Gen 18:25 – TIPs

complete verse (Genesis 18:25)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 18:25:

Kankanaey: “It is maybe not possible that you (sing.) will punish- the good -along-with the bad, because if you (sing.) did that (concession particle), surely you-would-make-equal what you (sing.) do to the good and to the bad. It certainly is not possible that you (sing.) would do that, because you (sing.) (concessive particle) are the one who will judge all people on this earth, and it is obligatory/essential (lit. forced) that the way you (sing.) judge will be right.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Newari: “You would not also kill the good people along with the people who are not good. If it happens like this, even the good people would have to receive punishment just like the people who are not good. Does the one who judges the world not render justice according to the truth?” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “(It is) impossible that you would-destroy the righteous-ones along-with the sinners. (It is) not possible that your treatment to them is just the same. You who judge the whole world, is (it) not so (that) you should do what (is) right?'” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “It would certainly not be right for you to do such a thing, to kill righteous people along with wicked ones, and treat righteous people and wicked people the same way. You could not do that, because you, who are the judge of everyone on the earth, will certainly do what is right regarding the people of Sodom!'” (Source: Translation for Translators)

righteous, righteousness

The Greek, Hebrew, and Latin terms that are translated in English mostly as “righteous” as an adjective or personified noun or “righteousness” (also as “justice”) are most commonly expressed with concept of “straightness,” though this may be expressed in a number of ways. (Click or tap here to see the details)

Following is a list of (back-) translations of various languages:

Bambara, Southern Bobo Madaré, Chokwe (ululi), Amganad Ifugao, Chol, Eastern Maninkakan, Toraja-Sa’dan, Pamona, Batak Toba, Bilua, Tiv: “be straight”
Laka: “follow the straight way” or “to straight-straight” (a reduplicated form for emphasis)
Highland Puebla Nahuatl, Kekchí, Muna: “have a straight heart”
Kipsigis: “do the truth”
Mezquital Otomi: “do according to the truth”
Huautla Mazatec: “have truth”
Yine: “fulfill what one should do”
Indonesian: “be true”
Navajo: “do just so”
Anuak: “do as it should be”
Mossi: “have a white stomach” (see also happiness / joy)
Paasaal: “white heart” (source: Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
Nuer: “way of right” (“there is a complex concept of “right” vs. ‘left’ in Nuer where ‘right’ indicates that which is masculine, strong, good, and moral, and ‘left’ denotes what is feminine, weak, and sinful (a strictly masculine viewpoint!) The ‘way of right’ is therefore righteousness, but of course women may also attain this way, for the opposition is more classificatory than descriptive.”) (This and all above from Bratcher / Nida except for Bilua: Carl Gross; Tiv: Rob Koops; Muna: René van den Berg)
Central Subanen: “wise-good” (source: Robert Brichoux in OPTAT 1988/2, p. 80ff. )
Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “live well”
Mezquital Otomi: “goodness before the face of God” (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl: “the result of heart-straightening” (source: Nida 1947, p. 224)
Eastern Highland Otomi: “entirely good” (when referred to God), “do good” or “not be a debtor as God sees one” (when referred to people)
Carib: “level”
Tzotzil: “straight-hearted”
Ojitlán Chinantec: “right and straight”
Yatzachi Zapotec: “walk straight” (source for this and four previous: John Beekman in Notes on Translation November 1964, p. 1-22)
Aari: The Pauline word for “righteous” is generally rendered by “makes one without sin” in the Aari, sometimes “before God” is added for clarity. (Source: Loren Bliese)
North Alaskan Inupiatun: “having sin taken away” (Source: Nida 1952, p. 144)
Nyamwezi: wa lole: “just” or “someone who follows the law of God” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Venda: “nothing wrong, OK” (Source: J.A. van Roy in The Bible Translator 1972, p. 418ff. )
Ekari: maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (the same word that is also used for “truth“; 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. ).
Guhu-Samane: pobi or “right” (also: “right (side),” “(legal) right,” “straightness,” “correction,” “south,” “possession,” “pertinence,” “kingdom,” “fame,” “information,” or “speech” — “According to [Guhu-Samane] thinking there is a common core of meaning among all these glosses. Even from an English point of view the first five can be seen to be closely related, simply because of their similarity in English. However, from that point the nuances of meaning are not so apparent. They relate in some such a fashion as this: As one faces the morning sun, south lies to the right hand (as north lies to the left); then at one’s right hand are his possessions and whatever pertains to him; thus, a rich man’s many possessions and scope of power and influence is his kingdom; so, the rich and other important people encounter fame; and all of this spreads as information and forms most of the framework of the people’s speech.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in Notes on Translation 1964, p. 11ff.)

addressing God

Translators of different languages have found different ways with what kind of formality God is addressed. The first example is from a language where God is always addressed distinctly formal whereas the second is one where the opposite choice was made.

