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 26:73)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 26:73:

  • Uma: “Not long after that, the people standing there approached Petrus, they said to him: ‘You (sing.) are too one of his companions! It’s knowable from your (sing.) accent that you (sing.) are a Galilea person.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Not long after the people standing there went to Petros and said to him, ‘You cannot deny/argue that you are not their companion, for your speech is the speech of the people of Jalil.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And a little while after that, some of the people who were gathered there, they came over to Peter. They said, ‘It is true that you are also his companion. We can tell because of your language.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “A little later, those standing there went to him and they said, ‘It is definitely true that you (sing.) are one of them, because we (excl.) are able-to-identify the intonation/accent of your (sing.) speech!'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Before long, Pedro was approached by the people who were there. They said, ‘You were indeed with them! It’s known in your speech that you are a taga Galilea.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “After a little while, the men there approached Peter and said to him: ‘Truly you walked with Jesus, because it is seen that you are fellow countrymen, it is heard in how you talk.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

3rd person pronoun with high register (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 third person singular and plural pronoun (“he,” “she,” “it” and their various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. While it’s not uncommon to avoid pronouns altogether in Japanese, there are is a range of third person pronouns that can be used.

In these verses a number of them are used that pay particularly much respect to the referred person (or, in fact, God, as in Exodus 15:2), including kono kata (この方), sono kata (その方), and ano kata (あの方), meaning “this person,” “that person,” and “that person over there.” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also third person pronoun with exalted register.

Translation commentary on Matthew 26:73

Came up (Good News Translation “came to Peter”) may need to be translated “walked over to where Peter was” or “came closer to Peter.” The translation should not imply that the men approached from a long distance.

Are … one of them (so also Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, Barclay) is translated “belonged to them” by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch. It is also possible to translate “are one of the ones who was with Jesus of Nazareth” or “are one of the ones who was with that man.”

Your accent betrays you is translated “your accent gives you away” by New English Bible. “Your Galilean accent makes it obvious” (Barclay) clarifies what is meant by accent or “the way you speak” (Good News Translation). The clause may need to be turned around: “We can tell from your accent.”

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 .