covenant

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The Hebrew, Greek, Ge’ez, and Latin that are translated as “covenant” in English are translated in a variety of ways. Here are some (back-) translations:

  • Mossi: “helping promise”
  • Vai: “a thing-time-bind” (i.e. “an arrangement agreed upon for a period of time”)
  • Loma (Liberia): “agreement”
  • Northwestern Dinka: “agreement which is tied up” (i.e. “secure and binding”)
  • Chol: “a word which is left”
  • Huastec: “a broken-off word” (“based on the concept of ‘breaking off a word’ and leaving it with the person with whom an agreement has been reached”)
  • Tetelcingo Nahuatl: “a death command” (i.e. “a special term for testament”)
  • Piro: “a promised word”
  • Eastern Krahn: “a word between”
  • Yaka: “promise that brings together” (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “fixing” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Nabak: alakŋaŋ or “tying the knot” (source: Fabian 2013, p. 156)
  • Kâte: ʒâʒâfic or “tie together” (source: Renck 1990, p. 108)
  • Nyamwezi: ilagano: “agreement, contract, covenant, promise” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Bariai: “true talk” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Q’anjob’al: “put mouths equal” (representing agreement) (source: Newberry and Kittie Cox in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. )
  • Manikion, Indonesian: “God’s promise” (source: Daud Soesilo)
  • Natügu: nzesz’tikr drtwr: “oneness of mind” (source: Brenda Boerger in Beerle-Moor / Voinov, p. 164)
  • Tagalog: tipan: mutual promising on the part of two persons agreeing to do something (also has a romantic touch and denotes something secretive) (source: G. Henry Waterman in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 24ff. )
  • Tagbanwa: “initiated-agreement” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Cherokee: “that which is told” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 16)
  • Guhu-Samane: “The concept [in Mark 14:24 and Matthew 16:28] is not easy, but the ritual freeing of a fruit and nut preserve does afford some reference. Thus, ‘As they were drinking he said to them, ‘On behalf of many this poro provision [poro is the traditional religion] of my blood is released.’ (…) God is here seen as the great benefactor and man the grateful recipient.” (Source: Ernest Richert in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. )
  • Chichewa: pangano. This word can also be translated as a contract, agreement, or a treaty between two parties. In Chewa culture, two people or groups enter into an agreement to help each other in times of need. When entering into an agreement, parties look at the mutual benefits which will be gained. The agreement terms are mostly kept as a secret between the parties and the witnesses involved. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Law (2013, p. 95) writes about how the Ancient Greek Septuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew berith was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments (click or tap here to read more):

“Right from the start we witness the influence of the Septuagint on the earliest expressions of the Christian faith. In the New Testament, Jesus speaks of his blood being a kaine diatheke, a ‘new covenant.’ The covenant is elucidated in Hebrews 8:8-12 and other texts, but it was preserved in the words of Jesus with this language in Luke 22:20 when at the Last Supper Jesus said, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.’ Jesus’s blood was to provide the grounds for the ‘new covenant,’ in contrast to the old one his disciples knew from the Jewish scriptures (e.g., Jeremiah 31:31-34). Thus, the earliest Christians accepted the Jewish Scriptures as prophecies about Jesus and in time began to call the collection the ‘Old Testament’ and the writings about Jesus and early Christianity the ‘New Testament,’ since ‘testament’ was another word for ‘covenant.’ The covenant promises of God (berith in Hebrew) were translated in the Septuagint with the word diatheke. In classical Greek diatheke had meant ‘last will, testament,’ but in the Septuagint it is the chosen equivalent for God’s covenant with his people. The author of Hebrews plays on the double meaning, and when Luke records Jesus’ announcement at the Last Supper that his blood was instituting a ‘new covenant,’ or a ‘new testament,’ he is using the language in an explicit contrast with the old covenant, found in the Jewish scriptures. Soon, the writings that would eventually be chosen to make up the texts about the life and teachings of Jesus and the earliest expression of the Christian faith would be called the New Testament. This very distinction between the Old and New Testaments is based on the Septuagint’s language.”

