There is no word in Khanty that directly corresponds to the concept of “love.”
In one of the two Bible translation projects (see here ) for which so far (2025) Genesis, Jonah, Luke, and Acts have been translated, mosty (мосты) with the primary meaning of “to be needed” or “to be necessary” was often used when translating the Greek agapao (ἀγαπάω) and the Hebrew aheb (אָהַב) — “love” in English — and the Greek agapétos (ἀγαπητός) — “beloved” in English.
Interestingly, the same word is also used in verses like Luke 7:2 for the Greek entimos (ἔντιμος) or “value highly” or in Luke 20:17 and Acts 4:11 where the “cornerstone” is the “necessary stone.”
In the other translation project in Khanty, the gospel of Mark has been translated (see here ). Here the translators have used vŏłanga săma (вŏԓаӈа сăма), meaning “important” or “pleasant to the heart” when referring to love.
Following is the back-translation of Luke 7:1-10 from Finnish Sign Language (FiSL). One of the ways that distinguishes FiSL is by an intense way of using a spatial component via a signing space. Click or tap here to see more.
(Note: For a video of this passage in Finnish Sign Language, see below.)
Numbers attached with glosses refer to locations in signing space.
The English text gives a rough back translation of the FiSL behind the glosses.
Luke 7:1
JESUS TELL HUMAN GROUP HEAR>5
Jesus spoke and people listen
READY JESUS GO-1>2 CAPERNAUM INDEX>6
After he had finished Jesus went to Capernaum
(break)
Luke 7:2
ONE SOLDER LEADER OWN>6 SERVANT SICK NEARLY DIE
A servant of a military leader was sick and dying
LEADER INDEX>6 SERVANT PERSON-1 RESPECT
That leader respected his servant
(break)
Luke 7:3
INDEX>6 HEAR>5 JESUS
He heard about Jesus
PERSONx>5 ASK JEW HIGH-POSITION HUMANx-6 BRING-5>1 JESUS
He asked the respected Jewish men to bring Jesus to him
SERVANT PERSON-6 SAVE
to save the servant
(break)
Luke 7:4
JEW HIGH-POSITION HUMANx-6 JESUS MEET>5
The respected Jewish men met Jesus
BEG>5 SAY>5
Begging and asking:
(break)
ASK MALE INDEX>6 NEED OWN>5 HELP
Please, that man needs your help
(break)
Luke 7:5
WE HUMAN GROUP INDEX>6 LOVE
He loves our people
ALSO WE OWN>1 JEW CONGREGATION
For our Jewish congregation
INDEX>6 ALREADY BUILD HOUSE
He has built a house [= synagogue]
(break)
Luke 7:6
JESUS WITH TOGETHER-3>6 HOUSE-6 NEAR-3>6
Jesus approached the house together with others
LEADER SEND-4>5 OWN>6 FEW FRIENDx
The leader sent some of his friends
MEET-4>5
To meet Jesus:
(break)
LEADER INDEX>6 SAY
This leader says:
LORD INDEX>5 TROUBLE CLOSE-5>1 DO-NOT>5
Lord, do not trouble to come to me
Luke 7:7 (no break)
ALSO INDEX>1 CLOSE-1>5 CANNOT
As I did not come to you
(break)
[the rest of the verse moved to the end of verse 8]
Luke 7:8
COMMAND INDEX-h3>1 INDEX>1 OBEY
I am subject to command from above
ALSO SOLDER INDEX>2 INDEX>1 COMMAND INDEX-1>2
And I command solders
INDEX-2 OBEY
And they obey
(break)
OWN-1 SOLDER INDEX-2 INDEX-1 SAY
If I say to this solder of mine:
INDEX-2 GO>2
Go!
COMPLETE LEAVE-1>2
He will leave
INDEX-5 COME-5>1
Or to another: Come!
COMPLETE COME-5>1
He will come
(break)
ALSO SERVANT PERSON-2 INDEX-1 SAY
And if I say to this servant:
DO INDEXx-2
Do this!
COMPLETE DO
He will do it.
(break)
ANDx ALSO OWN>1 SERVANT PERSON-6 INDEX-5 ORDER-5>6
So, please, order this servant of mine
HEAL
And heal him.
(break)
LEADER INDEX-6 WELCOME-6>5
The leader asked Jesus to do this to him
Luke 7:9
JESUS SURPRISE>6
Jesus was surprised
TURN-6>5 HUMAN GROUP
He turned to people
SAY
And said:
LEADER OWN>6 FAITH COMPARE SAME JEW HUMAN GROUP INDEX-1 NEVER SEE-1>d
I have never seen the same faith among Jews than this leader has
(break)
Luke 7:10
FRIEND INDEXx-2 BACK-1>2>1 HOUSE-6 NEAR>6
When the friends returned to the house of the leader
SERVANT PERSON-6 ALREADY HEAL
That servant was already healthy.
In many English translations the Greek terms “hieron” (the whole “temple” in Jerusalem or specifically the outer courts open to worshippers) and “naos” (the inner “shrine” or “sanctuary”) are translated with only one word: “temple” (see also for instance “Tempel” in German [for exception see below] and “tempel” in Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans).
Other languages make a distinction: (Click or tap here to see more)
Navajo (Dinė): “house in which worship is carried out” (for naos)
Balinese: “inner part of the Great Temple” (“the term ‘inner part’ denoting the hindmost and holiest of the two or three courts that temples on Bali usually possess”) vs. “Great Temple”
Telugu: “womb (i.e. interior)-of-the-abode” vs. “abode”
Thai: a term denoting the main audience hall of a Buddhist temple compound vs. “environs-of-the-main-audience-hall”
Kituba: “place of holiness of house-God Lord” vs. “house-God Lord”
Shipibo-Conibo: “deep in God’s house” vs. “God’s house” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Germandas Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022): “inner court of the temple” (Tempelinnenhof) vs. “temple”
Languages that, like English, German, Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans, don’t make that distinction include:
Toraja-Sa’dan: “house that is looked upon as holy, that is sacred, that is taboo and where one may not set foot” (lit. “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” — because taboo is violated — using a term that is also applied to a Muslim mosque) (source for this and the three above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Aguaruna: “the house for talking to God” (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
Guhu-Samane: “festival longhouse of God” (“The biiri, ‘festival longhouse’, being the religious and social center of the community, is a possible term for ‘temple’. It is not the ‘poro house’ as such. That would be too closely identified with the cult of poro. The physical features of the building, huge and sub-divided, lend it further favor for this consideration. By qualifying it as ‘God’s biiri’ the term has become meaningful and appropriate in the context of the Scriptures.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. )
Enga: “God’s restricted access house” (source: Adam Boyd on his blog )
Another distinction that tends to be overlooked in translations is that between hieron (“temple” in English) and sunagógé (“synagogue” in English). Euan Fry (in The Bible Translator 1987, p. 213ff. ) reports on this:
“Many older translations have simply used transliterations of ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ rather than trying to find equivalent terms or meaningful expressions in their own languages. This approach does keep the two terms separate; but it makes the readers depend on explanations given by pastors or teachers for their understanding of the text.
“Translators who have tried to find meaningful equivalents, for the two terms ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ have usually made a distinction between them in one of two ways (which focus on the contrasting components of meaning). One way takes the size and importance of the Temple to make a contrast, so that expressions such as ‘sacred meeting/ worship house of the Jews’ and ‘big sacred meeting/worship house of the Jews’ are used. The other way focuses on the different nature of the religious activity at each of the places, so that expressions such as ‘meeting/worship house of the Jews’ and ‘sacrifice/ceremony place of the Jews’ are used.
“It is not my purpose in this article to discuss how to arrive at the most precise equivalent to cover all the components of meaning of ‘temple’. That is something that each translator really has to work through for himself in the light of the present usage and possibilities in his own language. My chief concern here is that the basic term or terms chosen for ‘temple’ should give the reader of a translation a clear and correct picture of the location referred to in each passage. And I am afraid that in many cases where an equivalent like ‘house of God’ or ‘worship house’ has been chosen, the readers have quite the wrong picture of what going to the Temple or being in the Temple means. (This may be the case for the word ‘temple’ in English too, for many readers.)”
