cornerstone

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Bawm build with bamboo and thatch in their mountainous forests. They made the apostles and prophets become the roof ridge pole and Jesus the central uprights which support it. I asked why not the corner uprights since Greek has a term that is translated in English as ‘cornerstone.’ Bawm translators responded that the central uprights are more important than the corner ones, and Greek refers to the most important stone. (“Corner uprights” used in 1Tim 3:15.) (Source: David Clark)

In Mono, translators used “main post,” in Martu Wangka “two forked sticks with another long strong stick laid across” (see also 1 Peter 2:6-7.), and in Arrernte, the translation in 1Pet 2:7 (in English translation: “the stone . . . became the very cornerstone”) was rendered as “the foundation… continues to be the right foundation.” (Source for this and two above: Carl Gross)

Likewise, in Uripiv it also is the “post” (source: Ross McKerras) as well as in Sabaot (source Jim Leonhard in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 50)

In Ixcatlán Mazatec it is translated with a term denoting the “the principal part of the ‘house’ (or work)” (Source: Robert Bascom), in Enlhet as “like the house-root” (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff.), in Q’anjob’al it is translated with with the existing idiom “ear of the house.” (Source: Newberry and Kittie Cox in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff.), in Desano as “main support of the house,” and in Tataltepec Chatino as “the best stone” (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.).

Shuar translates as “that stone was placed to the main house pole.” The Shuar use stones in house building either at the bottom of the posthole as a base for the house pole to rest on, or as chocking material around the post to hold it firm. Either function is acceptable here particularly as applied to the main house-pole. In Ocotlán Zapotec it is “master stone of the house.” This is a special stone they put into the foundation as sort of a guide stone of how the foundation is to true up. (Source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)

See also rock / stone, foundation on rock, and foundation.

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complete verse (Luke 20:17)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 20:17:

  • Nyongar: “Jesus looked at them and asked, ‘What does this Scripture say? ‘The workers building the house threw away this useless stone, but now this stone has become the best stone.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “Yesus looked at them and he said to them: ‘Yet that is the meaning of the figure-of-speech that is in the Holy Book that says: ‘The stone that was thrown-away by the house-builder, that very stone becomes the foundation-stone.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But Isa looked at them and he said, ‘Na, what do you say is the meaning of this verse written in the holy-book it says, ‘The stone that is rejected by the experts building the stone house because they thought-mistakenly that it didn’t have any use, now that one is the stone of the greatest/utmost use.’ ‘” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But Jesus looked carefully at them and he said, ‘If you are thinking that God would not do that, what is your understanding of that written word of God long ago that says, ‘The stone which was used in building the house was thrown away by the carpenters because they thought it had no value. But today it has become the only stone that could properly finish up the house.’ ‘ And Jesus continued speaking,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But then Jesus looked-steadily at them and said, ‘If that is that case that it won’t happen, what then is the meaning of this that God caused-to-be-written? ‘The stone that the house builders rejected, that’s what God has turned-into the most-valuable stone which causes-the house -to-be-strong/firm.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Jesus looked-intensely at them and he questioned. ‘Well if it’s like that,’ he said, ‘what is meant by this which was written which is the word of God which says, ‘That rock/stone which was not acceptable to the house builders, that’s what was used after all as the main-support of the house.’?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

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