sin

The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is typically translated as “sin” in English has a wide variety of translations.

The Greek ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō) carries the original verbatim meaning of “miss the mark” and likewise, many translations contain the “connotation of moral responsibility.”

  • Loma: “leaving the road” (which “implies a definite standard, the transgression of which is sin”)
  • Navajo (Dinė): “that which is off to the side” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: kasalan, originally meaning “transgression of a religious or moral rule” and in the context of the Bible “transgression of God’s commandments” (source: H. van der Veen in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 21ff. )
  • Kaingang: “break God’s word”
  • Bariai: “bad behavior” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Sandawe: “miss the mark” (like the original meaning of the Greek term) (source for this and above: Ursula Wiesemann in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 36ff., 43)
  • Nias: horö, originally a term primarily used for sexual sin. (Source: Hummel / Telaumbanua 2007, p. 256)
  • Mauwake: “heavy” (compare forgiveness as “take away one’s heaviness”) (source: Kwan Poh San in this article )

In Shipibo-Conibo the term is hocha. Nida (1952, p. 149) tells the story of its choosing: “In some instances a native expression for sin includes many connotations, and its full meaning must be completely understood before one ever attempts to use it. This was true, for example, of the term hocha first proposed by Shipibo-Conibo natives as an equivalent for ‘sin.’ The term seemed quite all right until one day the translator heard a girl say after having broken a little pottery jar that she was guilty of ‘hocha.’ Breaking such a little jar scarcely seemed to be sin. However, the Shipibos insisted that hocha was really sin, and they explained more fully the meaning of the word. It could be used of breaking a jar, but only if the jar belonged to someone else. Hocha was nothing more nor less than destroying the possessions of another, but the meaning did not stop with purely material possessions. In their belief God owns the world and all that is in it. Anyone who destroys the work and plan of God is guilty of hocha. Hence the murderer is of all men most guilty of hocha, for he has destroyed God’s most important possession in the world, namely, man. Any destructive and malevolent spirit is hocha, for it is antagonistic and harmful to God’s creation. Rather than being a feeble word for some accidental event, this word for sin turned out to be exceedingly rich in meaning and laid a foundation for the full presentation of the redemptive act of God.”

In Warao it is translated as “bad obojona.” Obojona is a term that “includes the concepts of consciousness, will, attitude, attention and a few other miscellaneous notions.” (Source: Henry Osborn in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 74ff. ). See other occurrences of Obojona in the Warao New Testament.

Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the Danish Bibelen 2020, comments on the translation of this term: “We would explain terms, such that e.g. sin often became ‘doing what God does not want’ or ‘breaking God’s law’, ‘letting God down’, ‘disrespecting God’, ‘doing evil’, ‘acting stupidly’, ‘becoming guilty’. Now why couldn’t we just use the word sin? Well, sin in contemporary Danish, outside of the church, is mostly used about things such as delicious but unhealthy foods. Exquisite cakes and chocolates are what a sin is today.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )

See also sinner.

complete verse (Numbers 15:27)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 15:27:

  • Kupsabiny: “If a single person has sinned unknowingly, he needs to give a female goat of one year for that to become a gift which sweeps away sin.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “If any person do a wrong deed unintentionally, he must offer a one-year-old female goat for a purification offering.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘But if only one man/person has-sinned which (is) not intentional, he/she is-to-bring one female goat which (is) one year old as offering for becoming-clean.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “If one person commits a sin without realizing that he was sinning, that person must bring to me a female goat to be an offering to enable me to forgive that person for the sins that person has committed.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

goat

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “goat” in English is translated in Cherokee as ahwi dinihanulvhi or “bearded deer.” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 18)

Translation commentary on Numbers 15:27 - 15:28

Shifting from the unintentional offenses of the entire community (verses 22-26), the LORD’s instructions now shift in parallel fashion to those cases involving individuals (verses 27-29).

If one person sins unwittingly …: This clause begins with the Hebrew waw conjunction, which both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation omit. As in verse 22, it introduces a new subsection, so it may be rendered “Now” or deleted. New International Version and New International Readers Version render this conjunction “But,” which we do not recommend since it does not introduce a contrast here. The person who sins unintentionally can be male or female. The Hebrew word for person is nefesh, which is a feminine noun, but the Hebrew pronouns for him and he at the end of verse 28 are masculine. However, if a choice must be made in the language, then the masculine form should be used since a man would be the most likely offender in such cases. If the expression sins unwittingly sounds like a contradiction in the language, then the term for “err” that was used in verse 22 may be used here as well. For unwittingly see verse 24.

He shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering: The sin offering for an unintentional offense of the whole community is “one male goat” (verse 24), but for the error of an individual it is a female goat a year old.

And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for the person who commits an error, when he sins unwittingly, to make atonement for him; and he shall be forgiven: See verse 25. Good News Translation renders before the LORD as “At the altar.” Verse 28 repeats the ideas of “making atonement” and “sinning inadvertently” to emphasize them. Good News Translation removes both occurrences of the “unintentional” nature of the sin here. But the repetition emphasizes the non-wilful nature of the offense, so we recommend keeping at least one instance of this notion. If such repetition is kept in translation, it may sound especially effective when the text is read aloud. New International Readers Version provides a model here that keeps the repetition as follows:

• With it [that is, the sin offering] the priest will pay for the person’s sin in the sight of the LORD. He will do it for the one who did wrong by sinning without meaning to. When the sin is paid for, that person will be forgiven.

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .