sporting analogies

In the Kahua translation sporting analogies are avoided because they imply that winning involves putting other people down.

forget

The Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “forget” in English is translated in Noongar as dwangka-anbangbat, lit. “ear-lose.” (Source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).

See also remember and forget (Japanese honorifics).

complete verse (Philippians 3:13)

Following are a number of back-translations of Philippians 3:13:

  • Uma: “Relatives all, I admit that I am not yet holy with no sin. But [there is] one thing I do: I forget all that I have turned my back on, and I exert-effort to strive/aim-for that which I face. I am like a person who is racing: I do not look-back-at what is behind me, I keep running striving/aiming-for what I am heading-toward. I exert-effort to follow the will of God, so that I will get the victory reward that he will give me in heaven–for that is why he called me to be connected with Kristus Yesus.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “It is true, my brothers, I have not yet reached this my goal/what I am aiming for, but I no longer think of what has happened to me/what I have experienced. That is only what I think of now, to really strive so that all that God wishes/wills for me in the future will be mine.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “I know, brothers, that these things have not yet been fulfilled in me; but I remove from my mind the things that I have already accomplished and am doing my utmost so that I may get all that God wants me to get in the future.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Siblings, it’s admittedly true that I have not yet attained this, but what I am doing now, I am not thinking-about what I did previously but rather I concentrate my thoughts on the not-yet fulfilled plan of God for me.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “My siblings in believing, I’m not saying that I’ve reached the point where my obeying is now mature/complete. But what I do now is that I am not always turning-to-look-backward at the things done by me in the past, but rather it’s toward the future that my look is, and it’s toward where I am going that I exert myself.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Listen brothers, I don’t want to say that now I am walking in all that is good. But there is just one word that I must do now. That which has passed, I have left. In the coming days, I am going to endeavor to do what I must do.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

brother (fellow believer)

The Greek that is translated in English as “brother” or “brother and sister” (in the sense of fellow believers), is translated with a specifically coined word in Kachin: “There are two terms for brother in Kachin. One is used to refer to a Christian brother. This term combines ‘older and younger brother.’ The other term is used specifically for addressing siblings. When one uses this term, one must specify if the older or younger person is involved. A parallel system exists for ‘sister’ as well. In [these verses], the term for ‘a Christian brother’ is used.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae)

In Matumbi is is translated as alongo aumini or “relative-believer.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)

In Martu Wangka it is translated as “relative” (this is also the term that is used for “follower.”) (Source: Carl Gross)

In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is often translated as Mitchristen or “fellow Christians.”

See also brothers.

Translation commentary on Philippians 3:13

In this verse Paul repeats and expands what he has said in the preceding verse. He says literally “Brothers, I do not count myself to have grasped.” “I myself” is emphatic in Greek, with the force of “I on my part” or, as Good News Translation renders it, of course … I really. The phrase of course may be rendered in some instances as “you may be sure,” while my brothers, or “my fellow believers,” must in some languages be placed at the beginning of the verse

The verb rendered think often occurs in a commercial context, meaning essentially “to calculate.” It is a favorite Pauline term and is often used in the sense of carefully weighing the point under consideration; thus it can mean “reckon” (New English Bible) or “consider” (Revised Standard Version Phillips). The compound verb discussed under verse 12, where it is used twice, is here used for the third time. The perfect infinitive form, which appears here without an object, is translated as I have already won it. The object it, supplied translationally, obviously refers to the prize (Bible en français courant “have won the prize”).

Paul proceeds with an elliptical but forceful statement, literally “but one thing.” Several attempts have been made to bring out the exact force of this expression. Some supply the idea of thinking (Moffatt “my one thought is”); others of speaking (New English Bible “all I can say is this”; cf. Jerusalem Bible). However, the context seems to indicate that one thing refers to what follows, which is a matter of doing. Accordingly, the force and sense of this expression is perhaps best rendered as “but one thing I do” (American Standard Version), or, more forcefully, the one thing I do, however (Good News Translation).

Paul uses the pictorial images of a race to describe the single-mindedness of his purpose. Is to forget what is behind me is in Greek a present participial phrase. The present participle signifies that his forgetting is a continuous action: “keep forgetting.” What is behind me could be a reference to his life in Judaism, but more probably it includes his achievements as a Christian. The runner has lost when he turns back to see what is behind him. To translate to forget what is behind me in a strictly literal fashion is to risk the introduction of a wrong connotation, since this might imply that Paul wished to forget even the mistakes he had made. In this context it may be preferable to translate to forget as “to pay no attention to” or “to refuse to be concerned about.” In reality Paul was not trying to forget; he simply refused to be concerned about what was behind him.

Do my best to reach what is ahead translates another participial phrase, literally “stretching forward to the things that are before.” The participle is a double prepositional compound which pictures the runner with his eyes fixed on the goal, his hand stretching out to it, and his body bent toward it. It is a graphic description of the runner’s intense desire and utmost effort to reach the goal (Barclay “to strain every nerve to reach”). It may be difficult to speak of what is ahead without being more specific, for example, “the goal which is ahead,” or “the end of the race which is ahead.” Thus the figurative expression of running introduced in verse 14 is anticipated. It is also possible to use a more general expression, for example, “to accomplish what I must do in the future.”

Quoted with permission from Luo, I-Jin. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .