The Greek that is translated “scripture” or “scriptures” in English is translated as “God’s word which people wrote” in Guerrero Amuzgo (source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125) and “paper writings” in Copainalá Zoque (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.).
While the term “Bible,” often used as a synonym, does not appear in the Bible itself, there’s an interesting translation of that word in Dehu. Missionaries had translated “Bible” as “Container of the Word” until they realized that this was also used for “penis sheath.” (Source: Clifford 1992, p. 87)
Following are a number of back-translations of John 19:36:
Uma: “This happened to fulfill what was written long ago in the Holy Book that says: ‘Not one of his bones will be broken.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Because of what happened there to Isa the writing in the holy-book came true. It says there, ‘None of his bones were/are broken not even one.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The reason this happened is because the prophecy in the written word was fulfilled which said, ‘Not one of his bones will be broken.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “These-things also happened in order to be-fulfilled what God caused-to-be-written that says, ‘Not even a single-one of his bones will be fractured,'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “These things came about so that what is contained there in the writings would be fulfilled which says, ‘There’s not even one of his bones which will be broken.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Because these things happened so that what is written in the Holy Book would happen. It says, ‘His bones will not be broken.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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 tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system, one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and others 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: “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 and Orthodox 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 or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are Twents as well as the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In the latter two 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. ).
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 was done refers to verse 33 (they did not break his legs). Not one of his bones will be broken may be an allusion to the Passover lamb (Exo 12.46; Num 9.12) or to the “good man” whom the Lord watches over (Psa 34.20). In the context of John’s Gospel, it is best to take the reference as primarily to the Passover lamb. It would be misleading to introduce an agent for the passive expression Not one of his bones will be broken unless the agent can be made indefinite, for example, “they will not break one of his bones.” Sometimes a pseudopassive may be used, for example, “he will not experience the breaking of any of his bones.”
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 .
Now: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Now is a conjunction that is usually translated as “for” or “because.” It is not a time word. Some English versions do not use a conjunction. Use an expression that is natural in your language.
these things happened: The phrase these things refers to the fact that the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side but did not break his bones.
so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: This clause indicates that what happened is what the scripture that was written long ago said would happen. See how you translated this idea in 12:38. For example:
so that the Scriptures would come true (Contemporary English Version) -or-
This was done to make the Scripture come true (Good News Translation) -or-
in fulfillment of the text of scripture (Revised English Bible)
the Scripture: This phrase here refers to a specific place or text in the Old Testament Scriptures. For example:
the text of scripture (Revised English Bible)
19:36b
Not one of His bones will be broken: This quotation may come from two different contexts:
• Psalm 34:20, where the Psalmist promised God’s protection for the righteous man.
• Exodus 12:46 and Numbers 9:12, which commanded the Jews not to break the bones of the Passover lamb.
If you write a footnote here, it is good to mention these Old Testament texts.
will be broken: This is a passive verb phrase. There are at least two ways to translate it:
• Use a passive verb like the Berean Standard Bible.
• Use an active verb. You may need to supply a general subject. For example:
they will not break any of his bones -or-
No one will break even one of his bones
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