eternity, forever, forever and ever

The Greek that is typically translated as “eternity,” “forever,” or “forever and ever” in English are translated in Mairasi as “mashed out infinitely.” Lloyd Peckham explains: “Bark cloth required pounding. It got longer and wider as it got pounded. Similarly, life gets pounded or mashed to lengthen it into infinity. Tubers also get mashed into the standard way of serving the staple food, like the fufu of Uganda, or like poi of Hawaii. It spreads out into infinity.”

See also eternal life and salvation.

Language:

high priest

The Greek that is translated as “high priest” in English is translated as “the ruler of the priests of our nation” in Yatzachi Zapotec and as “very great priest” in Chol. (Source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)

Language:  · 

complete verse (Hebrews 6:20)

Following are a number of back-translations of Hebrews 6:20:

  • Uma: “We are brave to meet him, for Yesus has entered there ahead [of us], opening-for-us a door in order that we (may) follow (him). He became our Big Priest forever, who is like Melkisedek long ago.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Our (incl.) expectation/hope in God’s promises is figuratively like an anchor that makes us (dual) firm/fixes us to God. It is very certain that God fulfills his promises because Isa has already gone ahead of us (dual) to heaven into the presence of God mediating for us (incl.). Like the Yahudi priests enter the temple (lit. big prayer-house) (and) go into the innermost room that is shielded by thick cloth, like that Isa has entered into the presence of God because now he is high priest forever like the priest Malkisadik of old.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Very strong and made firm is this expectancy of ours that God will fulfill His promise because the one we trust in is God. And as for Jesus, He has become our chief, and there He is standing before God and Jesus has been made our (incl.) high priest who has no end, just like the priest Melchizedek, a long time ago.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “That’s where Jesus preceded to speak-with God for us, because he is the one who became a highest priest forever like the priesthood of Melkizedek.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Jesus preceded us there and now is standing up for us in the presence of God. For, as for this Jesus, he was the one set up as Most-important Priest without ending like the high/important priesthood of Melquisedec. 6:2 In the past, the custom of the Jews was, they would place hands on the head of the animal they were making a sacrifice of, for they were causing- their sins -to-transfer there (Leviticus 1:4). Another also, if they were setting a person up in his job/responsibility, they were placing hands on also (Numbers 27:18, Deuteronomy 34:9). And in the time of the apostles (they) were-placing-hands-on a person if they were making-well (his) illness, or if (they) were entrusting (him) to the Lord for his work. 6:14 Genesis 22:16-17. 6:15 When Abraham died he didn’t yet have many descandants but, by God’s supernatural-power, he did now have a child and two grandchildren. Therefore, before he died, what was promised him had begun to take place.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “This Jesus entered there in heaven where he is. He is the one who helps us so that we will be able to live there where he is. He has become a priest of God forever. He has taken over the work which Melchizedek worked at.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Language:  ·  ·  ·  ·  · 

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Heb. 6:20)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, translators typically select the inclusive form (including the writer and the readers of this letter).

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

Jesus

The Greek Iēsous is “only” a proper name but one with great importance. The following quote by John Ellington (in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 401ff.) illustrates this:

“In Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus Christ, Joseph is told that when Mary gives birth to a son ‘you will name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins’ (1:21). This name is a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name [Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ) which is a short form of a name meaning] ‘the Lord [Yahweh] saves.’ The name is very significant and is in itself especially dear to Christians around the world. (…) Unquestionably great importance is attached to the name of Jesus by Christians of all persuasions and backgrounds.”

