angry

The Hebrew, Greek and Latin that is translated as “(was or became) angry” in English is translated in Kwere as “saw anger.” In Kwere, emotions are always paired with sensory verbs (seeing or smelling or hearing). (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

In Bariai it is “to have grumbling interiors” (source: Bariai Back Translation).

See also anger and feel (terror, pain, suffering, anxiety).

desert / wilderness

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The Greek, Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “desert” or “wilderness” in English is translated in a number of ways:

  • Mairasi: “a place where noisiness is cut off (or: stops)” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Muna: pandaso bhalano pr “big barren-field” (source: René van den Berg)
  • Wantoat: “cold windy place where no one lives” (source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation, March 1965, p. 2-20)
  • Balinese: “barren field” (source: J.L. Swellengrebel in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 75ff. )
  • Wantoat: “uninhabited place” (source: Holzhausen 1991, p. 38)
  • Umiray Dumaget Agta: “where no people dwell” (source: Larson 1998, p. 98)
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “where no house is” (source: James Lauriault in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 32ff. )
  • Amri Karbi: “waterless region/place” (source: Philippova 2021, p. 368)
  • Ocotlán Zapotec: “large empty place” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Pa’o Karen: “jungle” (denoting a place without any towns, villages and tilled fields) (source: Gordon Luce in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 153f. )
  • Low German translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006: “steppe”
  • Yakan: “the lonely place” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “a land where no people lived” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “the place with no inhabitants” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Cherokee: inage or “far away downstream” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 16)
  • Matumbi uses various term: lubele (desert, sandy place without water) — used in John 11:54, lupu’ngu’ti (a place where no people live, can be a scrub land, a forest, or a savanna) — used in Mark 1:3 et al.), and mwitu (a forest, a place where wild animals live) — used in Mark 1:13 et al.) (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Chichewa Contemporary translation (2002/2016): chipululu: a place uninhabited by people with thick forest and bush (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Adioukrou: loj or “savannah” — “land that is not village, nor forest, nor field (source: Hill 2006)

Note that in Luke 15:4, usually a term is used that denotes pastoral land, such as “eating/grazing-place,” in Tagbanwa (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).

See also wilderness and desolate wilderness.

sin

The Hebrew, Ge’ez, 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. )
  • Kaingang: “break God’s word”
  • Bariai: “bad behavior” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • 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)
  • Nias: horö, originally a term primarily used for sexual sin. (Source: Hummel / Telaumbanua 2007, p. 256)
  • Mauwake: “heavy” (compare forgiveness as “take away one’s heaviness”) (source: Kwan Poh San in this article )

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.”

In Warao it is translated as “bad obojona.” Obojona is a term that “includes the concepts of consciousness, will, attitude, attention and a few other miscellaneous notions.” (Source: Henry Osborn in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 74ff. ). See other occurrences of Obojona in the Warao New Testament.

Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the Danish Bibelen 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. )

See also sinner.

complete verse (Hebrews 3:17)

Following are a number of back-translations of Hebrews 3:17:

  • Uma: “That’s why he was angry with them during those forty years. They all died in the uninhabited prairie because of their sin.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Who were the people God was angry with in/during forty years, if not the people who sinned against him (and) therefore died there in the lonely place.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And who were those people that God become angry with long ago for forty years? They were these same descendants of Israel who sinned against God and because of this, He punished them and they died there in the land where no people live.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “And who are those with whom God was angry for forty years if not those who sinned who died in the place with no inhabitants?” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Well who also are these God was angry with for the space of forty years? Was it not those who committed sin therefore they kept on dying (i.e. one after the other) in the wilderness place?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “And you know that these are the people God became angry with because they committed sin during forty years. Therefore all of these people died there in the desert.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God ("being indignant")

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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 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, ikidōtteo-rare-ru (憤っておられる) or “being indignant” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Hebrews 3:17

In order to anticipate more clearly the response to the rhetorical question in verse 17, it may be useful to employ “Who were the people with whom God was angry for forty years?” There are, however, serious difficulties involved in the rhetorical questions found in verses 16, 17, and 18, for obviously the writer is not asking for information but is making emphatic statements by means of these rhetorical questions. In languages which do not employ such rhetorical questions, it may be necessary to use emphatic statements. For example, verse 17 may be rendered as “For forty years God was indeed angry with the people who sinned and who fell down dead in the desert.” Similar adaptations may be made in verses 16 and 18.

In quoting Psalm 95 in verses 9-10 (see discussion), the writer has separated for forty years from I was angry. Now, as he comments on the psalm, he brings them together and adds in support a quotation from Numbers 14.29. This shows that he has in mind not only Psalm 95 but also the Old Testament story to which it refers.

Who fell down dead brings out the meaning more clearly than Revised Standard Version‘s literal translation “whose bodies fell.” “Fall” does not mean merely “fall over”; destruction or death is implied, as in King James Version‘s “whose carcasses fell.” On desert, see discussion on Heb. 3.8.

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Hebrews 3:17

3:17

And with whom was God angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?: In this verse there are another two rhetorical questions about the people who were “in the rebellion” (3:15). As in 3:16, the second question answers the first question. The meaning is that the people who angered God were those who sinned. They were the ones who died in the wilderness because they sinned against God.

Some other ways to translate this meaning are:

• Use a rhetorical question and a statement for an answer. For example:

17 And with whom was God angry for forty years? He was angry with those who sinned, who died in the desert. (New Century Version)
-or-
With whom was God angry for forty years? With the people who sinned, who fell down dead in the desert. (Good News Translation)

• Use two statements. For example:

And you know that these are the people God became angry with because they committed sin during forty years. Therefore all of these people died there in the desert.

Translate the rhetorical questions in a natural way in your language. See Numbers 14:29, 14:32 for an account of this event.

3:17a

And: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as And introduces a question that has a similar meaning as the one in 3:16. Most English versions have And here or do not use a conjunction. Do what is natural in your language.

with whom was God angry for forty years: This rhetorical question implies that the people angered God many times during the forty years when he was leading them through the wilderness. It does not imply that he held onto his anger over one particular sin for forty years. Translate in a way that will imply the right meaning. For example:

who was he angry with during those forty years?
-or-
who was it who angered God ⌊repeatedly⌋ during forty years?

3:17b–c

Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness: This part of the verse answers the rhetorical question in 3:17a. It indicates that the people who sinned were the ones who made God angry. Because God was angry with them, he let them die in the wilderness. Some other ways to translate this part of the verse are:

And you know that these are the people God became angry with because they sinned, and they died there in the desert.
-or-
They were the same descendants of Israel who sinned against God and because of this, He punished them and they died there in the land where no people live.

whose bodies fell: The phrase whose bodies fell is figurative. It indicates that the people died. Some other ways to translate it are:

• Use a different figurative expression that has the same meaning in your language. For example:

fell down dead in the desert (Good News Translation)

• Translate the meaning directly. For example:

died in the desert (God’s Word)

Translate the phrase in a natural way in your language.

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