hummel / Telaumbanua 2007, p. 256)
In Shipibo-Conibo the term is hocha. Nida (1952, p. 149) tells the story of its choosing: “In some instances a native expression for sin includes many connotations, and its full meaning must be completely understood before one ever attempts to use it. This was true, for example, of the term hocha first proposed by Shipibo-Conibo natives as an equivalent for ‘sin.’ The term seemed quite all right until one day the translator heard a girl say after having broken a little pottery jar that she was guilty of ‘hocha.’ Breaking such a little jar scarcely seemed to be sin. However, the Shipibos insisted that hocha was really sin, and they explained more fully the meaning of the word. It could be used of breaking a jar, but only if the jar belonged to someone else. Hocha was nothing more nor less than destroying the possessions of another, but the meaning did not stop with purely material possessions. In their belief God owns the world and all that is in it. Anyone who destroys the work and plan of God is guilty of hocha. Hence the murderer is of all men most guilty of hocha, for he has destroyed God’s most important possession in the world, namely, man. Any destructive and malevolent spirit is hocha, for it is antagonistic and harmful to God’s creation. Rather than being a feeble word for some accidental event, this word for sin turned out to be exceedingly rich in meaning and laid a foundation for the full presentation of the redemptive act of God.”
Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the DanishBibelen 2020, comments on the translation of this term: “We would explain terms, such that e.g. sin often became ‘doing what God does not want’ or ‘breaking God’s law’, ‘letting God down’, ‘disrespecting God’, ‘doing evil’, ‘acting stupidly’, ‘becoming guilty’. Now why couldn’t we just use the word sin? Well, sin in contemporary Danish, outside of the church, is mostly used about things such as delicious but unhealthy foods. Exquisite cakes and chocolates are what a sin is today.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ecclesiastes 5:5:
Kupsabiny: “It is better for a person not to promise anything rather than he has promised and he does not fulfill (it).” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Not to make a vow at all is better than making a vow and not fulfilling it.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “(It is) still better if you (sing.) just not promise than you (sing.) promise that you (sing.) will not actually fulfill.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “It is better to not promise anything than to promise to do something, and then not doing it.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
As with other “better” sayings, Qoheleth gives two alternatives: the first is what he commends and the second is what he advises against. The advice offered is the same as we find in Deut 23.23. It is not a sin if we do not make a vow; the problem arises when a vow made is not fulfilled. The unique feature here is that Qoheleth uses one of his “better” sayings to pass on this advice. The person addressed is the person who is studying to be wise. To such people Qoheleth says “In matters of worship you can avoid problems if you are faithful to your commitments. If there is any doubt about your ability to fulfill a vow, then be wise and do not make the vow.”
In Hebrew this statement is addressed to you, but in some languages a different pronoun may be required. Or an impersonal statement with simple infinitives may be preferred, such as “It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it.” It is also possible for the “better” saying to be placed in the middle of the sentence rather than at the beginning: “not to make a vow is better than making one and not completing it.” Even an imperative can be used: “Be like the wise person and do not make a vow, rather than like the fool who makes a vow and cannot fulfill it.”
Sometimes comparison statements with emphatic particles such as the English “at all” are a natural way to express this idea. These may be added since they only reinforce the meaning: “If you cannot fulfill the vow you make, then don’t make the vow at all. This is the wise thing to do.”
Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Zogbo, Lynell. A Handbook on the Book of Ecclesiates. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
5:5 It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.
It is good to never promise anything, rather than to promise something and then not do it. -or-
Do not promise to do something that you might not do. It would be better not to promise anything. (EASY2015) -or-
It is better to promise nothing than to promise something and not be able to do it. (English Easy-to-Read Version)
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