JUB 14:18 – TIPs

The Book of Jubilees

Jubilees (also known as Lesser Genesis, Leptogenesis, or the Book of Division) is canonical scripture for the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The only complete copies of Jubilees are available in Ge’ez (Classical Ethiopic), here used with permission by the Bible Society of Ethiopia.

The translation into English used here: Jubilees: The Hermeneia Translation. Translated by James C. VanderKam. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2020. with editorial alterations and additional translations to match the current text of the Tewahedo church by Masahiro Kubota.

faithful

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The Greek, Hebrew, and Ge’ez that is rendered as “faithful” in English is (back-) translated in various ways:

Toraja-Sa’dan: “honest/straight”
North Alaskan Inupiatun: “unchangeable”
Highland Totonac “one who fulfills” (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Tsou: “actively following closely” (source: Peng Kuo-Wei)
Mende: “doesn’t turn this way and that” (source: Rob Koops)
Sinasina: “following well” (source: Paratext Consultant Notes)
Enlhet “doesn’t go past his word” (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
Kituba “put one’s heart into it” (source: Donald Deer in The Bible Translator 1973, p. 207ff. )
Noongar: hkoort-karni or “heart true” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)

all nations, all the gentiles

The Greek, Latin and Ge’ez that is translated as “all the gentiles” or “all nations” in English is translated as “all people” in Tzeltal, as “all mankind” in Highland Totonac, or “the peoples who are everywhere” in Chicahuaxtla Triqui. (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

peace (inner peace)

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The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is usually translated into English as “peace,” when referring to one’s inner peace, is (back-) translated with a variety of idioms and phrases:

“a song in the body” (Baoulé — see also joy)
“heart coolness” (Eastern Maninkakan / Moronene) / “inner coolness” (Binumarien) (source for Moronene: David Andersen; Binumarien: Oates 1995, p. 249)
“coolness” (Pular / Kutu) (source for Kutu: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
“sit down in the heart” (South Bolivian Quechua) / “my heart sits down” (Northern Grebo)
“rest the heart” (Central Mazahua) / “rest within” (Lacandon) (source: Nida 1952, p. 40 and 128ff.) / “wait well in your heart” (Yatzachi Zapotec) (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
“quietness of heart” (Chol)
“kobe (= the abdominal region, including the heart) quiet” (Warao) (source: Henry Osborn in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 74ff. )
“have a quiet mind” (Ngäbere)
“heart will lie quietly” (Isthmus Zapotec)
“live quietly” (Central Tarahumara) (source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
“quiet goodness” (Kekchí)
“goodness of life” (Uma) (source: Uma Back Translation)
“strength of heart” (Highland Puebla Nahuatl)
“leaning on the liver” (Kare)
“sweet insides” (Shilluk)
“evenness” (Toraja-Sa’dan)
“having your hearts feel oneness for one another” (Tzeltal)
“have one heart” (Miskito)
“well-arranged soul” (Mashco Piro)
“completeness” (Highland Puebla Nahuatl) (source for this and two above: Nida 1952, p. 128ff.)
“stomach flat in” (“one’s stomach sticks out when one is upset”) (Kimyal) (source: Young 2022)
“joy in heart” (Eastern Highland Otomi) (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
“have security in your heart” (Highland Totonac) (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
“smooth interior” (Bariai) (source: Bariai Back Translation)
tangnefedd — “an internal condition that makes external peace (heddwch) possible” (Welsh) (source: Rosa Hunt in Journal of European Baptist Studies 1/23 (2023), p. 1ff. ) (source for all non-attributed translations: Bratcher / Nida)

In American Sign Language it is signed with a compound sign consisting of “become” and “silent.” (Source: Yates 2011, p. 52)

“Peace” in American Sign Language (source )

enemy / foe

The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “enemy” or “foe” in English is translated in the Hausa Common Language Bible as “friends of front,” i.e., the person standing opposite you in a battle (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin) and in Apinayé as “person next to one” (source: Patricia Ham in Notes on Translation, August 1965, p. 2).

In North Alaskan Inupiatun it is translated with a term that implies that it’s not just someone who hates you, but one who wants to do you harm (Source: Robert Bascom), in Tarok as ukpa ìkum or “companion in war/fighting,” and in Ikwere as nye irno m or “person who hates me” (source for this and one above: Chuck and Karen Tessaro in this newsletter ).

In Cherokee it is either translated as “the one(s) who reprimand(s) you” or “the one(s) feared.” (Source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 47)

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Verse: Jubilees 14:18