get behind me

The Greek that is translated as “get behind me” in English is rendered in Gumuz as “go away from my face.”

Satan

The Greek, Hebrew and Ge’ez that is often transliterated in English as “Satan” is transliterated in Kipsigis as “Setani.” This is interesting because it is not only a transliteration that approximates the Greek sound but it is also an existing Kipsigis word with the meaning of “ugly” and “sneaking.” (Source: Earl Anderson in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 85ff. )

In Morelos Nahuatl it is translated as “envious one” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.) and in Tibetan: bdud (བདུད།), lit. “chief devil” (except in Rev. 20:2, where it is transliterated) (source: gSungrab website ).

See also devil.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Satan .

get behind me Satan

The Greek that is translated as “get behind me, Satan” or similar in English is translated in Highland Oaxaca Chontal as “Go away! Your word is like the word of Satan” and in Tzotzil as “Get away from me, you who are acting like Satan.” (Source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)

Peter

Following is a Armenian Orthodox icon of Peter (found in the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shusha, Azerbaijan).

Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )

Following is a hand colored stencil print on momigami of Peter by Sadao Watanabe (1970):

Image taken with permission from the SadaoHanga Catalogue where you can find many more images and information about Sadao Watanabe. For other images of Sadao Watanabe art works in TIPs, see here.

In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “key” (referring to Matthew 16:19). (Source: Tarja Sandholm)


“Peter” or “Cephas” in Finnish Sign Language (source )

In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with the sign for “rock,” referring to the meaning of the Greek word for “Peter.”


“Peter” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

See also Peter – rock.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Peter .

complete verse (Matthew 16:23)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 16:23:

  • Uma: “Yesus turning suddenly said to Petrus: ‘Go away, tempter! Do you (sing.) want to block me, so that I do not follow the will of my Father? Those thoughts of yours(s) are the thoughts of man, not the thoughts of God.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But Isa faced him and said to Petros, ‘Leave from me, Demon. You are tempting me (to do) the bad, for your thoughts are thoughts from mankind/human only not from God.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus faced Peter and said, ‘Get away from here, you who are like Satan. You hinder me because what God wants is not in your mind, rather, what’s in your mind is what a person wants!'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Jesus turned-to-face him and said, ‘You (sing.) leave here, Satanas! You (sing.) are distracting-me! Because what you (sing.) are thinking, it is not what God wants/likes but rather what people want.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But Jesus faced him and said, ‘Go far from me. As long as you speak like Satanas, you are just in my way. What is in your mind/thinking is not the will of God, but on the contrary only that of man.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But Jesus turned and said to Peter: ‘Depart from me, you are a worker for the devil. Because you try to hinder me. It is not the plan of God which is in your heart to happen. Rather it is only the word of people which comes to your heart to happen.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

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”.

Honorary "are" construct denoting God ("say")

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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )