serve

The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated in English as “serve,” “minister,” “walk with,” or “service” is translated in Igede as myị ẹrụ or “agree with message (of the one you’re serving).” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

In Quetzaltepec Mixe, “serve” is translated as “obey.” (Source: Robert Bascom)

fat, oil

The different Hebrew and Greek terms that are translated as “(olive) oil” and “(animal) fat” in English are translated in Kwere with only one term: mavuta. (Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

complete verse (Matthew 26:12)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 26:12:

  • Uma: “She poured this oil on me to prepare my body ahead-of-time for when I will be buried [lit., for my-being-buried later].” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “She poured this fragrant oil out on my body to prepare me for when I am buried.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “She perfumed me so that my body might be prepared for my burial.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “She poured-out this perfume on me so that she would prepare my body for my burial.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For she has already poured perfume on my body as if preparing it already for my burial.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Concerning this oil the woman poured on my head, thus has happened what should happen when I am buried.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

formal pronoun: Jesus addressing his disciples and common people

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 Translator 2002, 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, Jesus is addressing his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.

In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.

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 26:12

In pouring … she is translated “What she did was to pour” by Good News Translation. But both renderings result in rather difficult sentence constructions for English speakers. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates the verse as follows: “She poured this perfume on my body in order to prepare it for burial.” Another possible translation is “When she poured this perfume on my body she was preparing it (or, me) for burial.” Jesus is not saying the woman knew he was going to die and be buried. But he had already spoken of his death to his disciples in verse 2, and quite naturally he applies what the woman does to that concern.

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 .