gospel

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In choosing a word for the Greek that is typically translated as “gospel” in English, a number of languages construct a phrase meaning “good news,” “joyful report” or “happiness-bringing words.” In some instances such a phrase may be slightly expanded in order to convey the proper meaning, e.g. “new good word” (Tzotzil), or it may involve some special local usage:

  • “good story” (Navajo (Dinė))
  • “joyful telling” (Tausug)
  • “joyful message” (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • cohuen ñoñets or “message of God” (Shilluk) (source: Nida 1964, p. 237)
  • “good news” (Yanesha’) (source: Martha Duff in Holzhausen 1991, p. 11)
  • “voice of good spirit” (San Blas Kuna) (source: Claudio and Marvel Iglesias in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 85ff. )
  • suviśēṣattinṟe (0സുവിശേഷം) or “good narrative” (Malayalam)
  • susmachar (ସୁସମାଚାର) or “good matter” (Odia)
  • suvārteya (ಸುವಾರ್ತೆಯ) or “good word” (Kannada) (source for this and two above: Y.D. Tiwari in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 132ff. )
  • the German das Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022) translates as “all-transformative good news” (alles verändernde gute Botschaft), also “good news”
Vitaly Voinov tells this story about the translation into Rutul (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):

“In Rutul, it was only during the most recent consultant checking session that I realized that the Rutul word for Gospel – Incir (from Arabic إنجيل — Injil) — sounds and looks exactly like the word that means ‘fig’ in Rutul. This is a case of homonymy, in which two completely non-related words from differing historical sources have come to sound exactly alike. Most Rutul speakers know that incir means ‘fig’ because they grow this fruit in their yard or buy it at the market every week. However, because the religious sphere of discourse was heavily disparaged during the Soviet era, most people simply never encountered Incir with the meaning of ‘Gospel.’ This meaning of the word, which Rutuls of the pre-Soviet era knew from the Koran, simply fell into disuse and never had much reason for returning into contemporary Rutul since there is no Christian church established among the people. So if the translator continues to use the term Incir as the rendering for ‘Gospel,’ he runs the risk that most readers will, at best, read the word with a smile because they know that it also means ‘fig,’ and, at worst, will completely misunderstand the word. The seemingly ‘easy’ solution in this case is for the translator to use a Rutul neologism meaning ‘Joyful Message’ or ‘Good News,’ [see above] instead of Incir; but in fact it is not all that easy to make this change if the translator himself insists on using the historical word because at least some Rutuls still understand it as meaning ‘Gospel.’ This is a situation in which the translation team has to gradually grow into the understanding that a fully intelligible translation of Scripture is preferable to one that maintains old words at the cost of alienating much of the readership.”

For “good news,” see also Isaiah 52:7.

truth

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.”

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Gal. 2:5)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, translators typically select the exclusive form (excluding the readers of the letter).

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

complete verse (Galatians 2:5)

Following are a number of back-translations of Galatians 2:5:

  • Uma: “We(excl.) did not submit even a little bit to their false teaching. We(excl.) definitely braced-our-feet [figure of speech meaning: resisted, did not give in] so that the Good News would not be mixed with that false teaching of theirs, so that the Good News which you receive(d), relatives, is definitely really true.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But we (excl.) really did not follow what they wanted/their wish because we (excl.) do not want/wish that the true teaching, that means the good news about Isa Almasi, is mixed with false teaching. (lit: teaching not true)” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But we (excl.) did not permit that they come to be in charge of us in any kind of way, so that the true Good News might not have anything false added to it, and your faith might not be destroyed.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But we (excl.) absolutely didn’t give-in-and-agree, even for-a-moment, that what they said should be carried-out in order that the true good news that you believe would not be changed.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But we (excl.) didn’t go along even a little bit with what they were saying, so that the true Good News wouldn’t have anything untrue mixed in with it, and (so that) you wouldn’t be misled.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But the word which they spoke, not one mouthful did I pay respect to. Because this good news you already believe is a true word, and cannot be changed by anyone.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Galatians 2:5

The truth of the gospel refers to the truth either (1) contained in or belonging to the gospel or (2) consisting of the gospel (an appositional relation). The gospel here is either good news about Jesus Christ or the good news which Christ has brought. In some languages the truth of the gospel may be expressed as “the true words of the good news.” In other instances it may be necessary to say “the good news which is true.” Obviously, the phrase the truth of the gospel should not be translated in such a way as to indicate that the gospel contained both truth and falsehood and that only the truth was to be kept safe.

