The Greek, Hebrew and Ge’ez 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.” (Source: Lloyd Peckham)
In Lisu the phrase “forever and ever” is translated as ꓕꓲꓽ ꓞꓲꓼ ꓕꓲ ꓑ — thi tsi thi pa, verbatim translated as “one – lifetime – one – world.” This construction follows a traditional four-couplet construct in oral Lisu poetry that is usually in the form ABAC or ABCB. (Source: Arrington 2020, p. 57f.)
In Makonde it is often translated as navyaka or “years and years.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
Following are a number of back-translations of Hebrews 7:24:
Uma: “Yet Yesus, his office [lit., seat] does not change and does not move to another person, for he lives on-and-on.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “But for Isa, nobody will take his place-as-priest because he lives forever.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But as for Jesus, there is no end, by contrast, to His life and He can never be replaced as a priest.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “But Jesus never dies, so his priesthood remains-unchanged forever.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “But, as for this Jesus, this (one) is alive without ending, therefore this priesthood of his will not be replaced until for ever.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “But this Jesus, he is the one who will not die. Concerning the work he does as priest, it will never be passed on because he will not be replaced by someone else.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The Greek in the referenced verses that is typically translated as “age,” “(for)ever / eternity / eternal / permanent,” “of old / long ago” in English is translated in the German translation by Fridolin Stier (1989) consistenty as “world (or: “cosmic”) time” (Weltzeit).
Sarah Ruden (2021, p. lxii) explains the complexities of the translation of aiōn: “Trickiest of all [the words relating to time] is aion, most simply an ‘age’ or ‘era’ but sometimes denoting either the whole present world or the whole world to come. The same word can allude to all the limits of material existence (or to dangerous worldly distractions in particular), or to their absence in the eternal age to come. Looking forward, especially to ‘ages of ages’ (in the pattern of ‘King of Kings’), the meaning is ‘eternity.’”
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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, motteo-rare-ru (持っておられる) or “holding” is used.
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 verbs 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, motteo-rare-ru (持っておられる) or “holding” and sonzais-are-ru (存在される) or “exist” are used.
Jesus is literally “he,” as in Revised Standard Version. This word is slightly emphasized and corresponds to the You of Psalm 110.4, quoted in verse 21.
Revised Standard Version‘s “because” is expressed in the text; Good News Translation leaves it to be understood in verse 24, since it has already been expressed in verse 23, where the Greek is similar.
On his work as priest, literally “priesthood,” see 7.5, 11.
Does not pass on to someone else is expressed by one word in the Greek. This word is not used elsewhere in the New Testament and has not been found in any secular writing in this sense. But many commentators and translations, for example Barclay and Translator’s New Testament, accept this meaning because it fits the context well. However, the usual meaning of the word outside the Bible is “permanent,” “unchangeable,” “inviolable,” and this is probably what the word means here. This meaning is chosen by many other translations, including Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch and New English Bible.
The rendering of does not pass on to someone else is a negative manner of expressing permanence and unchangeableness. It is possible to render his work as priest does not pass on to someone else as “no one else will take on his work as priest” or “no one else will become a priest as he is.”
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 .
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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