truth

Nida (1947, p. 230) says this about the translation of the concept of “truth”: “The words for ‘truth’ and ‘true’ are not always the most readily discovered in aboriginal languages. In some instances the only expression which corresponds to ‘true’ is something like ‘it happened.’ A falsehood is something that ‘did not happen.’ In a good many languages the meaning of ‘truth’ is expressed by the words signifying ‘straight’ and ‘direct.’ Untruth is accordingly ‘crookedness.’ An abstract noun such as English “truth” is quite difficult to find in some instances. Only an expression such as ‘true statement’ or ‘true word’ will be found to correspond to English ‘truth.’”

The Greek, Latin, Ge’ez, and Hebrew that is usually translated in English as “truth” is translated in Luchazi with vusunga: “the quality of being straight” (source: E. Pearson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 160ff. ), in Obolo as atikọ or “good/correct talk” (source: Enene Enene), and in Ekari as maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (esp. in John 14:6 and 17; bokouto — “enormous” — is being used as an attribute for abstract nouns to denote that they are of God [see also here]; source: Marion Doble in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 37ff. ).

Helen Evans (in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) tells of the translation into Kui which usually is “true-thing.” In some instances however, such as in the second part of John 17:17 (“your word is truth” in English), the use of “true-thing” indicated that there might be other occasions when it’s not true, so here the translation was a a form of “pure, holy.”

The translation committee of the Malay “Good News Bible” (Alkitab Berita Baik, see here ) wrestled with the translation of “truth” in the Gospel of John:

“Our Malay Committee also concluded that ‘truth’ as used in the Gospel of John was used either of God himself, or of God’s revelation of himself, or in an extended sense as a reference to those who had responded to God’s self-disclosure. In John 8:32 the New Malay translation reads ‘You will know the truth about God, and the truth about God will make you free.’ In John 8:44 this meaning is brought out by translating, ‘He has never been on the side of God, because there is no truth in him.’ Accordingly Jesus ‘tells the truth about God’ in 8:45, 46 (see also 16:7 and 8:37a). Then, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’ (John 14:6) becomes ‘I am the one who leads men to God, the one who reveals who and what God is, and the one who gives men life.” At 3:21 the translation reads ” … whoever obeys the truth, that is God himself, comes to the light …’; 16:13a appears as ‘he will lead you into the full truth about God’; and in 18:37 Jesus affirms ‘I came into the world to reveal the truth about God, and whoever obeys God listens to me.’ On this basis also 1:14 was translated ‘we saw his glory, the glory which he had as the Father’s only Son. Through him God has completely revealed himself (truth) and his love for us (grace)’; and 1:17 appears as ‘God gave the law through Moses; but through Jesus Christ he has completely revealed himself (truth) and his love for us (grace).'” (Source: Barclay Newman in The Bible Translator 1974, p. 432ff. )

The German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) has followed a somewhat similar path to the Malay committee 50 years earlier in the gospel of John. In John 1 it translates “truth as “God’s nature,” in John 3 as “God’s will,” in John 8 as “God’s reality,” in John 14 as “encountering God,” and in John 16 as “God’s truth.”

complete verse (Psalm 15:2)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 15:2:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “A person of good morals,
    who does righteous (things),
    who speaks the truth that comes from his heart,” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “The person who will be able [is] one who is living without guilt
    and who does only good.
    and who speaks the truth from his inmost heart,” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “The answer of the LORD, ‘The person who lives without blame and does what (is) righteous.
    He/she speaks with truth and sincerity.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Eastern Bru:
    “God responds like this: He who lives all his life, but doesn’t have any sin at all. And he that does straight good things always. And he who speaks the truth from his always steadfast heart.” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “A man who stays without sin,
    a person who does works which are right
    and he speaks matter which is true that comes from his heart,” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Ni mtu ambaye anatembea bila kadoa kokoote,
    ambaye anafanya ya unyofu,
    ambaye anasema ya ukweli,” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “Only those who always do what is right and do not sin may do that.
    They always say what is true” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Psalm 15:2

The conditions for entering the Temple and worshiping there are given by the priests (verses 2-5b). These conditions are all moral and spiritual, not ritual and ceremonial; they have to do with character and conduct.

In translation it will often be necessary to indicate that verses 2-5 are the responses to the question asked in verse 1. This may be done by making the question element more explicit in verse 1; for example, “LORD, I inquire from you, who are the persons who can enter your Temple to worship you?” Verse 2 may then contain an explicit response marker; for example, “The LORD answers…” or “The answer is….”

(1) A worshiper must “walk perfectly” and “do justice.” Both phrases describe conduct. For walks as way of life, see comments on 1.1. In languages where walks indicates behavior, the translator is encouraged to keep the idiom if possible. However, in some languages another idiom can be used; for example, “The person who follows a straight path” or “The person who poles his canoe in clear waters.”

The word translated blamelessly is related to the word “perfection” in 9.6. New Jerusalem Bible has “whoever lives blamelessly.” To be “blameless” is to obey the commands of God in everything (see Anderson).

For comments on right see 4.1.

(2) The next qualification has to do with speech: speaks truth from his heart. The word translated truth (ʾemeth) comes from a root meaning “to be firm, reliable, trustworthy.” The phrase from his heart may be taken to indicate sincerity (so Good News Translation; see Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “speak the truth with all his heart”); but see New Jerusalem Bible “in his heart acknowledges the truth.” “Whose words are true” is said in some languages as “he who speaks with one mouth,” and in others, “he whose words are straight.” Many languages use expressions based on the heart; for example, “he who speaks from a white heart.” Good News Translation “true and sincere” is an attempt to include the element from his heart. Another way is “with his whole heart he speaks the truth” (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “he insists on thinking and speaking only the truth” (see also Bible en français courant).

