save

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The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as a form of “save” in English is translated in Shipibo-Conibo with a phrase that means literally “make to live,” which combines the meaning of “to rescue” and “to deliver from danger,” but also the concept of “to heal” or “restore to health.”

Other translations include:

  • San Blas Kuna: “help the heart”
  • Laka: “take by the hand” in the meaning of “rescue” or “deliver”
  • Huautla Mazatec: “lift out on behalf of”
  • Anuak: “have life because of”
  • Central Mazahua: “be healed in the heart”
  • Baoulé: “save one’s head”
  • Guerrero Amuzgo: “come out well”
  • Northwestern Dinka: “be helped as to his breath” (or “life”) (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida),
  • Matumbi: “rescue (from danger)” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Noongar: barrang-ngandabat or “hold life” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • South Bolivian Quechua: “make to escape”
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl: “cause people to come out with the aid of the hand” (source for this and one above: Nida 1947, p. 222)
  • Bariai: “retrieve one back” (source: Bariai Back Translation)

See also salvation and save (Japanese honorifics).

complete verse (Matthew 16:25)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 16:25:

  • Uma: “Whoever clings-to/insists-on his own desires, he will not receive good life. But whoever lets go of his own desires because of his following Me, even if it means his death, he will receive good life.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “For,’ said Isa, ‘if a person values his life he has no everlasting life. But if a person does not value his life and submits yet to dying because he steadfastly follows me, na that person has life forever.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For if there is a person who gets his heart on his life, he will die just the same. But if there is a person who follows me, even if it’s the death of him, God will return to him his life, and he will never again die forever.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because the one who esteems/considers-important himself, he will die just the same, but the one who dies on account of his faith in me, there is life that has no end that God will give him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For the one who really values his life, it will indeed be lost to him. But the one who holds fast to me even though it may cause his life/breath to be severed, life which is far-from-ordinary really will be his.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The person who separates from me because he is afraid to be killed, is the person who will lose his soul. But the person who does not turn back from believing in me even though he is killed because of me, is the person who will save his soul.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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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”.

Translation commentary on Matthew 16:25

This verse is very similar to 10.39, and translators are referred to that discussion.

Would save his life is translated “wants to save his life” by Moffatt, Phillips, and New Jerusalem Bible. New English Bible translates “cares for his own safety,” and Barclay “keep his life safe.” An American Translation renders “preserve his own life.” The word which appears as life in so many translations actually has “soul” as its first meaning. But all scholars agree that here it is used of the total person, without an assumed distinction between “life” and “soul.” Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, which translates “life,” has a footnote stating that both Hebrew and biblical Greek frequently use this noun as an equivalent of the pronouns “I,” “you,” and “he” or “she.” Moreover, in the Lukan parallel (9.25) to this verse, the pronoun “himself” is used in place of life.

Some translations of would save his life have the idea “wants to keep on living (forever).” This is probably not the best rendering. “Wants to keep his life safe” or “considers his life of greatest importance” are better.

Similarly, it is probably better not to render loses his life to mean “if someone dies” or, worse, “commits suicide,” although it can be understood as a reference to martyrdom. Expressions of self-denial such as “is prepared to lose his life” (Barclay) or “considers his own life as unimportant in order to become my disciple” are better.

Will lose it and will find it are normally expressed as “will not (or, will) have true life” or “will not (or, will) have (the) life that doesn’t end.”

For my sake may be clear in the context, but if not, “to become my follower” or “because he is my disciple” are possible.

The combination of the verbs would save … will lose … loses … will find raises some questions regarding the time perspective of this saying; that is, should it be taken in relation to the disciple’s life in the world here and now, or does it point toward life after death? In all probability the saying includes both perspectives; a footnote in New Jerusalem Bible describes the saying as a “paradox” because it oscillates “between two senses of human ‘life’: its present stage and its future….” The verse may then be translated “Whoever considers his own life to be of supreme importance will never experience true life. But whoever denies the importance of his own life in order to become my follower will experience true life.” In place of “true life” it is possible to use “eternal life.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Matthew 16:25



16:25

This verse is similar to Luke 9:24, Luke 17:33, and Matthew 10:39. If you have already translated any of these verses, you may want to look there for ideas in translating this verse.

This verse is a paradox. A paradox is something that seems to disagree with itself. It is not usually possible to save something by losing it.

In this verse Jesus talked about two different types of “life.” One type is “physical life.” It is our life on earth that is filled with our wants and desires. This life ends with the death of the physical body. The other type of life is “spiritual life.” It is eternal life that God gives to his people. Jesus said that if we want to keep our physical life, we will lose our chance for eternal life. But the opposite is true if we are willing to risk our physical life in order to follow him. If we are willing to do that, we will have the chance to receive eternal life.

16:25a

For: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as For introduces the basis for what Jesus said in 16:24.

Here are some other ways to translate this conjunction:

Because
-or-
The reason ⌊I say this is⌋

Some English versions do not translate this conjunction. In some languages, it will not be necessary to translate this conjunction either.

whoever wants to save his life: This clause refers to a person who wants to keep his life on earth. He wants to avoid physical death. He is not willing to deny himself and suffer for Jesus (16:24). Instead, he wants to save or preserve his own way of life.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

Those who want to save their lives (New Century Version)
-or-
if you want to save your own life (Good News Translation)

In some languages it may be necessary to translate life as a verb. For example:

whoever tries/seeks to continue living

whoever: Jesus was speaking to the disciples who were with him. But he talked about people everywhere at any time. Translate this in a way to include any person.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

a person who
-or-
people/anyone who
-or-
if you

will lose it: This phrase refers to losing true life, that is, life with God that lasts forever. The person will not experience that life either here on earth or in heaven after he dies. He will finally lose his physical life because no one can live forever. He will also lose the chance to gain true life with God.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

will not get true life
-or-
will not receive eternal life

In some languages, a literal translation of lose may imply that a person misplaces something and cannot find it. It may also imply that a person who already has eternal life will lose it. Be careful that you do not imply either of those things.

16:25b

whoever loses his life for My sake: This clause refers to the person who is willing to suffer and die because of Jesus. This person gives up his right to follow his own desires in order to follow Jesus. Some of these people will even die because they believe in Jesus.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

whoever lets go of his life for me
-or-
if a person dies because of me
-or-
a person who does not love his own life because ⌊he follows⌋ me

will find it: The pronoun it refers to a person’s eternal life with God. The person who gives up his earthly life for Jesus will not experience spiritual death. He will gain true life with God in this world and in heaven.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

will find true life (New Living Translation (1996))
-or-
will gain/experience ⌊eternal⌋ life

-or-

will have true life (New Century Version)

Here, the word find does not imply that something was lost. In this context it means to get or receive something.

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