See also establish (covenant) and covenant (book).

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Covenant in the Hebrew Bible .

sin

The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is typically translated as “sin” in English has a wide variety of translations.

The Greek ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō) carries the original verbatim meaning of “miss the mark” and likewise, many translations contain the “connotation of moral responsibility.”

  • Loma: “leaving the road” (which “implies a definite standard, the transgression of which is sin”)
  • Navajo (Dinė): “that which is off to the side” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: kasalan, originally meaning “transgression of a religious or moral rule” and in the context of the Bible “transgression of God’s commandments” (source: H. van der Veen in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 21ff. )
  • Kaingang: “break God’s word”
  • Bariai: “bad behavior” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Sandawe: “miss the mark” (like the original meaning of the Greek term) (source for this and above: Ursula Wiesemann in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 36ff., 43)
  • Nias: horö, originally a term primarily used for sexual sin. (Source: Hummel / Telaumbanua 2007, p. 256)
  • Mauwake: “heavy” (compare forgiveness as “take away one’s heaviness”) (source: Kwan Poh San in this article )

In Shipibo-Conibo the term is hocha. Nida (1952, p. 149) tells the story of its choosing: “In some instances a native expression for sin includes many connotations, and its full meaning must be completely understood before one ever attempts to use it. This was true, for example, of the term hocha first proposed by Shipibo-Conibo natives as an equivalent for ‘sin.’ The term seemed quite all right until one day the translator heard a girl say after having broken a little pottery jar that she was guilty of ‘hocha.’ Breaking such a little jar scarcely seemed to be sin. However, the Shipibos insisted that hocha was really sin, and they explained more fully the meaning of the word. It could be used of breaking a jar, but only if the jar belonged to someone else. Hocha was nothing more nor less than destroying the possessions of another, but the meaning did not stop with purely material possessions. In their belief God owns the world and all that is in it. Anyone who destroys the work and plan of God is guilty of hocha. Hence the murderer is of all men most guilty of hocha, for he has destroyed God’s most important possession in the world, namely, man. Any destructive and malevolent spirit is hocha, for it is antagonistic and harmful to God’s creation. Rather than being a feeble word for some accidental event, this word for sin turned out to be exceedingly rich in meaning and laid a foundation for the full presentation of the redemptive act of God.”

In Warao it is translated as “bad obojona.” Obojona is a term that “includes the concepts of consciousness, will, attitude, attention and a few other miscellaneous notions.” (Source: Henry Osborn in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 74ff. ). See other occurrences of Obojona in the Warao New Testament.

Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the Danish Bibelen 2020, comments on the translation of this term: “We would explain terms, such that e.g. sin often became ‘doing what God does not want’ or ‘breaking God’s law’, ‘letting God down’, ‘disrespecting God’, ‘doing evil’, ‘acting stupidly’, ‘becoming guilty’. Now why couldn’t we just use the word sin? Well, sin in contemporary Danish, outside of the church, is mostly used about things such as delicious but unhealthy foods. Exquisite cakes and chocolates are what a sin is today.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )

See also sinner.

complete verse (Joshua 7:11)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joshua 7:11:

  • Kupsabiny: “The people of Israel have done a sin by moving away from my covenant which I told them to follow. They have stolen things that were set aside for me. They not only stole but they have lied/deceived.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Israel has sinned. They have broken the covenant I made with them. They have taken some devoted things they have stolen things. They have lied and put them with their own goods and belongings.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Israel has-sinned, they have-disobeyed my agreement. They have-taken (some of) the things which are- already -offered entirely to me. They stole them, they lied about them, and they put- them -with their properties.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “You Israelis have sinned! You have disobeyed the commands that I told you to obey. One of your men has taken some of the things that I told you to destroy. He has stolen them and taken them for himself and lied about it.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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.

