possessed by a demon

The Greek that is translated as “possessed by a demon” in English is translated in Matumbi in two ways. Either as mundu mwene moka / “having a demon” or bandu babalobi moka / “being drunk with a demon.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)

See also demon.

complete verse (Matthew 8:33)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 8:33:

  • Uma: “When the people who tended those pigs saw what happened to their pigs and what happened to those people who were possessed, off they ran into the village announcing what had happened.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then the people who cared for the pigs ran to the town and told the people there about what Isa had done to the demon possessed people.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And there were some people who were taking care of those pigs; they went running to the town. And they told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed men and the pigs.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “As-for the ones-watching-over the pigs, they immediately-ran to their town and reported all these (happenings) to their townmates, including what was done to the men that the evil-spirits possessed.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “The herdsmen of those pigs ran home to the town. On their arriving there, they told everyone that happening, including what had become of those two possessed by evil spirits.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Those who had taken care of the pigs were frightened when they saw what had happened. In a run they went to the town in order to tell what had happened. They told what had happened with the pigs and told what had happened with the men who had walked with the evil spirits.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

demon

The Greek that is typically translated/transliterated in English as “demon” is translated by other languages in the following ways:

  • Central Mazahua: “the evil spirit(s) of the devil” (source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.)
  • Kupsabiny: “bad spirit(s)” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “bad bush-spirit(s)” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Hausa: “unclean spirit” (see note below) (source: Hausa Common Language Back Translation)
  • Mandarin Chinese: “dirty spirit” (污灵 / wūlíng) (Protestant); “evil spirit/demon” （邪鬼 / xiéguǐ) (Catholic) (source: Zetzsche)
  • Sissala: kaŋtɔŋ, which traditionally referred to “either a spirit of natural phenomena such as trees, rivers, stones, etc., or the spirit of a deceased person that has not been taken into the realm of the dead. Kaŋtɔŋ can be good or evil. Evil kaŋtɔŋ can bring much harm to people and are feared accordingly. A kaŋtɔŋ can also dwell in a person living on this earth. A person possessed by kaŋtɔŋ does not behave normally.” (Source: Regina Blass in Holzhausen 1991, p. 48f.)
  • Umiray Dumaget Agta: hayup or “creature, animal, general term for any non-human creature, whether natural or supernatural.” Thomas Headland (in: Notes on Translation, September 1971, p. 17ff.) explains some more: “There are several types of supernatural creatures, or spirit beings which are designated by the generic term hayup. Just as we have several terms in English for various spirit beings (elves, fairies, goblins, demons, imps, pixies) so have the Dumagats. And just as you will find vast disagreement and vagueness among English informants as to the differences between pixies and imps, etc., so you will find that no two Dumagats will agree as to the form and function of their different spirit beings.” This term can also be used in a verb form: hayupen: “creatured” or “to be killed, made sick, or crazy by a spirit.”
  • Yala: yapri̍ija ɔdwɔ̄bi̍ or “bad Yaprija.” Yaprijas are traditional spirits that have a range presumed activities including giving or withholding gifts, giving and protecting children, causing death and disease and rewarding good behavior. (Source: Eugene Bunkowske in Notes on Translation 78/1980, p. 36ff.)
  • Lamnso’: aànyùyi jívirì: “lesser gods who disturb, bother, pester, or confuse a person.” (Source: Fanwong 2013, p. 93)
  • Paasaal: gyɩŋbɔmɔ, “beings that are in the wild and can only be seen when they choose to reveal themselves to certain people. They can ‘capture’ humans and keep them in hiding while they train the person in herbalism and divination. After the training period, which can range from a week to many years, the ‘captured’ individual is released to go back into society as a healer and a diviner. The gyɩŋbɔmɔ can also be evil, striking humans with mental diseases and causing individuals to get lost in the wild. The Pasaale worldview about demons is like that of others of the language groups in the area, including the Northern Dagara [who use kɔ̃tɔmɛ with a similar meaning].” (Source: Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)

In the still widely-used 1908 Tswana (also: Setswana) translation (by Robert Moffat, revised by Alfred Wookey), the term badino or “ancestor spirit” is used for “demon,” even though in the traditional understanding there is nothing inherently negative associated with that term. Musa Dube (in: Journal of Society of New Testament 73, 1999, p. 33ff. ) describes this as an example of “engaging in the colonization of the minds of natives and for advancing European imperial spaces. The death and burial of Setswana culture here was primarily championed through the colonization of their language such that it no longer served the interests of the original speakers. Instead the written form of language had equated their cultural beliefs with evil spirits, demons and wizardry. This colonization of Setswana was in itself the planting of a colonial cultural bomb, meant to clear the ground for the implantation of a worldwide Christian commonwealth and European consciousness. It was a minefield that marked Setswana cultural spaces as dangerous death zones, to be avoided by every intelligent Motswana reader or hearer of the translated text.”

In Kachin, the term Nat (or nat) us used for “demon” (as well as “devil” and “unclean/evil spirit“). Like in Tswana, the meaning of Nat is not inherently negative but can be positive in the traditional Nat worship as well. Naw Din Dumdaw (in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 94ff.) argues that “the demonization of Nat created a social conflict between Kachin Christians and Kachin non-Christians. Kachin converts began to perceive their fellow Kachins who were still worshipping Nats as demonic and they wanted to distance themselves from them. Likewise, the Nat-worshiping Kachin community perceived the Kachin converts as betrayers and enemies of their own cultural heritage. (…) The demonization of the word Nat was not only the demonization of the pre-Christian religion but also the demonization of the cultural heritage of the Kachin people. When the word Nat is perceived as demonic, it creates an existential dilemma for Kachin Christians. It distances them from their cultural traditions.”

Note that often the words for “demon” and “unclean spirit / evil spirit” are being used interchangeably.

See also devil and formal pronoun: demons or Satan addressing Jesus.

Translation commentary on Matthew 8:33

Herdsmen (one word in Greek) is translated by a descriptive clause in Good News Translation: “men who had been taking care of the pigs.” The difficulty is that of finding a technical term of the proper level for “men who take care of pigs.” Both Jerusalem Bible and New American Bible render “swineherds,” but this can possibly be taken to mean “herds of swine” at first reading. New English Bible renders “men in charge of them.” Most translations will do something similar to Good News Bible.

Fled (Good News Translation “ran away”) is rendered idiomatically as “took to their heels” by New English Bible and New American Bible. Barclay effectively translates this part of the verse as one concise sentence, “The herdsmen fled.”

Few languages will use a participle like going, but will say instead “they went.”

Instead of city, “town” is a more accurate reflection of the size of Gadara, for those languages that do distinguish between the two words.

Everything, and what had happened to the demoniacs is a rather odd structure in Greek, which is literally “everything and the things of the demon-possessed men.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders “what they had experienced, and how the two demon-possessed men had been healed.” Everything can also be “everything that had taken place.”

The demoniacs are “the men who had been possessed by the evil spirits.” Note that they no longer were possessed, since these spirits had been expelled.

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 .