forgive, forgiveness

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The concept of “forgiveness” is expressed in varied ways through translations. Following is a list of (back-) translations from some languages:

  • Tswa, North Alaskan Inupiatun, Panao Huánuco Quechua: “forget about”
  • Navajo (Dinė): “give back” (based on the idea that sin produces an indebtedness, which only the one who has been sinned against can restore)
  • Huichol, Shipibo-Conibo, Eastern Highland Otomi, Uduk, Tepo Krumen: “erase,” “wipe out,” “blot out”
  • Highland Totonac, Huautla Mazatec: “lose,” “make lacking”
  • Tzeltal: “lose another’s sin out of one’s heart”
  • Lahu, Burmese: “be released,” “be freed”
  • Ayacucho Quechua: “level off”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “cast away”
  • Chol: “pass by”
  • Wayuu: “make pass”
  • Kpelle: “turn one’s back on”
  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “cover over” (a figure of speech which is also employed in Hebrew, but which in many languages is not acceptable, because it implies “hiding” or “concealment”)
  • Tabasco Chontal, Huichol: “take away sins”
  • Toraja-Sa’dan, Javanese: “do away with sins”
  • San Blas Kuna: “erase the evil heart” (this and all above: Bratcher / Nida, except Tepo Krumen: Peter Thalmann in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 25f.)
  • Eggon: “withdraw the hand”
  • Mískito: “take a man’s fault out of your heart” (source of this and the one above: Kilgour, p. 80)
  • Western Parbate Kham: “unstring someone” (“hold a grudge” — “have someone strung up in your heart”) (source: Watters, p. 171)
  • Hawai’i Creole English: “let someone go” (source: Jost Zetzsche)
  • Cebuano: “go beyond” (based on saylo)
  • Iloko: “none” or “no more” (based on awan) (source for this and above: G. Henry Waterman in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 24ff. )
  • Tzotzil: ch’aybilxa: “it has been lost” (source: Aeilts, p. 118)
  • Suki: biaek eisaemauwa: “make heart soft” (Source L. and E. Twyman in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 91ff. )
  • Warao: “not being concerned with him clean your obonja.” Obonja 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.)
  • Martu Wangka: “throw out badness” (source: Carl Gross)
  • Mairasi: “dismantle wrongs” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Nyulnyul: “have good heart” (source )
  • Kyaka: “burn the jaw bones” — This goes back to the pre-Christian custom of hanging the jaw bones of murdered relatives on ones door frame until the time of revenge. Christians symbolically burned those bones to show forgiveness which in turn became the word for “forgiveness” (source: Eugene Nida, according to this blog )
  • Koonzime: “remove the bad deed-counters” (“The Koonzime lay out the deeds symbolically — usually strips of banana leaf — and rehearse their grievances with the person addressed.”) (Source: Keith and Mary Beavon in Notes on Translation 3/1996, p. 16)
  • Ngbaka: ele: “forgive and forget” (Margaret Hill [in Holzhausen & Ridere 2010, p. 8f.] recalls that originally there were two different words used in Ngbaka, one for God (ɛlɛ) and one for people (mbɔkɔ — excuse something) since it was felt that people might well forgive but, unlike God, can’t forget. See also this lectionary in The Christian Century .
  • Amahuaca: “erase” / “smooth over” (“It was an expression the people used for smoothing over dirt when marks or drawings had been made in it. It meant wiping off dust in which marks had been made, or wiping off writing on the blackboard. To wipe off the slate, to erase, to take completely away — it has a very wide meaning and applies very well to God’s wiping away sins, removing them from the record, taking them away.”) (Source: Robert Russel, quoted in Walls / Bennett 1959, p. 193)
  • Gonja / Dangme: “lend / loan” (in the words of one Dangme scholar: “When you sin and you are forgiven, you forget that you have been forgiven, and continue to sin. But when you see the forgiveness as a debt/loan which you will pay for, you do not continue to sin, else you have more debts to pay” — quoted in Jonathan E.T. Kuwornu-Adjaottor in Ibadan Journal of Religious Studies 17/2 2010, p. 67ff. )
  • Kwere: kulekelela, meaning literally “to allow for.” Derived from the root leka which means “to leave.” In other words, forgiveness is leaving behind the offense in relationship to the person. It is also used in contexts of setting someone free. (Source: Megan Barton)
  • Merina Malagasy: mamela or “leave / let go (of sin / mistakes)” (source: Brigitte Rabarijaona)

