The Greek that is translated in English as “prune” is translated in Tenango Otomi as “care for it and take off the dry bits.” (Source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation 12, November 1964, p. 1ff.)
Christ the grapevine (icon)
Following is a contemporary Ukrainian Orthodox icon of Christ as the grapevine by Ulyana Tomkevych.
Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )
complete verse (John 15:2)
Following are a number of back-translations of John 15:2:
- Uma: “All the branches that stick to me that do not bear-fruit, he takes off. And all the branches that stick to me and that bear-fruit, he trims and cleans [verb specifically used of plants, as in cutting out dead growth etc.], so that its fruit will be more and more.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “All my branches which don’t bear fruit he cuts off and all my branches that bear fruit he cleanses so that they will have more fruit.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “If there is a branch of mine that does not fruit, he removes it. And all of my branches that fruit, he cleans them so that they might continue fruiting.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “He cuts-off all the branches that don’t bear-fruit while-simultaneously he cleans those that have fruit in order that their fruit will increase.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “He breaks off every branch of mine which doesn’t bear fruit, and he also cleans-up every branch which bears fruit so that the fruit of believing/obeying will become very much more in his life.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “Those branches which do not bear fruit he takes off. But those branches which do bear fruit he cares for and takes off the dry bits so that it will bear more fruit.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
pronoun for "God"
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff.) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal ta (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential ta (祂) is used.”
In Kouya, Godié, Northern Grebo, Eastern Krahn, Western Krahn, and Guiberoua Béte, all languages of the Kru family in Western Africa, a different kind of systems of pronouns is used (click or tap here to read more):
In that system one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and one for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff) explains in the following way: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff.)
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible, but most translations, especially those published in the 21st century, do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In both languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
See also first person pronoun referring to God.
Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Gender of God .
Translation: Chinese
在现代汉语中，第三人称单数代词的读音都是一样的（tā），但是写法并不一样，取决于性别以及是否有生命，即男性为“他”，女性为“她”，动物、植物和无生命事物为“它”（在香港和台湾的汉语使用，动物则为“牠”）。这些字的部首偏旁表明了性别（男人、女人、动物、无生命事物），而另一偏旁通常旁提示发音。
到1930年为止，基督教新教《圣经》经过整整一百年的翻译已经拥有了十几个译本，当时的一位圣经翻译者王元德新造了一个“神圣的”代词“祂”，偏旁“礻”表示神明。一般汉语读者会立即知道这字的发音是tā，而这个偏旁表示属灵的事物，因此他们明白这个字指出，三位一体的所有位格都没有性别之分，而单单是上帝。
然而，最重要的新教圣经译本（1919年的《和合本》）和天主教圣经译本（1968年的《思高圣经》）都没有采用“祂”；虽然如此，许多其他的圣经译本采用了这个字，另外还广泛出现在赞美诗和其他基督信仰的书刊中。（资料来源：Zetzsche）
《吕振中译本》的几个早期版本也使用“祂”来指称“上帝”；这个译本的《新约》于1946年译成，整部《圣经》于1970年完成。克拉默斯（Kramers）指出：“‘他’的这种新写法（即‘祂’）产生了一个小问题，就是在指称耶稣的时候，是否一律使用这个敬语代词？《吕振中译本》遵循的原则是，在称呼耶稣这个人的时候，用一般的‘他’，而在称呼耶稣神性的时候，特别是升天之后的耶稣，则用尊称‘祂’。”
Translator: Simon Wong
first person pronoun referring to God
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 show 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.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
See also pronoun for “God”.
Translation commentary on John 15:2
The two phrases every branch … and every branch … are emphatic in the Greek sentence structure. The word rendered branch in this verse does not appear elsewhere in the New Testament. It is specifically used of vine branches, though it may also be used of other branches as well.
Some scholars contend that the Greek term translated vine really means “vine stalk,” and that the vine stalk must be clearly distinguished from the branches. However, most exegetes understand this term to include both stalk and branches, since the branches can be regarded as part of the vine, in the same way that believers may be regarded as part of Christ; that is, they are in him even as he is in them.
Every branch in me must be rendered in some languages “every branch that is a part of me” or “every branch that is attached to me.” However, if it is necessary to explain the relation of in me by a separate clause, the structure may become relatively complex, for example, “He breaks off every branch that is a part of me that does not bear fruit.” This type of structure is often impossible in translation. In some languages therefore it may be better to employ a conditional construction, for example, “If a branch that is a part of me does not bear fruit, he breaks it off.”
The verb translated breaks off literally means “to take away,” while the verb rendered prunes … so that it will be clean literally means “to cleanse,” and occurs only here in the New Testament. In the present context the meaning is obviously “to make clean by pruning,” which is the basis for the Good News Translation rendering. Some translators render “to clean” (see New English Bible, Moffatt), while others have “to prune” (Jerusalem Bible, Revised Standard Version). New American Bible (“prunes away … trims clean”) is essentially the same as Good News Translation. To render as Good News Translation and New American Bible do has two advantages: (1) It identifies the cleansing specifically as pruning, which is the meaning here; and (2) it brings out the idea of “to make clean,” which is important in the present verse, since there is an obvious play on the verb “to make clean” of this verse and the adjective “clean” of verse 3. The entire phrase prunes … so that it will be clean and bear more fruit is literally “cleans … in order that it may bear more fruit.”
The figurative meaning in the term prunes is difficult for many people to understand, for pruning is not a common practice in many parts of the world. Where it is practiced, it may be of quite a different type from that employed in the Middle East. The pruning to which this verse refers consists of cutting back individual branches so that the tree will produce better fruit. However, in many parts of the tropics, pruning is employed to reduce the number of branches, and thus give the remaining branches an opportunity to produce better fruit, as, for example, in pruning coffee trees. There are also difficulties in finding a term for “pruning.” It may be necessary to use a descriptive phrase, for example, “to cut the branch short,” “to cut the branch back,” or “to cut off part of the branch.”
There are also difficulties in relating pruning to a cleansing process, for pruning seems to have nothing to do with making something clean. A close approximation to this meaning may be obtained in some languages by rendering “so that it will be better and thus bear more fruit.” This type of translation may be necessary in languages in which there is no relation between physical cleanliness and spiritual holiness. However, a serious difficulty may result from eliminating such a term as “clean” since the meaning of verse 2 must be preparatory for verse 3, in which the application must be made to persons rather than the branches of a vine. In some languages, therefore, instead of using “clean”, translators employ a more general expression, for example, “prepared” or “properly prepared.” This expression may be satisfactory in both verse 2 and verse 3.
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 .