To keep … safe for you is literally “may abide with you.” Some translations take this to mean “continue” (New English Bible “should be maintained for you”; compare New American Bible “might survive intact for your benefit”). To keep the truth of the gospel safe for you may be rendered as “to keep the truth of the good news without being distorted,” “… without being changed,” or “… without being made false.”

We did not give in means that Paul did not give in to the pressure or demand for Titus’ circumcision. We did not give in to them may be rendered in some languages simply as “We did not agree with their demands,” or “We did not say yes to what they said we must do.”

For a minute translates a Greek phrase (literally “for an hour”) which is used to designate a relatively short time (New English Bible “for one moment”). The phrase for a minute, combined with a negative of the same sentence, may be expressed more satisfactorily in some languages as “never,” for example, “We never gave in to them.”

With a negative statement such as we did not give in to them, it may be necessary to express the purpose in order to keep the truth of the gospel safe for you as a matter of intent or reason for not having given in, for example, “We did not give in to them for a minute, for we wanted to keep the truth of the gospel safe for you.”

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Galatians 2:5

2:5a

We did not give in to them for a moment: This clause means that Paul and some other people did not at all agree with the false teachers who wanted Gentile believers to be circumcised. They did not ask Gentile believers such as Titus to get circumcised.

Some other ways to translate this clause are:

we did not yield/submit to them even a little bit
-or-
we refused to give in to them for even a minute
-or-
we did not at all accept what they wanted to do
-or-
we did not agree with them at all

In some languages, it may be natural to state this without using the word not. For example:

we completely disagreed with them
-or-
we were completely against them
-or-
we were absolutely opposed to them

not…for a moment: This phrase means “never” or “not at all.” Paul never accepted the teaching of the false brothers.

to them: The pronoun them refers to the false brothers in 2:4a.

2:5b

so that: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as so that indicates that 2:5b is the purpose for 2:5a. Paul refused to yield to the false teachers (2:5a) so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved (2:5b).

In some languages, it may be natural to begin a new sentence here. For example:

We wanted the truth of the Good News to continue for you. (New Century Version)
-or-

?We did that because? we wanted to preserve the truth of the gospel for you.

the truth of the gospel: This phrase refers to the “true gospel” as opposed to the “false gospel” that the false brothers taught. It means “the message of the true gospel” or “the truth that is the gospel.”

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

the true gospel
-or-
the true Good News
-or-
the true teaching that is the good news about Jesus

would remain: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as would remain means “might remain” or “might continue.” Paul did not want any false doctrines added to the true gospel. He did not want the true gospel changed in any way. He wanted the gospel to remain or “continue to be” the only message.

Some other ways to translate this verb are:

continue (New Century Version)
-or-
should be maintained (Revised English Bible)
-or-
would not be changed/distorted
-or-
would not be mixed ?with false teaching?

with you: Certain Gentiles had already received the true gospel. The Berean Standard Bible translates this phrase as with you to indicate that Paul wanted the true gospel to remain “with them.”

This phrase can also mean “for the sake/benefit of Gentile believers” like the Galatians. Paul did not want the good news of salvation by faith to be changed. He did not want the church to require Gentile believers to be circumcised. He fought hard to keep the gospel pure and unchanged for the benefit of Gentile believers like the Galatians. Here is another way to translate this phrase:

for you (English Standard Version)

General Comment on 2:5

The most prominent part of this verse is that the truth of the gospel be preserved for the Galatians. In some languages, it may be more natural to put 2:5b before 2:5a to show that prominence. For example:

5b We wanted the true gospel to be preserved for you, 5a so we never gave in to them.

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