The Hebrew that is translated as “the poor” in English is translated in Chichewa as “people without power.” In Chichewa context this refers to those who are in the lower class in terms of both social status and political influence in a community. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
In Cherokee it is translated as “those who are not doing well.” “The concept of poverty was unknown to Cherokee prior to European arrival due to the sharing of resources among clan members and the shared and welfare tradition known as gadugi (ᎦᏚᎩ). In contrast, the concepts of rich and poor play a large role in the world and message or the New Testament (…) This phrase (‘those who are not doing well’), still used today for ‘poor,’ speaks to a more general understanding of well-being than the presence of monetary resources.” (Source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 45)
Painting by Wang Suda 王肅達 (1910-1963),
Copyright by the Catholic University Peking, China
Text under painting translated from Literary Chinese into English: The Seventh Commandment
The holy woman washes the Lord, a wicked disciple chastises her
Image taken from Chinese Christian Posters . For more information on the “Ars Sacra Pekinensis” school of art, see this article , for other artworks of that school in TIPs, see here.
Following are a number of back-translations of John 12:8:
Uma: “As for poor people, you will always have an opportunity to help them. But me, there is almost no more opportunity for you to help me, because I will not be with you long.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “The poor (people) will not move away/leave you and you can help them. But I, I will not remain here with you.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The poor people, you can always help them, but as for me, I will not always be here with you.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “As for the poor, they are always with you, but as for me, I will not always be with you.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “For all time the poor will be your companions, but as for me I won’t be your companion for much longer.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “There is a time to help the poor people since you live among them. But I am not going to be with you much longer.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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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.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
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®).
There is some weak manuscript evidence for the omission of this verse as an original part of the Greek text. It is possible that these words were added at an early date by a scribe who recalled the similar words of Jesus in Matthew 26.11 and Mark 14.7. However, in light of the overwhelming manuscript evidence in support of this verse, the UBS Committee on the Greek text felt justified in retaining it. They rate their decision a “C” choice, indicating a reasonable degree of doubt regarding its authenticity.
Although both were considered good works, the rabbis ranked the care of the dead superior to almsgiving. In this verse “the poor” and “me” are in emphatic positions in the Greek sentence, as is reflected in the rather literal rendering of New American Bible: “The poor you always have with you, but me you will not always have.”
A literal translation of You will always have poor people with you could be misunderstood to mean “You will always have about you poor people whom you retain as helpers” or “you will always be surrounded by poor people.” Obviously, such renderings should be avoided. A more satisfactory translation may be “There will always be poor people among you, but I will not always be among you” or “Poor people will always be with you, but I will not always be with you.”
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 .
The poor you will always have with you: This clause is an idiomatic statement meaning that there will always be some poor people living nearby. There will always be people around who need help.
Here are other ways to translate this clause:
There will always be poor people living among you.
-or-
There will always be poor people around/nearby.
The poor: This phrase refers to poor people, those without enough money to buy enough food and clothes. The Greek text emphasizes this phrase to contrast it with “me” in 12:8b, which the Greek also emphasizes. They always had the poor, but they would not always have Jesus.
you: The word you is plural and refers to Jesus’ followers in general.
12:8b
but: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as but introduces a contrast. They would always have poor people but they would not always have Jesus.
you will not always have Me: The Greek text emphasizes the word Me to contrast it with “the poor” in 12:8a. Jesus would not always be on earth with his people. They would not always be able to show him love and honor him. Here are other ways to translate this clause:
you will not always have me with you (God’s Word)
-or-
I will not always live with/among you.
-or-
I will soon be gone.
you: The word you is plural and refers to Jesus’ followers in general.
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