brothers

“Brothers” has to be translated into Naro as “younger brothers and older brothers” (Tsáá qõea xu hẽé / naka tsáá kíí). All brothers are included this way, also because of the kind of plural that has been used. (Source: Gerrit van Steenbergen)

This also must be more clearly defined in Yucateco as older or younger (suku’un or Iits’in), but here there are both older and younger brothers. Yucateco does have a more general word for close relative, family member. (Source: Robert Bascom)

love (Khanty)

There is no word in Khanty that directly corresponds to the concept of “love.”

In one of the two Bible translation projects (see here ) for which so far (2025) Genesis, Jonah, Luke, and Acts have been translated, mosty (мосты) with the primary meaning of “to be needed” or “to be necessary” was often used when translating the Greek agapao (ἀγαπάω) and the Hebrew aheb (אָהַב) — “love” in English — and the Greek agapétos (ἀγαπητός) — “beloved” in English.

Interestingly, the same word is also used in verses like Luke 7:2 for the Greek entimos (ἔντιμος) or “value highly” or in Luke 20:17 and Acts 4:11 where the “cornerstone” is the “necessary stone.”

In the other translation project in Khanty, the gospel of Mark has been translated (see here ). Here the translators have used vŏłanga săma (вŏԓаӈа сăма), meaning “important” or “pleasant to the heart” when referring to love.

Source: Ivan Borshchevsky

brother (older brother)

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “brother” in English is translated in Kwere as sekulu, in Elhomwe as mbalaawo´, and in Mandarin Chinese as gēgē (哥哥), both “older brother.”

Note that Kwere also uses lumbu — “older sibling” in some cases. (Source for Kwere and Elhomwe: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext; Chinese: Jost Zetzsche)

See also older brother (Japanese honorifics).

complete verse (Genesis 37:4)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 37:4:

  • Kankanaey: “When his siblings came-to-know that he was the one whom their father loved, they hated him, so always-angry is the way they conversed-with him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Because their father loved him more than them, his elder brothers hated him. They did not mix nicely with him.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “But when- the siblings of Jose -saw that he (was) more beloved of their father than they, they were-angry with Jose and they told him hurtful words/speech.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “When Joseph’s older brothers realized that their father loved him more than he loved any of them, they hated him. They never spoke kindly to him.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Genesis 37:4

Father loved him more than all his brothers: in the Hebrew him is moved from its usual position to give it special emphasis. We may translate “Their father loved Joseph more than he loved the other brothers”; Good News Translation has “more than he loved them.” See verse 3 for comments on loved … more than.

They hated him is the first consequence of Joseph’s being loved more. For this use of hated see 26.27. In some languages it may be necessary to express hated him idiomatically; for example, “their hearts were hot against him,” “their livers boiled because of him,” or “they were bad friends with him.”

Could not speak peaceably to him is literally “could not speak to him for [in] peace (shalom).” Since shalom was a regular greeting, this expression seems to mean that they could not greet him; and we may translate, for example, “they could not bring themselves to greet him in a friendly manner” or “they could not give him a friendly hello.” Some translations express this in a negative way: “they always spoke to him crossly.”

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 .