21So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you are right in what you say and teach, and you show deference to no one but teach the way of God in accordance with truth.
The Greek that is often translated as “(you are) not partial to any” into English is translated as “you do not look at what is on the surface” into Shipibo-Conibo) and “you do not just see a man’s face” into Copainalá Zoque (source: Bratcher / Nida).
In Gumuz it is translated as “you do not look into face of men” (= do not make people bigger) (source: Loren Bliese) and in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) as unparteiisch und unbestechlich or “impartial and incorruptible.”
The Greek, Latin and Hebrew that is usually translated in English as “truth” is translated in Luchazi with vusunga: “the quality of being straight” (source: E. Pearson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 160ff. ), in Obolo as atikọ or “good/correct talk” (source: Enene Enene), and in Ekari as maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (esp. in John 14:6 and 17; bokouto — “enormous” — is being used as an attribute for abstract nouns to denote that they are of God [see also here]; source: Marion Doble in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 37ff. ).
The translation committee of the Malay “Good News Bible” (Alkitab Berita Baik, see here ) wrestled with the translation of “truth” in the Gospel of John (for more information click or tap here):
“Our Malay Committee also concluded that ‘truth’ as used in the Gospel of John was used either of God himself, or of God’s revelation of himself, or in an extended sense as a reference to those who had responded to God’s self-disclosure. In John 8:32 the New Malay translation reads ‘You will know the truth about God, and the truth about God will make you free.’ In John 8:44 this meaning is brought out by translating, ‘He has never been on the side of God, because there is no truth in him.’ Accordingly Jesus ‘tells the truth about God’ in 8:45, 46 (see also 16:7 and 8:37a). Then, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’ becomes ‘I am the one who leads men to God, the one who reveals who and what God is, and the one who gives men life.” At 3:21 the translation reads ” … whoever obeys the truth, that is God himself, comes to the light …’; 16:13a appears as ‘he will lead you into the full truth about God’; and in 18:37 Jesus affirms ‘I came into the world to reveal the truth about God, and whoever obeys God listens to me.’ On this basis also 1:14 was translated ‘we saw his glory, the glory which he had as the Father’s only Son. Through him God has completely revealed himself (truth) and his love for us (grace)’; and 1:17 appears as ‘God gave the law through Moses; but through Jesus Christ he has completely revealed himself (truth) and his love for us (grace).'” (Source: Barclay Newman in The Bible Translator 1974, p. 432ff. )
Helen Evans (in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) tells of the translation into Kui which usually is “true-thing.” In some instances however, such as in the second part of John 17:17 (“your word is truth” in English), the use of “true-thing” indicated that there might be other occasions when it’s not true, so here the translation was a a form of “pure, holy.”
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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.
The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “teach” in English is translated in the Shinkaiyaku Bible as o-oshie (お教え), combining the verb “teach” (oshie) with the respectful prefix o-. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
The Greek that is translated as “teacher” (also: “master”) in English is translated in the 1941 Yiddish by Einspruch as rebe (רֶבּי) or “Rabbi” in an effort to identify Jesus as a teacher of the Jews. (Source: Naomi Seidmann in Elliott / Boer 2012, p. 151ff.)
Likewise, a number of Hebrew translations, including the 2018 and 2020 editions by the The Bible Society in Israel also use “Rabbi” (רַבִּי).
The Greek that is translated as a form of “teach” is translated with some figurative phrases such as “to engrave the mind” (Ngäbere) or “to cause others to imitate” (Huichol). (Source: Bratcher / Nida)
In Noongar it is translated as karni-waangki or “truth saying” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.
In this verse, the Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “speak” or “say” or similar in English is translated in the Shinkaiyaku Bible as o-hanashi (お話し), combining “speak” (hanashi) with the respectful prefix o-.
Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.
As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.
Here, religious leaders or their representatives are addressing Jesus with the formal pronoun, showing respect. Compare that with the typical address with the informal pronoun of the religious leaders. Voinov gives two reasons for the outliers. One is a “pretense of respect. These occasions are usually marked by their use of titles of respect such as ‘teacher.'” The other reason is sincere respect, such as in the case of the lawyer in Mark 12 or Nicodemus in John 3.
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 20:21:
Noongar: “These bad men said to Jesus, ‘Lord, we know you. When you speak to people, you speak truly. We know that you do not look at people’s power but teach people what God wants them to do.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “When they arrived at Yesus, those who had been commanded/sent/given-a-job-to-do said: ‘Teacher, we (excl.) know all your (sing.) words and your (sing.) teachings are all true. You (sing.) teach very clearly saying what is the will of the Lord God to mankind, and you (sing.) do not distinguish people.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “So-then those hired people said to Isa, ‘Sir, we (excl.) know that your words and teaching are correct. You make no difference between people and your teaching about the will of God is true.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And those people who were watching Jesus secretly, they said to him, they said, ‘Hey Chief! We know that you show no favoritism toward anyone, and what you say is true and you teach the truth about what God wants us to do.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “These men went then to Jesus and they said, ‘Sir teacher, we (excl.) know that everything you (sing.) say and teach is correct. We (excl.) also know that you (sing.) don’t show-favoritism-to (lit. cause-to-be-differentiated) those who have status (lit. something to be acknowledged), but rather you (sing.) teach the truth concerning what God wants people to do.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “When those people arrived, they questioned Jesus. They said, ‘Teacher, we know that what you say and teach really is true. You really don’t hold-back from teaching the truth which is the will of God, no matter who is listening.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
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