Cherokee: “putting one’s hand up to someone” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 16)
In Bauzi “swear” can be translated in various ways. In Hebrews 6:13, for instance, it is translated with “bones break apart and decisively speak.” (“No bones are literally broken but by saying ‘break bones’ it is like people swear by someone else in this case it is in relation to a rotting corpse’ bones falling apart. If you ‘break bones’ so to speak when you make an utterance, it is a true utterance.”) In other passages, such as in Matthew 26:72, it’s translated with an expression that implies taking ashes (“if a person wants everyone to know that he is telling the truth about a matter, he reaches down into the fireplace, scoops up some ashes and throws them while saying ‘I was not the one who did that.'”). So in Matthew 26:72 the Bauzi text is: “. . . Peter took ashes and defended himself saying, ‘I don’t know that Nazareth person.'” (Source: David Briley)
The concepts of God swearing or making a vow have to be translated in Kwere as “(making a) promise” because for a vow you have to have a witness. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Following are a number of back-translations of Hebrews 3:18:
Uma: “It was those Yahudi people that God referred with his swearing/oath that said: ‘They will really not be allowed to get the rest/stopping with me.’ He did not permit them to get his/the rest, for they did not submit to him.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “And about whom did God speak when he covenanted/promised, he said, ‘They really will not enter the land where I would have given them rest?’ They were the people who did not want to follow/obey him.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “There are still those people who, concerning them God said, He said, ‘They cannot enter into that land that I prepared that they might rest along with me.’ The reason He said this was they would not obey His word.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Who moreover are those to whom God said that he would never have-them -enter the resting-place that he had prepared? They indeed are those who refused to obey him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “And then, who also was he referring to (lit.causing-to-be-hit) by this that he vowed saying, ‘Truly they cannot rest under my care/jurisdiction in that place that I promised them’? Was he not referring to those who did not follow/obey his words?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “And you know that these people rejected the word God spoke. Therefore God said to these people: ‘Now you will not enter into the land I had decided that you should have as a place to rest with me,’ he said.” (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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) 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, chikaw-are-ru (誓われる) or “vow” is used.
The first part of verse 18 must be translated in a way which reflects the rendering of verse 11. But as already noted, it may be necessary to eliminate the rhetorical question and make an emphatic statement; for example, “When God solemnly declared, ‘They will never enter the land where I would have given them rest,’ he was indeed speaking about those who rebelled” or “… refused to follow him.”
Rebelled translates a different Greek word from the one used in verse 16 (compare verses 8, 15) but one related to that used in 4.6. The meaning in this verse is “disobeyed,” but since a particular act of disobedience is intended, the two Greek words mean much the same. Different terms are used only to give variety.
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 .
And to whom did He swear that they would never enter His rest? Was it not to those who disobeyed?: This verse is one rhetorical question, which has another rhetorical question within it. It means that God swore to the people who disobeyed him that they would not enter his rest.
Some other ways to translate this meaning are:
• Use one or two rhetorical questions. For example:
To whom did God swear that they would not enter his rest? Wasn’t it to those who disobeyed him?
• Use one rhetorical question and a statement for an answer. For example:
18 And to whom was God speaking when he vowed that they would never enter his place of rest? He was speaking to those who disobeyed him. (New Century Version) -or-
When God made his solemn promise, “They will never enter the land where I would have given them rest”—of whom was he speaking? Of those who rebelled. (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 question in a natural way in your language.
3:18a–b
And to whom did He swear that they would never enter His rest?: This question indicates that God swore to certain people that they would never enter his rest. This event was mentioned in 3:11: “So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.” (Berean Standard Bible)
In some languages it may be more natural to translate what God swore in direct speech. For example:
To whom did he swear, saying, “Now you will never enter ⌊the land⌋ that I wanted you to have as a place to rest with me?”
swear: The word swear means to take an oath or make a binding promise. In Hebrew culture, such a promise must not be broken. Here God’s promise implied that he would certainly do what he said. What he said would certainly happen.
You may be able to use the same phrase that you used in 3:11.
that they would never enter His rest: The phrase His rest refers here to the life of dependence on God that God wanted his people to live. He wanted them to depend on him and trust him for everything.
See the note on 3:11a–b. It is important to use the word rest here because the author is going to write more about rest in chapter 4.
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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