17Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with sighing, for that would be harmful to you.
The Hebrew, Greek, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “soul” in English is translated in Chol with a term that refers to the invisible aspects of human beings (source: Robert Bascom), in Yagaria with oune or “shadow, reflection” (source: Renck, p. 81), and in Elhomwe as “heart” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext).
The Mandarin Chineselínghún (靈魂 / 灵魂), literally “spirit-soul,” is often used for “soul” (along with xīn [心] or “heart”). This is a term that was adopted from Buddhist sources into early Catholic writings and later also by Protestant translators. (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 32, see also Clara Ho-yan Chan in this article )
In Chichewa, moyo means both “soul” and “life.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated in English as “joy” or “happiness” is translated in the HausaCommon Language Bible idiomatically as farin ciki or “white stomach.” In some cases, such as in Genesis 29:11, it is also added for emphatic purposes.
Other languages that use the same expression include Southern Birifor (pʋpɛl), Dera (popolok awo), Reshe (ɾipo ɾipuhã). (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
Following are a number of back-translations of Hebrews 13:17:
Uma: “Follow the commands of your leaders and submit to them. For they are the ones who care for the life of your soul, and they will be the ones who will answer God’s question about [lit., from] their work. Follow their commands so that they can work gladly. If you don’t follow their commands, their hearts will be sad, and in the end you will be the ones who lose/miss-out-on blessings.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Really follow the teachings of your leaders among the trusters in Almasi and do what they command you. They are the ones who are watching/caring-for you so that you won’t go astray from the path towards God. The reason they do this is because there is a time when they will face God telling as to how they cared for you. If you follow their commands they are happy to teach you. But if you do not follow them, they are sad/troubled and their helping you has no (good) result.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Obey the commands of your masters who are believers, and show your respects to them because they are the ones who take care of you who believe. And there will be a time in the future when God will check up to see if they have been faithful in taking care of you. If you obey their commands they will be very happy in their work. But if you do not obey, their work will be very difficult and it will happen also that this will be difficult for you.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Obey your leaders and subject-yourselves to them, because they are taking-care-of you in your faith. They also do their work diligently, because they know they will face God to tell him what they have done. So obey them so they will be happy to fulfill their work. Because if you don’t obey them, they will be sad, and you yourselves will be the losers.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “And what is also good is, submit to the ones having-oversight over you and follow/obey their directions to you. For as for them, that’s their job/responsibility, always looking after your believing/obeying so that your spirits will not be lost. They will answer to God for it if they ignore/leave-alone this job/responsibility of theirs. Well, of course if you are following/obeying them with a good following/obedience, they will then be happy in fulfilling-(their)-responsibility. But if you demoralize them (lit. make-tasteless their mind/inner-being) because you are not taking- them -seriously, that is not in fact for your benefit.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Concerning the men who rule in the church, do what they tell you. Respect them well because they care for your souls. They know that concerning the work they are doing, there will come the day when God will judge them. Therefore cause that they be joyful, these who care for you, do not do what causes them to be sad. Because if you do not obey what they tell you, then they cannot help you very much.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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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).
This verse is more closely related to verses 8-16 than to verse 7, which speaks of former leaders. The present leaders of the Christian community are those especially responsible for seeing that its members are not “led astray” (verse 9). However, most translations, like the UBS Greek text, begin a new paragraph here.
Obey your leaders and follow their orders is not a statement of two different activities but of closely related ones, the first being general and the second more specific. Therefore it may be better in some languages to translate the first sentence of verse 17 as “Obey your leaders by following their orders” or “… by doing what they tell you to do.”
On souls, see 4.12; Barclay “Their care for you”; Bijbel in Gewone Taal and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “they watch over you.” A strictly literal translation of They watch over your souls without resting may be misunderstood as being the activity of a sorcerer on the lookout for people’s souls which he can control. It may therefore be better to translate They watch over your souls without resting as “They constantly care for you” or “They never rest in their concern to take care of you.”
To God and of their service are implied. Since they must give to God an account of their service may be rendered as “because they must explain to God how they have carried out their responsibility” or “… how they have done their work,” or even “… how they have cared for you.”
Translations of the rest of the verse differ more in style and language than in meaning. Revised Standard Version (see also New English Bible) would have been improved by omitting “and” before “not sadly,” since the second phrase does not add any new information.
The elliptical clause if not may require some expansion; for example, “but if you do not obey them.”
They will do it with sadness does not mean that they will go about their task with sad faces, but “they will do what they must do, but it will make them sad.”
And that would be of no help to you may be expressed as “and that will not help you” or “and you will not benefit from that.”
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Letter of the Hebrews. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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