Elhomwe: “dried heart” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext).
In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is translated colloquially as wie vernagelt or “obtuse” (in Mark 6:52 and 8:17).
While Moba has a rich metaphorical library using the concept of “heart” (pal) it follows very different paradigms compared to Greek, Hebrew and English concepts. The parallel expression of “hardened heart” means “courageous” or “encouraged” (see hearts burning) so in the 2008 Moba Yendu Kadapaaonn translation various constructs are used to translate “hardness of heart,” including “not willing to change one’s mind” (in Mark 3:5) or “make temptation into the heart” (John 12:40). (Source: Bedouma Joseph Kobaike in Le Sycomore 17/1, 2024, p. 3ff. )
Following are a number of back-translations of John 12:40:
Asháninka: “He will cause them to be blind; he will erase from them their understanding, lest they see, lest they know, lest they turn to me, lest I save them.”
Huehuetla Tepehua: “God made the men blind in their understanding, and he made their hearts hard. In that way they couldn’t understand with their understanding, and they couldn’t believe anything in their hearts, and they couldn’t think differently in their hearts so that I could make their hearts better.”
Yatzachi Zapotec: “God has caused the hearts of these people to be unresponsive, so that they are unheeding. He has caused them to see but not to realize what that which they are seeing means, and to hear but not to understand what that which they are hearing means. They would perhaps repent of their sins and permit God to renew their hearts if they understood it and if they realized what it meant.” (Source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
Uma: “‘The Lord God says: ‘I purposely made them blind, so they couldn’t see. I made their hearts hard, so their hearts were not clear. That’s why they won’t be given goodness [salvation] by me.’ ‘” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “‘Their eyes are made blind by God so that they do not see, and he made their minds dull so that they do not understand. So-then their livers are not changed, says God, therefore I do not take their sins away.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Isaiah also said, ‘As for God, he caused them to become blind so they couldn’t see. He also caused that their breaths become hard so that they may not believe because they might give up evil and call on him for help.’ That’s why they didn’t believe in Jesus.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “‘God has blinded them and has hardened their minds lest they be able-to-see and able-to-understand and they face him so that he will heal them.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “‘He blinded their eyes and he made their heads hard so that they wouldn’t be able to see or understand, or be able to return to him so that he might make them well.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “‘God covered their sight in order that they would not see with their eyes. And he covered their hearts in order that their hearts would not find (understand) how the word is. And their hearts won’t change to follow God, so that he won’t forgive them.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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 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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) 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, s-are-ru (される) or “do/make” is used.
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®).
This verse is a quotation from Isaiah 6.10, though its form in John differs from both the Hebrew and the Septuagint. Probably John was quoting freely, perhaps from memory, and adapting the material to suit his purpose. In place of God (literally “he”) has blinded their eyes, and closed their minds (literally “hardened their heart”) the Hebrew text reads “make (imperative) the heart of this people fat, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes….” It should be noted that John omits “ears” and speaks of the “eyes” before the “heart.” (In Hebrew “heart” functions as the equivalent of “mind” for the western reader.) Also, John omits the phrase “of this people.” However, the most noticeable difference is that John changes the imperatives of the Hebrew text (“make … shut”) to a statement has blinded, with God as the assumed subject, as Good News Translation makes explicit. Quite likely John makes the changes to emphasize that the judgment on the Jews is in reality the action of God. This conclusion is supported by the observation that John’s last line follows the Septuagint (literally “and I will heal them”) instead of the “divine passive” of the Hebrew text (“and be healed”).
It may be difficult to preserve the type of double parallelism of this verse. Note, for example, that the first line refers to the eyes and the second line to the mind, while the third line refers back to the eyes and the fourth line to the mind. It may be necessary to bring together the lines referring to the eyes and those referring to the mind, for example, “God has blinded their eyes so that they cannot see, and he has closed their minds so that they cannot understand.” If it is difficult to speak of “closing minds” an equivalent may be “make their minds slow” or “make their minds hard.” Or an equivalent may be “he made them stupid,” in the sense that “they could not think correctly.” If verse 39b is translated “God spoke further through the prophet Isaiah and said,” then in verse 40, instead of the third person (God has blinded … and closed), the first person, referring to God, may be used throughout: “I have blinded their eyes, and I have closed their minds.”
They would not turn to me, says God, for me to heal them is literally “lest they … turn, and I will heal them.” It is clearly implied by the context that the turning is to God, and Good News Translation makes this explicit by including to me, says God. It may be made explicit in another way. That is, if verse 39 is made to read “God spoke through the prophet Isaiah, and also said,” then in verse 40 a first person reference can be made to God throughout (“I have blinded their eyes…. And they would not return to me, for me to heal them”).
It is important to note that the clause and they would not turn to me is still a part of the expression of purpose stated in the beginning of the third line. However, since the second part of verse 40 is to be understood as a quotation, it may be necessary to break the sentence after the fourth line and introduce the direct quotation as “God says, I did this so that they would not turn to me in order for me to heal them.”
It is difficult to overestimate the significance of Isaiah 6.10 for the New Testament. It is used in the Synoptic Gospels (see Matt 13.13-15; Mark 4.12; Luke 8.10) to explain why the people did not understand Jesus’ teaching in parables concerning the kingdom. Paul quotes it in Acts 28.26-27 to explain why the Jews did not accept the gospel which he proclaimed to them. And here John uses it to explain why the Jews rejected Jesus.
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 .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.