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Psalm 15: Layer by Layer

The following are presentations by the Psalms: Layer by Layer project, run by Scriptura . The first is an overview, the second an introduction into the poetry, and the third an introduction into the exegesis of Psalm 15.


Copyright © Scriptura


Copyright © Scriptura


Copyright © Scriptura

Psalm 15 as classical Chinese poetry

John Wu Ching-hsiung (1899-1986) was a native of Ningbo, Zhejiang, a renowned jurist who studied in Europe and the United States, and served as a professor of law at Soochow University, as a judge and the Acting President of the Shanghai Provisional Court, and as the Vice President of the Commission for the Drafting of the Constitution of the Republic of China, before becoming the Minister of the Republic of China to the Holy See. Wu has written extensively, not only on law but also on Chinese philosophy, and has also written his autobiography, Beyond East and West, in English. Wu was a devout Catholic and had a personal relationship with Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975). Wu began translating the the Psalms in 1938, and was encouraged by Chiang to translate the entire New Testament, which he corrected in his own handwriting. (…) John Wu Ching-hsiung’s translation of the Psalms (first draft in 1946, revised in 1975) was translated into Literary Chinese in the form of poetic rhyme, with attention paid to the style of writing. According to the content and mood of the different chapters of the original psalm, Wu chose Chinese poetic forms such as tetrameter, pentameter, heptameter [4, 5 or 7 syllables/Chinese characters per stanza], and the [less formal] Sao style, and sometimes more than two poetic forms were used in a single poem. (Source: Simon Wong)

John Wu Ching-hsiung himself talks about his celebrated and much-admired (though difficult-to-understand) translation in his aforementioned autobiography: (Click or tap here to see)

“Nothing could have been farther from my mind than to translate the Bible or any parts of it with a view to publishing it as an authorized version. I had rendered some of the Psalms into Chinese verse, but that was done as a part of my private devotion and as a literary hobby. When I was in Hongkong in 1938, I had come to know Madame H. H. Kung [Soong Ai-ling], and as she was deeply interested in the Bible, I gave her about a dozen pieces of my amateurish work just for her own enjoyment. What was my surprise when, the next time I saw her, she told me, “My sister [Soong Mei-ling] has written to say that the Generalissimo [Chiang Kai-shek] likes your translation of the Psalms very much, especially the first, the fifteenth, and the twenty-third, the Psalm of the Good Shepherd!”

“In the Autumn of 1940, when I was in Chungking, the Generalissimo invited me several times to lunch with him and expressed his appreciation of the few pieces that he had read. So I sent him some more. A few days later I received a letter from Madame Chiang [Soong Mei-ling], dated September 21, 1940, in which she said that they both liked my translation of the few Psalms I had sent them. ‘For many years,’ she wrote, ‘the Generalissimo has been wanting to have a really adequate and readable Wen-li (literary) translation of the Bible. He has never been able to find anyone who could undertake the matter.’ The letter ends up by saying that I should take up the job and that ‘the Generalissimo would gladly finance the undertaking of this work.’

“After some preliminary study of the commentaries, I started my work with the Psalms on January 6, 1943, the Feast of the Epiphany.

“I had three thousand years of Chinese literature to draw upon. The Chinese vocabulary for describing the beauties of nature is so rich that I seldom failed to find a word, a phrase, and sometimes even a whole line to fit the scene. But what makes such Psalms so unique is that they bring an intimate knowledge of the Creator to bear upon a loving observation of things of nature. I think one of the reasons why my translation is so well received by the Chinese scholars is that I have made the Psalms read like native poems written by a Chinese, who happens to be a Christian. Thus to my countrymen they are at once familiar and new — not so familiar as to be jejune, and not so new as to be bizarre. I did not publish it as a literal translation, but only as a paraphrase.

“To my greatest surprise, [my translation of the Psalms] sold like hot dogs. The popularity of that work was beyond my fondest dreams. Numberless papers and periodicals, irrespective of religion, published reviews too good to be true. I was very much tickled when I saw the opening verse of the first Psalm used as a headline on the front page of one of the non-religious dailies.”

A contemporary researcher (Lindblom 2021) mentions this about Wu’s translation: “Wu created a unique and personal work of sacred art that bears the imprint of his own admitted love and devotion, a landmark achievement comparable to Antoni Gaudi’s Basilica of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain. Although its use is still somewhat limited today, it continues to attract readers for the aforementioned qualities, and continues to be used in prayers and music by those who desire beauty and an authentic Chinese-sounding text that draws from China’s ancient traditions.”

The translation of Psalm 15 from the 1946 edition is in pentameter and the rhyme scheme is -an (the 1946 edition did not have verse numbers either):

忠厚廉潔

誰堪留帝所。誰堪居靈山。 其惟行善者。心口無欺謾。 既無讒人舌。又無惡心肝。處世惟忠厚。克己待人寬。 見惡避若浼。見善共相歡。一言九鼎重。得失非所患。 不將重利剝。不作貪汚官。行善邀福澤。長如磐石安。

Transcription into Roman alphabet with the rhyme scheme highlighted:

zhōng hòu lián jié

shuí kān liú dì suǒ 。 shuí kān jū líng shān 。 qí wéi xíng shàn zhě 。 xīn kǒu wú qī mán 。 jì wú chán rén shé 。 yòu wú è xīn gān 。 chǔ shì wéi zhōng hòu 。 kè jǐ dài rén kuān 。 jiàn è bì ruò měi 。 jiàn shàn gòng xiāng huān 。 yī yán jiǔ dǐng zhòng 。 dé shī fēi suǒ huàn 。 bù jiāng zhòng lì bāo 。 bù zuò tān wū guān 。 xíng shàn yāo fú zé 。 cháng rú pán shí ān 。

With thanks to Simon Wong.