The name that is transliterated as “Abraham” in English is translated in virtually all sign languages, including American Sign Language with the sign signifying “hold back arm” (referring to Genesis 22:12).
In Tira it is transliterated as Abaram. The choice of this, rather than the widely-known “Ibrahim,” as used in the Tira translation of the Qu’ran, was to offset it against the Muslim transliteration which originates from Arabic. (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )
Click or tap here to see two short video clips about Abraham (source: Bible Lands 2012)
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, and Greek that is translated in English typically as “obedience” or “obey” is translated in Tepeuxila Cuicatec as “thing hearing.” “For to hear is to obey.” (Source: Marjorie Davis in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 34ff. )
In Huba it is translated as hya nǝu nyacha: “follow (his) mouth.” (Source: David Frank in this blog post )
In Central Mazahua it is translated as “listen-obey” and in Huehuetla Tepehua as “believe-obey” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), and in Noongar as dwangka-don, lit. “hear do” (source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 26:5:
Kankanaey: “I will bless you (sing.) because Abraham believed/obeyed me and he fulfilled all my laws and commands.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Newari: “For Abraham did everything like I said. He obeyed the commands, laws, and teachings that I gave him.'” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I will-do this because Abraham obeyed me. He obeyed all my laws and teachings.'” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “I will do that because your father Abraham obeyed me. He obeyed everything that I told him to do, everything that I declared and all the laws that I gave him.’ So Isaac went and asked King Abimelech if he would permit him to live in the Gerar area. The king said, ‘Okay,'” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The wording in this verse with charge, commandments, statutes, and laws occurs nowhere else in the stories of the patriarchs. This vocabulary reflects a usage from a much later period, when obedience to the law was the center of Israel’s relationship to God. All of these nouns overlap in their meanings.
My charge means what I charged, ordered Abraham to do. Charge translates a noun whose verb form means to “guard,” “watch over.” Its noun form is used, for example, in Deut 11.1; Josh 22.3; 1 Kgs 2.3, with the sense of “command,” “law,” “regulation.” Speiser translates “mandate,” Bible en français courant, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “orders.” In some languages it will be more natural to express this as a clause; for example, “and did what I told him,” “did what I ordered him to do.”
My commandments is also used in Lev 26.14. It translates one of the common words in this group and is almost always used in the plural in Psa 119. Translators should refer to the discussion in the introduction to Psalm 119 in A Handbook on Psalms, and to the discussion of Psa 1.2 and 19.7 in the same volume. In cases where “my laws” may be misunderstood, it will probably be better to say “my teaching” or “my instruction.” Often a clause is preferred; for example, “what I taught,” “the things I instructed Abraham to do.” See also my laws below.
My statutes: the same Hebrew word is translated by Revised Standard Version as “decree” in Psa 2.7. Statute refers to an authoritative statement of some kind. As a clause it may be rendered, for example, “The words I have spoken,” “What I have declared.”
My laws translates the Hebrew word torah, which refers to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. The word itself means “teaching,” “instruction,” or “guidance.” According to Psa 1.2 obeying the torah of the LORD is the source of joy.
As many languages will find it more natural to translate some of these noun-like words as verbs, here is a suggested model:
• … because Abraham obeyed me. He did what I told him to do. He followed my instructions, the words I spoke, and what I taught him.
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 .
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 show different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help.
In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.