For the occurrences where “‘glory’ can be replaced by ‘honor,’ ‘raise,’ or ‘approval,’ something that one can give to men or to God or receive from them. Thus in this context glory does not refer to the greatness and honorability itself but rather to the recognition or acknowledgement of such honorability. The honorability is already there (or is at least purported to be). In Waama we always had to express the idea by verbs like ‘praise,’ ‘appreciate’ (if man does it as opposed to God), and the expression “make somebody’s name big.”)
(Source: Kathrin Brückner in Notes on Translation 2/1988, p. 41-46).
The Greek terms krino and katakrino/katadikazo that are translated as “judge” and “condemn” respectively in English are translated with only one term in Kutu (tagusa). (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Following are a number of back-translations of John 8:50:
Uma: “I am not asking-to-be-praised. It is God who honors me, and He is the one who judges whether I am true/right or not.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “I am not aspiring to being honored. Somebody else is thinking of honoring me and he is the judge.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “I am not looking for fame from anyone, however God wishes that I might be honored by people. He will show that my defense is true.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “I don’t moreover try-to-get-myself-praised, but there is nonetheless someone who is in-charge-of my-being-praised, and he is the very one who will judge the ones who downgrade/mock-me.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “I am not looking for my own praise/glory. My Father is the one to deal with that. He is the one who stands up for me and who judges you.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “I am not looking for how I will be respected. And he judges those who do not respect me.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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 usage of an honorific construction where the morphemes rare (られ) or are (され) are 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, o-rare-ru (おられる) or “is/be present” is used.
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 to do this is through the usage of lexical honorific forms, i.e., completely different words, as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.
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. )
I am not seeking honor for myself may be rendered “I am not trying to cause myself to be praised” or “I am not seeking to have people praise me” or “I am not asking people to honor me.”
The second sentence of this verse is literally “there is one seeking and judging,” and the one referred to is God the Father. It is obvious that the understood object of the verb seeking is Jesus’ honor, referred to in the first half of this verse, and most modern translations make this reference explicit. What is meant by the verb judges is more difficult. Most translations are fairly literal at this point, though Phillips renders “he is the true judge” and Jerusalem Bible “and is the judge of it” (that is, of Jesus’ glory). Good News Translation understands it to mean judges in my favor. The meaning appears to be that God judges fairly by giving Jesus the honor due to him and by condemning those who refuse to give him proper honor. The entire verse appears in Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch as “I seek no honor for myself. Another seeks it, and he is the judge.” But there is one who is seeking it may be expressed as “there is someone else who seeks to have me praised” or “… desires that I should be honored.”
The final expression, judges in my favor, may be rendered “decides in my favor” or “judges advantageously to me.” Or it may be possible to say “he is the one who judges rightly.” Such a translation suggests, of course, that God’s judgement is correct in finally assigning honor to 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 .
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