Cherokee: “putting one’s hand up to someone” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 16)
In Bauzi “swear” can be translated in various ways. In Hebrews 6:13, for instance, it is translated with “bones break apart and decisively speak.” (“No bones are literally broken but by saying ‘break bones’ it is like people swear by someone else in this case it is in relation to a rotting corpse’ bones falling apart. If you ‘break bones’ so to speak when you make an utterance, it is a true utterance.”) In other passages, such as in Matthew 26:72, it’s translated with an expression that implies taking ashes (“if a person wants everyone to know that he is telling the truth about a matter, he reaches down into the fireplace, scoops up some ashes and throws them while saying ‘I was not the one who did that.'”). So in Matthew 26:72 the Bauzi text is: “. . . Peter took ashes and defended himself saying, ‘I don’t know that Nazareth person.'” (Source: David Briley)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 89:35:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“I vowed once by my holiness
and I will not lie to David,” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“In my holy name I have promised for all time
I will never speak lies to David.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“In my holy name, I already promised that I would- never -lie to David.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“I told David my oath one time only
by my holy name,
I would not deceive him.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Nimeapa mara moja kwa utakatifu wangu,
basi, siwezi kusema ya uongo kwa Daudi,” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“Once I made a solemn promise to David, and that will never change,
and because I am God, I will never lie to David.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
God repeats his promise, taking a vow by my holiness, that is, by his holy name, that he will not lie to David. By my holiness means that God guarantees that what he says is true and trustworthy. This may be translated, for example, “I have sworn by my own name” or “I have promised and will do what I say because I am God.” The promise “by my holy name” may be translated as Bible en français courant has done, “as sure as I am God.” Here not lie may be translated as “not be unfaithful (or, disloyal),” as some do; or else, “not deceive” or “not break my promise.”
The promise in verse 36a repeats the promise made in verse 29a; it may be well to use the same noun here as in verse 29, as Biblia Dios Habla Hoy does.
In verse 36b the Hebrew is “and his throne (will last) like the sun before me.” Good News Translation joins before me to the verb (which carries over from the first line), and understands before me to mean God’s care and protection. Most translations have simply before me, joining it either to his throne or to the sun. It may well be that before me adds little to the thought, and that the line means only “and his kingdom will last as long as the sun” (see verse 4b). Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translates the verse “His descendants will reign in his place always, as long as the sun exists.”
It may be necessary in translation to reintroduce the subject “David’s kingdom” at the beginning of verse 37. Verse 37a repeats the thought of permanence, the same idea expressed in different words in verse 29b. Verse 37b in Hebrew is “and a witness in the sky (is) sure.” Good News Translation “that faithful witness in the sky” is like Bible de Jérusalem, New American Bible, Jerusalem Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Weiser; New Jerusalem Bible has “an enduring witness in the sky.” Bible en français courant has “a faithful witness behind the clouds.” Revised Standard Version emends the Hebrew text (so Briggs, An American Translation, New English Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy) to get it shall stand firm while the skies endure.35-37 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says the whole verse can be interpreted: (1) “as the moon, (which) is established for ever and (which) is faithful (as) witness in the clouds”; or (2) “as the moon (which) is established for ever, and the witness (which) is faithful in the clouds.”
Some take “the witness” to be God himself; others take it to be the rainbow, but this seems rather unlikely. If the translator follows Good News Translation and others, taking the moon to be the “faithful witness in the sky,” it may be necessary to recast this expression to say, for example, “the moon in the sky that is always watching” or “the moon in the sky that sees everything.”
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 .
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