Here are some examples:
Bambara: “house of God” (or: “big house of worship”) vs. “worship house” (or: “small houses of worship”)
Toraja-Sa’dan: “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” (see above) vs. “meeting house for discussing matters concerning religious customs” (and “church” is “house where one meets on Sunday”)
Navajo (Dinė): “house in which worship is carried out” vs. “house of gathering” (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida)
Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Herod’s temple (source: Bible Lands 2012)Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing synagogues in New Testament times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 7:5:
Noongar: “He loves our people and he built our synagogue.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “because he loves us Yahudi people, and he has given us (excl.) money to build our (excl.) house of prayer.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “for he is a real friend to our (incl.) Yahudi tribe and he paid the expense hep for erecting our (incl.) prayer-house in this town.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “because as for us (inc.) Jews, we are precious in his breath. He built one of the churches.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “because he (appreciation particle) loves us Jews and he moreover caused-a synagogue of ours -to-be-constructed.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Because he values this nation of ours(incl.) and he even caused a worship-place to be built for us.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse (“he loves our nation and it was he who built us our synagogue” in English translations), Yagua translators selected the exclusive forms. The translators justify this by saying “Jesus was also of the Jews’ nation and could have been included in this ‘our.’ However, the ‘us’ and ‘our’ of the second clause are doubtless exclusive and we guess since Jesus was not a native of Capernaum that these Jews probably would have used the exclusive in the first clause.”
Source: Paul Powlison in Notes on Translation with Drills, p. 165ff.
Pickett argues that “the first ‘our’ is inclusive, referring to the Jewish nation of which both the speakers and Jesus were a part, But the second ‘our’ is no doubt exclusive, i.e. the synagogue in their town, of which Jesus was not a part.”
SIL International Translation Department (1999) notes that he second pronoun could be either inclusive or exclusive. The Tok Pisin translation uses the inclusive for the first occurrence and exclusive for the second.
Barclay Newman, a translator on the teams for both the Good News Bible and the Contemporary English Version, translated passages of the New Testament into English and published them in 2014, “in a publication brief enough to be non-threatening, yet long enough to be taken seriously, and interesting enough to appeal to believers and un-believers alike.” The following is the translation of Luke 7:1-10:
Jesus was back in Capernaum,
where a Roman army officer’s favorite servant
was at the point of death.
So when the officer heard Jesus was in town,
he sent some Jewish leaders with a request
for Jesus to come and heal his servant.
The leaders went to Jesus and begged him to help —
“This man is truly deserving,” they stated.
“He loves our nation and even built us a synagogue.”
So Jesus went with them.
As Jesus approached the officer’s house,
the officer sent some friends with a message:
“Sir, please don’t trouble yourself on my account!
I’m not worthy for you to stand under my roof,
and I’m certainly not worthy to look you in the face.
“Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.
I myself am under orders,
and I have men under my command.
If I say ‘Jump!’ they jump;
if I say ‘Sit down!’ they sit down.”
When Jesus heard this, he was so surprised
that he said to the crowd following him,
“I’ve never seen such faith!”
The officer’s friends returned and found the servant well.
agapa gar to ethnos hēmōn ‘for he loves our people,’ explains why he deserves what he asks. The present tense suggests that this is his permanent attitude. to ethnos hēmōn refers to the Jewish people in general, not to their nation as a political entity, or their race.
kai tēn sunagōgēn autos ōikodomēsen hēmin ‘and he built the synagogue for us himself.’ autos may mean ‘(he) himself,’ or ‘he’ (emphatic personal pronoun, cf. New English Bible), preferably the former. ōikodomēsen means here that he had made other people build the synagogue. The aorist tense, as contrasted with agapa (see above), implies a reference to one specific act proving his love for the Jewish people.
Translation:
He loves, see on 6.27.