See also this devotion on YouVersion .

complete verse (Hebrews 9:22)

Following are a number of back-translations of Hebrews 9:22:

  • Uma: “We can say like this: according to the Law of Musa, almost everything must be cleaned with blood. If there is no blood-sacrifice [lit., bleeding, a term for an animal killed in a ritual], our sins are not forgiven.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Really, the law says hep that almost anything becomes clean/holy only through blood. And the sins of mankind can be forgiven only when blood flows.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The Law teaches that it’s necessary to annoint with blood almost every thing that they used to worship with. And in the same way also, the only way the sins of the people can be forgiven is if there is a blood sacrifice.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because according to the law, the cleansing of essentially everything, it requires blood. It is also not possible for sins to be forgiven if no blood flows-out.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For according to what the laws said, it’s like there is no other means-of-cleansing anything in God’s sight except blood. Well, like that too, there is no removing of sin in/from his sight if there is no blood shed.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “It is written in the law that concerning the blood of animals which have been killed, there where the blood is applied, then it becomes all right. But while the people have not yet killed anything to make a sacrifice, then there is not forgiveness for their sins.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

law

The Greek that is translated in English as “Law” or “law” is translated in Mairasi as oro nasinggiei or “prohibited things” (source: Enggavoter 2004) and in Noongar with a capitalized form of the term for “words” (Warrinya) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

In Yucateco the phrase that is used for “law” is “ordered-word” (for “commandment,” it is “spoken-word”) (source: Nida 1947, p. 198) and in Central Tarahumara it is “writing-command.” (wsource: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

See also teaching / law (of God) (Japanese honorifics).

Translation commentary on Hebrews 9:22

This verse forms a summary and also introduces the next stage in the argument. Verse 22 is to be understood in the light of according to the Law. Good News Translation‘s frequent addition of Moses (7.28) is not necessary here, since Moses has just been mentioned. The meaning is not “no one may forgive anyone else unless blood is poured out,” but “the Law does not provide for sin to be dealt with in any other way than by a sacrifice which involves pouring out blood.”

According to the Law may be expressed as “the Law says that,” “as it is written in the Law,” or “… the laws.”

A literal rendering of everything is purified by blood might wrongly suggest that everything is made clean by blood. In reality, of course, blood stains. Therefore it may be best to speak of “everything is made pure by the shedding of blood,” for it is death which causes purification, not the mere substance of blood itself. This is emphasized in Good News Translation by the second clause, sins are forgiven only if blood is poured out.

From this point, the middle of verse 22, the forgiveness of sin becomes the central theme. In verse 22a it is not clear whether the writer is still thinking of ritual purification, or whether he is already thinking of forgiveness of sin. Verse 22a may thus mean either (a) “almost all sins are dealt with by means of blood,” or (b) “almost all objects to do with worship are made ritually pure by blood.” The writer sometimes uses the word for “cleanse” with human beings as the object (see 9.23; 10.2), but in this verse the word rendered everything is most naturally understood to include the objects just mentioned. The Bible de Jérusalem note quotes Leviticus 5.11 as an illustration of almost, that is, something which is an exception to the rule because it is not cleansed by blood. Almost is surprisingly emphasized in the Greek. One might translate “one could almost say that according to the law everything is purified by blood or “it is almost true….”

Sins are forgiven translates the last word in the Greek sentence; it is therefore emphatic. New English Bible‘s “forgiveness,” implying “of sins,” is quite sufficient. Some modern translations, such as Moffatt, Knox, Phillips, and Jerusalem Bible, keep the rather literary expression “remission” for sins are forgiven, to show that it is not a mere statement of the type “I forgive you,” but a process which effectively deals with sin. The meaning is similar to that of verse 26, where the word for sin is expressed.

The passive expression sins are forgiven may need to be expressed in an active form as “God forgive sins.”

The word for “pouring out blood” seems to have been invented by the writer, but the meaning is clear from such texts as 1 Kings 18.28, where a similar phrase occurs. It does not refer only to shedding blood when an animal or human being is killed, but to collecting blood in basins and then pouring it out.

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 .