Gomorrah

The place name is transliterated as “Gomorrah” in English means “people of fear,” “fear of the people,” “a rebellious people,” “depression,” “bondage.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 ) #

It is transliterated in Mandarin Chinese as émólā (蛾摩拉) in the Protestant tradition. This is an interesting transliteration because the first character é (蛾) has a negative connotation with the meaning of “moth.” This character is only used here in the Protestant Chinese Bible. For many other transliterations the more neutral character 俄 with the same pronunciation is used. (Source: Zetzsche)

Sodom

The name of that is transliterated as “Sodom” in English means “flaming,” “burning,” “mystery.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )

Sodom and the story of its depravity, especially the attempted rape of the visitors to Lot, has come to refer to “sodomy” in many modern languages, including English, and many other European and non-European languages.

See also Onan.

Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Sodom (source: Bible Lands 2012)

fire and brimstone

The now commonly-used English idiom “fire and brimstone” (meaning fiery rhetoric or the threat of hell) was first coined in 1535 in the English translation by Miles Coverdale. (Source: Crystal 2010, p. 300)

For other idioms in English that were coined by Bible translation, see here.

rained on Sodom and Gomorrah

The Hebrew in Genesis 19:24 that is translated as “rained on Sodom and Gomorrah” in most English translations is translated in Mwera as “burned on Sodom and Gomorrah.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

complete verse (Genesis 19:24)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 19:24:

  • Kankanaey: “Whereupon God suddenly-let-fall burning rock called sulfur (Eng. loan) on Sodoma and Gomorra.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Then the LORD caused a rain of fire and sulphur to fall on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Then the LORD caused-it-to-rain-down flaming sulfur on Sodom and Gomora.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Then Yahweh caused fire and burning sulfur to fall down on Sodom and Gomorrah like rain.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God ("rain/hurl")

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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, furase-rare-ru (降らせられる) or “rain/hurl” is used.

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