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 )
Following are a number of back-translations of John 15:6:
Uma: “Whoever does not remain in-harmony with me will definitely be thrown-away, like the throwing away of the branches that have been broken off until they are dry. Branches like that are gathered and thrown into the fire.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “If a person does not remain with/in me he is figuratively like a broken-off branch which is thrown away and whithers. Then these branches are gathered and thrown into the fire to be burnt.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For if there is a person who separates from me, he will be abandoned just like a branch which is thrown away so that it will dry up. And those dried up branches are gathered and thrown into the fire to be burned.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Whoever though doesn’t continue to be united-with me, he is like a cut-off branch that is thrown away. When those branches dry-up, they are gathered and burned.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “That one who will not hold fast to me, he will be thrown away because he will be separated like a branch which has been broken off. Well, those branches, when they’re now dead, they will be gathered and thrown on the fire so that they will be burned up.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “He who forsakes my word will have done to him like it is done to a branch which doesn’t bear fruit. It is cut off to dry. When it is dry it is gathered to be burned.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.
As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.
Here, Jesus is addressing his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.
In Nepali translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and other people with the medium honorific pronoun timīlē (तिमीले) or timīlēharū (तिमीलेहरू). This disciples respond with a high honorific pronoun. (Source: Chitra Chhetri in The Bible Translator 2009, p. 73ff. )
In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.
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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®).
This verse states negatively what was stated positively in verse 5. Whoever in Greek is literally “if someone,” but it also has the force of an indefinite relative pronoun in English (see 12.26).
The verbs translated is thrown out and dries up are in the aorist indicative tense in Greek. The aorist indicative (normally indicating completed action in past time) is used here for one of two reasons: (1) to indicate the certainty of the action, by speaking of a future action as though it were already accomplished; or (2) to indicate habitual or customary action. The context seems to suggest the first of these possibilities.
Like a branch must apply not only to being thrown out, but also to drying up. It may be necessary to say, therefore, “Whoever does not remain in me is thrown out and dries up, just as a branch would be thrown out and dry up.”
Are gathered up and thrown is literally “they gather them and throw (them).” But this Semitic use of the third person plural is the equivalent of a passive construction, and so a number of translations render in essentially the same way as Good News Translation. If a passive cannot be used, one may translate “people gather them up and throw them into the fire.” Since the fire has not been previously identified, and cannot be directly related to any specific aspect of judgment, it is better in some languages to translate “thrown into a fire.”
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 .
If anyone does not remain in Me: This clause is more literally “unless someone remains in me.” It introduces a situation which is the opposite of 15:5b. Here someone does not remain in Christ. See how you translated the opposite clause “The one who remains in Me” in 15:5. For example:
Whoever does not abide in me (New Revised Standard Version) -or-
Those who do not remain in me (Good News Translation)
However, it is probably better to use a singular subject to remind the reader of Judas Iscariot. He was the only one of Christ’s first disciples who did not remain in Christ.
15:6b–d
he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned: This is a figure of speech, partly simile (like a branch) and partly metaphor (withers). The person who does not remain in Christ is compared to a branch that was removed from the main stem of a vine. Here are some ways that they are similar:
(a) The person who fails to remain with God is like a branch that fails to produce good fruit because both are useless.
(b) Useless people and useless branches are both burned. Fire is a symbol of judgment in scripture, so useless people will be judged. Useless branches will be burned in a literal fire.
In some languages a literal translation of this figure of speech may be difficult to understand. It may be necessary to help the reader understand the meaning by making some of it explicit. For example:
he is like a ⌊useless⌋ branch that is thrown away and withers. Branches like that are gathered/picked up, thrown into the fire, and burned
15:6b
he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers: The phrase like a branch refers to both the verbs: this person is thrown away like a branch and withers like a branch. So in some languages it may be natural to rearrange this whole phrase.
is thrown away: This verb phrase is passive. Some unknown person or persons will discard (throw away) the useless branch. There are at least two ways to translate this:
• Use a passive verb. For example:
is thrown out like a branch (NET Bible) -or-
is discarded like branches are
• Use an active verb. For example:
God will throw him away like a branch
and withers: The verb withers refers to the way that a branch dries up and dies when it does not get water and food. For example:
and dry up (Good News Translation) -or-
and then dries up
If you used an active verb for “is thrown away,” you may need to change this phrase. For example:
and he will dry up
15:6c–d
Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned: This clause has a series of three passive verbs describing what happens to useless branches. They are gathered up, thrown, and burned. There are at least two ways to translate these verbs:
• Use passive verbs. For example:
such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire, and burned (New International Version)
• Use active verbs. For example:
People pick up dead branches, throw them into the fire, and burn them. (New Century Version)
the fire: This does not refer to a particular fire but to any fire that might be burning at that time. So it may be natural to say:
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