17Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people.
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “high sacrificer” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Tagbanwa as “Most-important Priest of God” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Bariai: “Big leader of offerings” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
In Khoekhoe the translation for “high priest” is only capitalized when it refers to Jesus (as is Hebrews 2:17 et al.). (Source: project-specific notes in Paratext)
The Greek and Hebrew that is usually translated in English as “atonement” is translated in Luchazi with minina mata: “to swallow another’s spittle.” “The human bite [is traditionally thought of] as being the most poisonous and dangerous and the poison lies in the saliva. So in swallowing another’s spittle, one takes into oneself all the poison or evil of the other and thus actually ‘becomes sin’ on behalf of the other. The substitute then proceeds to deal with the case as though he were the guilty one.” (Source: E. Pearson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 160ff. )
The Greek that is translated as “make a sacrifice of atonement” or similar in English is translated in Mwera as “devote himself to be the sacrifice.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
“The man (John) is pouring water from the conch shell to anoint Jesus for a special task. The use of anointing shells originally came from Hinduism but is now used for special ceremonies in Thailand and surrounding countries. Jesus shows his willingness to identify with this tradition by raising his hands in a wai position indicating surrender.”
The Hebrew and Greek that is typically translated as “sin” in English has a wide variety of translations.
The Greek ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō) carries the original verbatim meaning of “miss the mark” and likewise, many translations contain the “connotation of moral responsibility.”
Loma: “leaving the road” (which “implies a definite standard, the transgression of which is sin”)
Navajo (Dinė): “that which is off to the side” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
Toraja-Sa’dan: kasalan, originally meaning “transgression of a religious or moral rule” and in the context of the Bible “transgression of God’s commandments” (source: H. van der Veen in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 21ff. )
Sandawe: “miss the mark” (like the original meaning of the Greek term) (source for this and above: Ursula Wiesemann in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 36ff., 43)
In Shipibo-Conibo the term is hocha. Nida (1952, p. 149) tells the story of its choosing: “In some instances a native expression for sin includes many connotations, and its full meaning must be completely understood before one ever attempts to use it. This was true, for example, of the term hocha first proposed by Shipibo-Conibo natives as an equivalent for ‘sin.’ The term seemed quite all right until one day the translator heard a girl say after having broken a little pottery jar that she was guilty of ‘hocha.’ Breaking such a little jar scarcely seemed to be sin. However, the Shipibos insisted that hocha was really sin, and they explained more fully the meaning of the word. It could be used of breaking a jar, but only if the jar belonged to someone else. Hocha was nothing more nor less than destroying the possessions of another, but the meaning did not stop with purely material possessions. In their belief God owns the world and all that is in it. Anyone who destroys the work and plan of God is guilty of hocha. Hence the murderer is of all men most guilty of hocha, for he has destroyed God’s most important possession in the world, namely, man. Any destructive and malevolent spirit is hocha, for it is antagonistic and harmful to God’s creation. Rather than being a feeble word for some accidental event, this word for sin turned out to be exceedingly rich in meaning and laid a foundation for the full presentation of the redemptive act of God.”
Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the DanishBibelen 2020, comments on the translation of this term: “We would explain terms, such that e.g. sin often became ‘doing what God does not want’ or ‘breaking God’s law’, ‘letting God down’, ‘disrespecting God’, ‘doing evil’, ‘acting stupidly’, ‘becoming guilty’. Now why couldn’t we just use the word sin? Well, sin in contemporary Danish, outside of the church, is mostly used about things such as delicious but unhealthy foods. Exquisite cakes and chocolates are what a sin is today.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )
The Greek that is translated in English as “brother” or “brother and sister” (in the sense of fellow believers), is translated with a specifically coined word in Kachin: “There are two terms for brother in Kachin. One is used to refer to a Christian brother. This term combines ‘older and younger brother.’ The other term is used specifically for addressing siblings. When one uses this term, one must specify if the older or younger person is involved. A parallel system exists for ‘sister’ as well. In [these verses], the term for ‘a Christian brother’ is used.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae)
In Matumbi is is translated as alongo aumini or “relative-believer.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
In Martu Wangka it is translated as “relative” (this is also the term that is used for “follower.”) (Source: Carl Gross)
In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is often translated as Mitchristen or “fellow Christians.”
Following are a number of back-translations of Hebrews 2:17:
Uma: “That is why Yesus had to become mankind and become the same as us his relatives in every way, in order to become a Big Priest that is loving and that stays [is faithful] working the work that God gave him, to pay-for the sins of the people.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “This means he really had to become man/human like his siblings, and experience all they experience so that he would know how to be merciful towards them and so that he could become a trustworthy high priest (lit. leading priest) mediating between people and God so that the sin of mankind could be forgiven.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The reason it was necessary for Him to become a human was so that He might become like us (incl.) His siblings. And He did this so that He might be there in the presence of God, like our high priest who is very merciful and faithful, so that He might remove our sins.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Therefore it was necessary that he become exactly like us who are his brothers so that he would thus become our highest priest who is consistently-merciful and trustworthy to represent us to God. And the reason he became our highest priest is so he would undergo the punishment of our sins so that it would thus be possible for our sins to be forgiven.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Therefore, so that he could truly help, he needed to become a man/human so that he could be the same as us his siblings in all experiences. Because if it’s like that, when he is there in God’s presence doing the work of the Most-important Priest (glosssary item), he is very gracious/merciful towards us and there is nothing lacking in his service there because, in his death, he made a sacrifice by which the sin of people could truly be forgiven.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “In order that he could help the people well, it was necessary that he become a person and go through whatever suffering his siblings go through. When he had now passed through what all his siblings pass through, then he had the sympathetic heart to pity the people. And now he could well become the priest of God, so that he would make the sacrifice in order to clear the sins of the people.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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