Lloyd Peckham explains the Mairasi translation: “In secret stories, not knowable to women nor children, there was a magical fruit of life. If referred to vaguely, without specifying the specific ‘fruit,’ it can be an expression for eternity.”
Following are a number of back-translations of John 10:28:
Uma: “I give them good life forever, and it is clear that they will not be punished hell. No-one can snatch-away my sheep.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “I give them life without end. They will not be separated from God forever. And nobody can snatch them away from me.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “I will give them life forever, and their souls will never die. And no one can snatch them away from me.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “and I give them life that is forever. They will never-be-separated from God, and neither will anyone be able-to-snatch them from me.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “I am giving them life which has no ending and till forever they won’t be lost. And they won’t be snatched-away from me by anyone at all.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “I will give them the new life forever and never will they be lost. No one will grab them from my hand.” (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 choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
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®).
I give them eternal life is similar to verse 10: I have come that you may have eternal life (on the concept of eternal life see 1.4 and 3.15). The verb translated die is the same verb used in 3.16.
Because sheep have been specifically identified in verse 27, it may be misleading to use the pronoun them in verse 28, since it would imply that sheep were to have eternal life. This difficulty may often be avoided by translating “I give to my followers eternal life” or “… those people who follow me….”
No one can snatch them away from me has its counterpart in verse 12. From me (so also Jerusalem Bible) is literally “from my hand.” New English Bible translates “from my care.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
I give them eternal life: The word I refers to Jesus. Here he began to use less figurative language and say directly that he will cause them to live eternally. Instead of referring to Jesus’ sheep (as in 10:27a), them refers directly to those that the sheep represent, his people. It may be necessary to make this change explicit in some way. For example:
I give them, ⌊my people,⌋ eternal life
-or-
I give eternal life to them/those ⌊who are my people⌋
eternal life: This phrase refers to the new spiritual life that God gives us when we believe in Jesus. This life will never end. See the note at 3:15 and how you translated this phrase there. Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
forever life ⌊from God⌋
-or-
⌊spiritual⌋ life that never ends
-or-
living forever ⌊with God⌋
and: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as and here introduces a second idea in this sentence. The two ideas say the same thing, one in a positive way and the other in a negative way. It may be possible to not translate this conjunction explicitly. For example:
and I give them eternal life. They will never be lost…. (God’s Word)
they will never perish: This clause is more literally “they will not ever die through the age⌊s⌋ .” It indicates that Jesus’ people, those who follow him, will not perish through all the ages to come. It is a strong expression indicating that Jesus’ people will never know, through all eternity, being apart from God. Emphasize this idea in a way that is natural in your language. See also how you translated the word “perish” in 3:16. For example:
through all eternity they will not die
General Comment on 10:28a
The two clauses “I give them eternal life” and “they will never perish” refer to the same event or situation. Jesus indicated that he would cause his people to live forever spiritually. He said this in two ways for emphasis. In some languages it may be natural to combine these clauses into one, emphasizing the statement in a different way. For example:
I will cause them to live forever without ever dying.
-or-
I will keep them from ever perishing, for all eternity.
10:28b
No one can snatch them out of My hand: The phrase My hand is a figure of speech referring to Jesus himself. There is no one anywhere who can take his people away from him. Consider if this figure of speech will be clear and natural in your language. Here is one way to explain this figure of speech:
no one will snatch them from my care (Revised English Bible)
snatch: To snatch is to grab or take something violently from someone against their will. Here is another way to translate this word:
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