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Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.

As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator 2002, p. 210ff.), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.

In these verses, in which humans address God, the informal, familiar pronoun is used that communicates closeness.

Voinov notes that “in the Tuvan Bible, God is only addressed with the informal pronoun. No exceptions. An interesting thing about this is that I’ve heard new Tuvan believers praying with the formal form to God until they are corrected by other Christians who tell them that God is close to us so we should address him with the informal pronoun. As a result, the informal pronoun is the only one that is used in praying to God among the Tuvan church.”

In Gbaya, “a superior, whether father, uncle, or older brother, mother, aunt, or older sister, president, governor, or chief, is never addressed in the singular unless the speaker intends a deliberate insult. When addressing the superior face to face, the second person plural pronoun ɛ́nɛ́ or ‘you (pl.)’ is used, similar to the French usage of vous.

Accordingly, the translators of the current version of the Gbaya Bible chose to use the plural ɛ́nɛ́ to address God. There are a few exceptions. In Psalms 86:8, 97:9, and 138:1, God is addressed alongside other “gods,” and here the third person pronoun o is used to avoid confusion about who is being addressed. In several New Testament passages (Matthew 21:23, 26:68, 27:40, Mark 11:28, Luke 20:2, 23:37, as well as in Jesus’ interaction with Pilate and Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well) the less courteous form for Jesus is used to indicate ignorance of his position or mocking (source Philip Noss).

In Dutch and Western Frisian translations, however, God is always addressed with the formal pronoun.

Translation commentary on Genesis 18:25

Having made his first bold plea for the sparing of Sodom, Abraham now directly rejects by exclamation the very thought that God would destroy innocent people with the guilty.

Far be it from thee to do such a thing: this is equivalent to “God forbid that…,” but it is used here in speaking about God’s own action. This formula is used frequently throughout the Old Testament. See for example Josh 22.29; 24.16; 1 Sam 2.30. Good News Translation says “surely you won’t…,” Bible en français courant “No, you could not act that way,” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “Certainly you cannot kill….” In some languages a strong negative command is the natural expression of the formula: “Don’t even think of….”

To slay the righteous with the wicked: this phrase makes plain what is meant by “to do such a thing” (Hebrew “act in this way”). It may not be necessary to retain the more general “act in this way,” and we can say “Surely you could not kill the innocent people with the guilty people.” Since the LORD has already suggested that he is going to punish the people of Sodom (verses 20-21), some translations express the first part of this verse as “You are about to kill good people with the bad ones. That is not right.”

So that the righteous fare as the wicked: literally this is “so it will be as the righteous, as the wicked”; this means “so that the innocent suffer the same as the guilty.” This may need to be brought out more fully in translation; one translation, for instance, has “If you did that, it would mean that, when you punish, you treat good people and bad people the same way. But that’s ridiculous!”

Far be that from thee is the same exclamation as in the first part of the verse.

Abraham’s speech is constructed so that the destruction of the innocent must be rejected by God, who is the judge. Therefore Far be it from thee occurs twice, and the contrast of righteous and wicked also occurs twice. Do such a thing in the first part of the verse contrasts with do right in the second.

Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?: Abraham now asks a rhetorical question. Judge and do right are forms of the same Hebrew word, much like English “judge” and “judgment.” However, “judgment” here has the sense of “just judgment,” that is, “make a just decision,” or “act justly” (Good News Translation). The rhetorical question may need to be expressed as a strong positive statement in some languages; for example, “You are the judge of all the world! You only judge people justly!”

The expression Judge of all the earth shifts the perspective from a small town near the Dead Sea to the whole world. A similar expression is used in Psa 94.2. The expression refers to the worldwide scope of God’s judgment and may require adjustments in some languages. For example, “You are the one who judges all the people of the earth, and so you are required to judge them justly” or “You are the judge over all the earth’s people. So you must judge them justly.”

Some translations prefer to bring this last statement up to the beginning of the verse; for example, “You are the one who judges people in every country, and you have to give everyone a fair go. You can’t wipe out the good people with the bad—that’s not right.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

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