While Iēsous (pronounced: /i.ɛː.suːs/) is transliterated as “Jesus” (pronounced /ˈdʒiːzəs/) in English it is transliterated and pronounced in a large variety of other ways as well, following the different rules of different languages’ orthographies, writing systems and rules of pronunciation. The following is a (very partial) list of forms of Jesus in Latin characters: Chesús, Ciisusu, Gesù, Gesû, Gesü, Ġesù, Giêsu, Hesu, Hesús, Iesu, Ihu, Íosa, Ìosa, Isus, Isus, Isus, Isuthi, Îtu, Jasus, Jeesus, Jeesus, Jehu, Jeso, Jesús, Jésus, Jezi, Jézi, Ježiš, Jezus, Jézus, Jėzus, Jēzus, Jezusi, Jėzus, Jezuz, Jisos, Jisọs, Jisas, Jisu, Sisa, uJesu, ŵaYesu, Xesosi, ´Xesús, Ya:su, Yēēsu, Yeso, Yésʉs, Yexus, Yezo, Yezu, Yiisu, Yiitju, Yisufa, Yusu, Zîsɛ, Zjezus, and this (equally incomplete) list with other writings systems: ᔩᓱᓯ, Յիսուս, ᏥᏌ, ኢየሱስ, ܝܫܘܥ, Ісус, 耶稣, იესო, ईसा, イエス, 예수, येशू, യേശു, ජේසුස්, যীশু, ‘ঈছা, இயேசு, ఏసు, เยซู, យេស៊ូ, يَسُوعَ (note that some of these might not display correctly if your computer does not have the correct fonts installed).

Click or tap here to read more).


In some languages the different confessions have selected different transliterations, such as in Belarusian with Isus (Ісус) by the Orthodox and Protestant churches and Yezus (Езус) by the Catholic church, Japanese with Iesu (イエス) (Protestant and Catholic) and Iisusu (イイスス) (Orthodox), or Lingala with Yesu (Protestant) or Yezu (Catholic). These differences have come to the forefront especially during the work on interconfessional translations such as one in Lingala where “many hours were spent on a single letter difference” (source: Ellington, p. 401).

In Chinese where transliterations of proper names between the Catholic and Protestant versions typically differ vastly, the Chinese name of Jesus (Yēsū 耶稣) remarkably was never brought into question between and by those two confessions, likely due to its ingenious choice. (Click or tap here to see more).

The proper name of God in the Old Testament, Yahweh (YHWH), is rendered in most Chinese Bible translations as Yēhéhuá 耶和華 — Jehovah. According to Chinese naming conventions, Yēhéhuá could be interpreted as Yē Héhuá, in which Yē would be the family name and Héhuá — “harmonic and radiant” — the given name. In the same manner, Yē 耶 would be the family name of Jesus and Sū 稣 would be his given name. Because in China the children inherit the family name from the father, the sonship of Jesus to God the Father, Jehovah, would be illustrated through this. Though this line of argumentation sounds theologically unsound, it is indeed used effectively in the Chinese church (see Wright 1953, p. 298).

Moreover, the “given name” of Sū 稣 carries the meaning ‘to revive, to rise again’ and seems to point to the resurrected Jesus. (Source: J. Zetzsche in Malek 2002, p. 141ff., see also tetragrammaton (YHWH))

There are different ways that Bible translators have chosen historically and today in how to translate the name of Jesus in predominantly Muslim areas: with a form of the Arabic Isa (عيسى) (which is used for “Jesus” in the Qur’an), the Greek Iēsous, or, like major 20th century Bible translations into Standard Arabic, the Aramaic Yēšūaʿ: Yasua (يَسُوعَ). (Click or tap here to see more.)

Following are languages and language groups that use a form of Isa include the following (note that this list is not complete):

In German the name Jesus (pronounced: /ˈjeːzʊs/) is distinguished by its grammatical forms. Into the 20th century the grammatical rules prescribed a unique Greek-Latin declination: Jesus (nominative), Jesu (genitive, dative, vocative), Jesum (accusative), from which today only the genitive case “Jesu” is still in active use.

In Lamba the name ŵaYesu consists of a transliteration Yesu and the prefix ŵa, a plural form for “proper names when addressing and referring to persons in any position of seniority or honor.” While this was avoided in early translations to avoid possible misunderstandings of more than one Jesus, once the church was established it was felt that it was both “safe” and respectful to use the honorific (plural) prefix. (Source C. M. Doke in The Bible Translator 1958, p. 57ff.)

Translation: German

Auf Deutsch wird der Name Jesus (ausgesprochen: /ˈjeːzʊs/) durch dessen grammatikalische Formen hervorgehoben. Bis ins 20. Jahrhundert schrieben die grammatikalischen Regeln eine nur hier verwendete Griechisch/Lateinsche Misch-Deklination vor: Jesus (Nominativ), Jesu (Genitiv, Dativ, Vokativ) und Jesum (Akkusativ), von welchen heute nur noch der Genitiv-Kasus „Jesu“ aktiv verwendet wird.

Translator: Jost Zetzsche

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