Our nation, or, ‘our brothers/fellows’ (Laka, Toraja-Sa’dan, both using a term indicating persons of the same tribe, family or party as the speaker’s). The pronoun has inclusive force.
He, preferably, ‘he himself,’ indicating that the centurion acted on his own initiative and costs.
Built us our synagogue, or, ‘built for us the synagogue’ (the article signifying that the synagogue of Capernaum is meant), or simply, ‘built our synagogue,’ or, because he is not the direct agent, ‘caused our synagogue to be built.’ One may hesitate whether to use an exclusive or an inclusive pronoun. The former is often used (e.g. in Huautla Mazatec, Pohnpeian, Marathi, Malay), on the assumption that Jesus, being not native to Capernaum, was not a member of the group primarily associated with the synagogue there. The latter is used on the assumption that Jesus, having his permanent headquarters in Capernaum, could be taken as belonging to the local synagogue; or because the inclusive pronoun qualifies an object as known both to the speaker and the person addressed; or again, because the use of an exclusive pronoun may sound as though the speaker did not allow his collocutor the use of the synagogue. The inclusive pronoun is probably preferable. In some languages it is better to avoid the pronoun altogether, cf. ‘the synagogue (for the people) here’ (Balinese, Sundanese).
Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.
In this verse the Jewish elders gave two reasons that the officer was worthy for Jesus to help him.
7:5a–b
for he loves our nation: The phrase for he loves our nation is the first reason that the elders gave Jesus for helping the officer. The phrase indicates that the Roman officer had affection for the Jewish people. He felt friendly concern for them and tried to act in a way that helped them. Other ways to say this are:
for he loves the Jewish people (New Living Translation (2004)) -or-
for he is a friend of our nation (Revised English Bible) -or-
because he is concerned about us ⌊Jews⌋
our nation: In this context the word nation probably refers to the Jews as a people and not as a political state. Another way to translate this is:
our people (New Jerusalem Bible, Good News Translation)
Jesus and the elders were all Jews. Use a form for our that includes Jesus.
and has built our synagogue: In the Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as has built our synagogue, the words built our synagogue are emphasized. This indicates that the officer had done a very important thing when he built the synagogue for them. Some English versions express this emphasis. For example:
and he is the one who built us our synagogue (English Standard Version) -or-
and even built a synagogue for us (New Living Translation (1996)) -or-
and it is he who built us our synagogue (Revised English Bible)
has built our synagogue: The phrase built our synagogue indicates that the officer had helped to build the synagogue in Capernaum. This does not mean that he did the actual labor of constructing it. He probably gave money to help pay for building it. He could also have helped by getting permission to build it from the Roman government.
If saying that he built our synagogue would give your readers the idea that the centurion was actually one of the builders, you could translate this as:
caused our synagogue to be built -or-
built our synagogue at his own expense (God’s Word) -or-
paid/provided for the building of our synagogue
our synagogue: The phrase our synagogue refers to a synagogue in Capernaum. (It is not known if there was more than one synagogue there.)
In some languages it will be necessary to decide whether the elders included Jesus in the word our. It is recommended that you use a form that includes Jesus. The focus here is probably that the officer built the synagogue “for us” in the sense that he built it for Jews.
synagogue: A synagogue was a building where Jews gathered to pray, read Scripture, teach their beliefs, and worship. The Jews also gathered there for cultural activities. There was only one temple (in Jerusalem), but each Jewish community had a synagogue. Some ways to translate synagogue are:
prayer-house ⌊of the Jews⌋ -or-
meeting-place ⌊of the Jews⌋ -or-
worship building -or-
house for gathering together
If you make explicit a phrase such as “of the Jews,” be sure that it does not imply that Jesus was not a Jew.
If the word synagogue is already known in your area, you may write it according to the sounds of your language. You may want to include a word or phrase to explain the meaning. For example:
sinagog house/building
Consider using a footnote that contains some of the information above.
See how you have translated the word synagogue elsewhere. The first time it occurs in Luke is at 4:15. See also synagogue in the Glossary for more information.
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