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The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as a form of “save” in English is translated in Shipibo-Conibo with a phrase that means literally “make to live,” which combines the meaning of “to rescue” and “to deliver from danger,” but also the concept of “to heal” or “restore to health.”

Other translations include:

  • San Blas Kuna: “help the heart”
  • Laka: “take by the hand” in the meaning of “rescue” or “deliver”
  • Huautla Mazatec: “lift out on behalf of”
  • Anuak: “have life because of”
  • Central Mazahua: “be healed in the heart”
  • Baoulé: “save one’s head”
  • Guerrero Amuzgo: “come out well”
  • Northwestern Dinka: “be helped as to his breath” (or “life”) (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida),
  • Matumbi: “rescue (from danger)” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Noongar: barrang-ngandabat or “hold life” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • South Bolivian Quechua: “make to escape”
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl: “cause people to come out with the aid of the hand” (source for this and one above: Nida 1947, p. 222)
  • Bariai: “retrieve one back” (source: Bariai Back Translation)

See also salvation and save (Japanese honorifics).

complete verse (Ezekiel 33:9)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 33:9:

  • Kupsabiny: “But if you rebuke that sinner and (he) refuses to turn/repent, he shall die for his sins. Then you shall save your life.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “But if you warned that wicked man to leave his bad way, but he did- not -pay-attention to what you said, he will-die because of his sin, but you are not accountable for his death.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “But if you warn that wicked person that he should turn away from his sins, and he does not do that, he will die because of his sins, but you will have saved your life.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 33:9

But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way: The parallel in 3.19 does not have to turn from his way, which simply makes explicit what the warning is. It does not change the meaning of what is found in chapter 3. His way, which occurs three times in verses 8-9, refers to “his wicked way.”

And he does not turn from his way: This expression is shorter than the parallel in 3.19. Good News Translation says “and he doesn’t stop sinning.”

He shall die in his iniquity, but you will have saved your life: See 3.19.

A model for this verse is:

• But if you warn the wicked people to stop doing evil [things], and they do not stop doing evil, they will die as sinners, but you will have saved your life.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .