The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, and Greek that is translated in English typically as “obedience” or “obey” is translated in Tepeuxila Cuicatec as “thing hearing,” because “to hear is to obey.” (Source: Marjorie Davis in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 34ff. )
In Huba it is translated as hya nǝu nyacha: “follow (his) mouth.” (Source: David Frank in this blog post )
In Central Mazahua it is translated as “listen-obey” and in Huehuetla Tepehua as “believe-obey” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), and in Noongar as dwangka-don, lit. “hear do” (source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).
Following are a number of back-translations of Hebrews 5:8:
Uma: “Even though he was indeed the Child of God, he too underwent suffering, and he submitted to God like man(kind). [NOTE: in Uma to say "he learned to obey" implies that he was just pretending or imitating, so we avoided the word "learn" (mpenau’) here.]” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Even though he is/was God’s Son he also experienced persecution/suffering so that he could learn to follow/obey God’s commandments.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And even though He was the son of God, He had to learn how to obey the commandments of God by means of the difficulties that He went through.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Even though he was God’s Child, he still learned to obey God by means of what he suffered.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Even though as for him, (he is) the Son of God, however through the difficulties he endured, he really comprehended the real meaning of true following/obeying all the will of his Father.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Even though he was the Son of God, this Christ was, yet in order that he might do God’s will, he let himself go through suffering.” (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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.
The concept of “receiving (glory / instruction” (also: “accept” or “suffer” is translated in the Shinkaiyaku Bible as o-uke (お受け), combining “receive” (uke) with the respectful prefix o-. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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, a-rare-ru (あられる) or “(someone/who) is” is used.
Revised Standard Version‘s literal translation “Although he was a Son, he learned obedience…” is misleading if read aloud, since it is usual for a son to learn obedience. Verse 5 makes it clear that “Son” here means God’s Son; that is the translation rightly chosen by Good News Translation. It is possible to link even though he was God’s Son with verse 7, especially if “fear” is understood as “fear of death”; thus “God listened to him, because of the fear which he had although he was God’s Son.” However, Good News Translation‘s interpretation is simpler and more likely to be correct.
Not all languages have the so-called “concessive clause” beginning with a conjunction such as “though” or “although.” Nevertheless, the idea of concession may be expressed by an independent statement followed by some such conjunction as “nevertheless” or “despite that fact.” For example, this verse could be rendered as “He was indeed God’s Son, but nevertheless he learned through his suffering how to be obedient” or “… despite that fact he learned by suffering to be obedient.” In some languages the concept of a concession is expressed only as a kind of adversative relationship; for example, “He was indeed God’s Son; that is true, but he did learn to be obedient by means of his suffering.”
“Learned” and “suffered” render a common play on words in Greek, where the words are similar in sound: emathen and epathen. However, this does not affect the meaning of this verse. If the play on words cannot be reproduced naturally in translation, it does not matter.
Just as call in verse 4 includes the ideas of speaking and summoning, so “obey” in Greek often combines the ideas of listening and responding to a summons or command. The verb translated to be obedient is related to the verb translated heard in verse 7, which also implies a response.
It may be necessary to make somewhat more specific the relationships between learned, sufferings, and obedient; for example, “by means of what Christ suffered he learned how to be obedient,” “… how to obey God,” or “… how to always do what God told him to do.”
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 .
Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered: This statement expresses surprise that even Christ, the Son of God, needed to suffer in order to fully obey God. The phrase learned obedience does not imply that the Son was disobedient or that he did not know how to obey. It indicates that when the Son was a man on earth, he had to suffer in order to obey the Father. Then he learned the type of obedience that involves suffering or causes suffering.
In some languages it may be helpful to mention “suffering” before learned obedience. For example:
He, being Son ⌊of God⌋, still suffered. Through his suffering, he learned/experienced obedience.
Some other ways to translate the meaning are:
but Son though he was, he had to prove the meaning of obedience through all that he suffered (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English) -or-
Even though Christ was the Son of God, yet in order that he might obey God, he let himself go through suffering.
5:8a
Although He was a Son: In Greek this phrase is more literally, “Though being Son.” It emphasizes Christ’s identity as the Son of God. It does not imply that there was more than one son. In some languages it is necessary to supply the word for “God.” For example:
But even though he was God’s Son (Good News Translation) -or-
Jesus is God’s own Son, but still… (Contemporary English Version)
5:8b
He learned obedience from what He suffered: The phrase He learned obedience indicates that Christ learned (experienced) submitting to God even when the submission caused him to suffer. In some languages a phrase like learned obedience wrongly implies that Christ was only pretending to obey. In other languages it wrongly implies that Christ was disobedient until he learned from suffering that he ought to obey.
If this phrase implies such a wrong meaning in your language, use a different way to describe Jesus’ experience of obeying God as he suffered. For example:
he experienced the meaning of obeying God through/by what he suffered -or-
through all that he endured, he realized the meaning of following/obeying God -or-
he too underwent suffering, and he submitted to God like mankind
obedience: The word obedience refers to listening to someone (here, listening to God) and doing what he says to do. In some languages it is more natural to translate obedience as a phrase or clause. For example:
to obey ⌊God⌋ -or-
to listen ⌊to God⌋ ⌊and do as he says/commands⌋
from what He suffered: The phrase from what He suffered indicates the means by which Christ “learned obedience.” He learned it by suffering and in the process of suffering. The phrase what He suffered is a general way to refer to all the pain, sorrow, tortures, and agony that Christ endured when he died to atone for our sins.
For translation examples, see the first note on 5:8b.
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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