forget

The Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “forget” in English is translated in Noongar as dwangka-anbangbat, lit. “ear-lose.” (Source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).

See also remember and forget (Japanese honorifics).

complete verse (James 1:24)

Following are a number of back-translations of James 1:24:

  • Uma: “After he gazes at his appearance and he leaves, he no longer remembers what his appearance was like.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “When he has finished looking at/watching his face he leaves and immediately he forgets what it looks like.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “He can see his form, but only for a short time. And then he forgets what he saw.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But-then when he has finished-looking-in-the-mirror and leaves, it’s only just-a-moment and would-you-believe he immediately forgets what he was like.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “who, even though he saw what needed fixing up on his body, he just left it alone. Well since he didn’t fix it up at once, what else but he then forgot it.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “When he looks at the mirror, he sees his face, but when he leaves the mirror, then he forgets how his face is.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on James 1:24

For he observes himself …: James now goes on to explain his point of comparison. He does this by using a connective for, which is often left untranslated. In Greek both the verbs observes and forgets are in the aorist tense. Scholars generally agree that the form of both verbs means that they describe things that usually and normally happen. For these kinds of repeated happenings, it is natural to use the present tense in English, as most translations have done. The verb observes is the same word as that used in verse 23. As explained there, it means an intense looking and so may be rendered as “They take a good look” (Good News Translation); it is not a momentary or hasty look, as the Revised English Bible rendering “glances” tends to suggest. Scholars who favor the sense of “a passing glance” do so because they see a contrast to the verb rendered as perseveres in the next verse. However, this Handbook recommends the former interpretation, that the person “looks at himself carefully.” Another possible rendering is “stare at himself.” Contemporary English Version uses that verb in the previous verse and then eliminates repetition of the action “looking at” here: “(23) … you are like people who stare at themselves in a mirror (24) and forget what they look like….”

The verb goes away is in the perfect tense and therefore could be understood as saying someone has gone away and remains away. However, it does not seem necessary to see the author as making a deliberate shift in tense to stress the continuing state of being gone. The verb in fact may be taken as expressing an immediate sequel (so Adamson), meaning that as soon as the person goes away from the mirror, he immediately forgets what he looks like. The point the author tries to make is that the impression a person gets from the mirror is temporary and momentary.

The mere hearer of the word is like the person who goes away from the mirror and at once forgets what he was like. What this person forgets is the image seen in the mirror, namely, “what he looks like” (Barclay, New International Version), or “what they look like” (Good News Translation).

Quoted with permission from Loh, I-Jin and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Letter from James. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator's Notes on James 1:24

1:24a

and: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as and here introduces more details about 1:23c. The person not only looks at himself, he goes away and forgets what he looks like.

Some English versions translate this word as “for.” But do not translate this verse as if it were the reason for 1:23. It further explains 1:23, but it is not a reason.

after observing: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as after observing is from the same Greek word as the word translated “looks at” in 1:23c. In some languages, it may be unnatural or unnecessary to repeat the word here. In these languages, it may be sufficient to translate this as:

after that
-or-
having done that
-or-
then

1:24b

goes away: Some other ways to translate goes away are:

leaves
-or-
walks away

immediately: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as immediately can also be translated as:

quickly (New Century Version)
-or-
soon
-or-
it is not long before

forgets what he looks like: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as forgets in this context means “neglects to do something about” what he has seen and quickly forgets it. He has an attitude of carelessness. He does not consider it important for him to do anything about what he has observed. See the note about the simile in 1:23a–24b.

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

forgets what he saw
-or-
does nothing to fix the problem he saw and soon forgets about it

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