(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 Joshua 7:11

Israel has sinned may be translated “The people of Israel have sinned.” Achan’s disobedience involved all Israel, and as a result Israel suffered defeat.

The Lord’s accusation, then, is that the Israelites have broken the agreement and have taken some of the things condemned to destruction; they stole, … lied, and hid those things among their own belongings. In this context the agreement (Revised Standard Version “covenant”) refers specifically to the Lord’s command about the attack on Jericho (6.17-18); it does not refer to the basic covenant at Mount Sinai.

In order to indicate specifically that the agreement refers to the Lord’s command not to take anything from the city of Jericho, considerable restructuring may be necessary. For example, They have broken … condemned to destruction may be translated, “I commanded them to destroy everything in the city of Jericho. This was my agreement with them. But they kept back for themselves some of the things from the city.” Moreover, if it is felt that the agreement (the agreement with me) and the command (I ordered them to keep) are synonymous, one may even render “I commanded them to destroy everything in the city. But they disobeyed my command and kept back some of the things for themselves.”

The three events described in the last sentence of this verse (stole … lied … put them with) may need to be arranged in chronological sequence: “They stole them, put them with their own things, and then lied about what they had done.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Newman, Barclay M. A Handbook on Joshua. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Joshua 7:11

7:11

In 7:11 there is are six verbs that describe Israel’s sin. In Hebrew, there is a particle that precedes each verb. This particle is sometimes translated “also.” There are two ways to interpret this Hebrew particle.

(1) Some English versions do not translate this particle. They translate the verbs in 7:11 as a simple list. For example:

Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. (New International Version)

(New International Version, Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version, New Century Version, NET Bible, Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures, Revised English Bible, Good News Translation)

(2) Some English versions interpret this particle as marking emphasis. For example:

Israel has sinned; they have violated the covenant which I imposed on them. They have gone so far as to take what was under the curse of destruction, they have even stolen it; they have actually hidden it; they have put it in their baggage. (New Jerusalem Bible)

(Berean Standard Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, God’s Word, New American Standard Bible, New Living Translation (2004))

It is not clear which interpretation is best. Option (1) is a good option to follow along with the majority of English versions. However, if you wish to give an emphatic sense to the verbs as in option (2) this is also acceptable.

7:11a

Israel has sinned: A man named Achan took some of the things that were dedicated to Yahweh. Yahweh considered all the people of Israel to be guilty.

sinned: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as sinned has the sense of “missing the right way” and “incurring guilt.” It is a general term for sin.

7:11b

they have transgressed My covenant: This means that the Israelites did not obey God’s commands.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

broken my covenant (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
they have broken the agreement with me that I ordered them to keep (Good News Translation)

My covenant: Joshua told the Israelite people that everything in the town of Jericho must be destroyed. No Israelite must take anything from the town. Joshua’s commands followed the laws that God gave in Deuteronomy 20:10-20 about warfare. These laws were part of God’s covenant, or agreement, with the Israelites.

that I commanded them: God spoke through Joshua in verses 6:17-18 to remind the people of the laws about warfare which he gave them while Moses was still alive. Verse 7:11d explains which commands the people did not keep.

7:11c

and they have taken some of what was devoted to destruction: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as devoted to destruction refers to the things which Yahweh commanded the Israelites to dedicate to him. You should translate it the same way you did in 7:1.

7:11d

Indeed, they have stolen and lied: Although only the man named Achan has stolen anything, God regards all the people of Israel as guilty.

stolen: When Achan took some of the things which God told the people of Israel to destroy, he stole them from God.

7:11e

and they have put these things with their own possessions: Achan hid the things he stole from God with his own personal belongings.

possessions: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as possessions is a general word, used for equipment, baggage, or belongings. You should choose a general, nonspecific word to translate possessions.

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