birds or four-footed animals or reptiles

The Greek in Romans 1:23 that is translated as “birds or four-footed animals or reptiles” in English presented an obstacle in the translation into Gamale Kham so that it was dropped from the translation.

D. E. Watters (p. 226f.) tells that story:

“Khams see things differently. It’s not that they don’t observe the same traits that we do; it’s just that the distinction between giving birth to living young or laying eggs doesn’t matter a lot to them. Babies are babies. They’re more concerned with other factors, such as “is the animal naughty or nice?” Their classification system comprises things like laa-gaa: ‘leopard-eagles,’ syaa-baa: ‘deer-pheasants,’ baza-biza: ‘bird-rats,’ and rwihza-wanza: ‘bug-worms.’

“’Leopard-eagles’ cause harm; it doesn’t matter if they’re mammals or birds. They prey on the domain of man, stealing his chickens and sheep; they are what we would call predators. ‘Deer-pheasants’ are the opposite, providing food for man; these are the game animals. ‘Bird-rats’ are the little critters, things that scurry around on the forest floor and flit through the village. ‘Bug-worms’ are the creepy-crawlies, things that make your skin crawl. They’re mostly bugs, snakes, and lizards, but they also include a few unexpected creatures like the river otter (which is regarded as a slimy creature, similar to Gollum from The Lord of the Rings).

“So what were we to do with a passage like Romans 1:22—23, in which a Greek classification is assumed: ‘Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things’?

“Any attempt to translate this passage verbatim in Kham, which we tried, only makes it seem that four-footedness is the point of the passage. Khams have no such classification, and the mere novelty of singling out ‘four-footed’ beasts makes it a highly marked expression, the focus of assertion. It’s like saying, ‘If only they had made images of three-footed beasts, it wouldn’t have been so bad. But these fools made four-footed beasts!’

“The point of the passage is clear enough: ‘professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.’ This is not a treatise on biological classification; it’s a statement about the foolishness of idolatry. Even the Khams laugh at the idolatry of the Hindus, so when the passage is rendered in their language, the absurdity is heightened: “In those very things in which they claimed to ‘know it all,’ they became totally ignorant. In place of the glorious, living, and eternal God, they made images of man, animal-beasts, bird-rats, and bug-worms, and worshiped them instead of God.

“Who but a fool would stoop to worship a bird-rat or a bug-worm?”

See also birds of the air and every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature.

image

The Greek that is rendered as “image” in English translations is translated in Pökoot with körkeyïn, a word that is also used to translate words like parable and example.

See also parable.

creeping things / reptiles

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated in English as “reptiles” or “creeping things” or similar is translated as “those which crawl along upon their stomach” in San Mateo del Mar Huave, “those that crawl the way they travel” in Chichimeca-Jonaz, and “animals that crawl on the ground” in Lalana Chinantec. (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

In Nyamwezi it is translated as as vitundwa vya ku’yu’mba or “creatures that move.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

See also every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature and four-footed creatures and reptiles.

 

The Hebrew words zachal and remes literally mean “creeping [things]” or “crawling [things]”, which is the Hebrew way of referring to small unclean creatures, reptiles in particular. The Greek word herpeton is also a general word for reptile; it includes snakes and lizards. All of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin words usually exclude fish.

The Hebrew words carry the connotation of uncleanness.

In languages which have a word meaning “reptile”, this will fit most contexts. In languages which do not, phrases such as “snakes and lizards”, “wriggling things”, and so forth could be used.

Source: All Creatures Great and Small: Living things in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

Translation commentary on Romans 1:23

Instead of worshiping the immortal God, they worship is literally “they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for.” This, of course, is idolatry. To “exchange God’s glory” for something else (see Psalm 106.20) is to give up acknowledging, praising, honoring, worshiping the true God, whose existence and being are revealed in his “glory,” and to substitute idols as the object of worship. In this verse Paul makes an obvious contrast between God who is immortal and man who is mortal. Instead of worshiping may be rendered in some languages as “they give up worshiping” or “they no longer worship.” Immortal is rendered in most languages as “who never dies” or “who always exists.”

Images (here equivalent to “idols”) actually translates a phrase in Greek (literally “in the likeness of an image”), which most translations render exactly as the Good News Translation does. Images may be rendered simply as “likenesses,” but in a number of languages one may use the equivalent of “fetish carvings” or “idols.” Made to look like may be rendered as “which men make in order that they will look like” or “which men make so that they will seem like.”

Not all languages distinguish neatly between birds, quadrupeds, and reptiles. In some languages the more usual expression is “animals that fly, those that walk, and those that crawl.” What is important here is not the precise designation but the all-inclusive nature of these distinctions.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Romans 1:23

1:23a

exchanged the glory of the immortal God: The word exchanged refers to replacing something with something else. Here it indicates that people stopped honoring God and instead honored idols shaped like a man, bird, animal, or creeping thing. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

changed from honoring the glorious/great and immortal God
-or-
They traded the glory of God who lives forever (New Century Version)
-or-
they abandoned…God who has far-from-ordinary glory/praiseworthiness and who is alive without ending

glory: The word glory refers literally to a very bright light. In this context it implies power, majesty, and greatness. Here are other ways to translate this word:

majesty
-or-
greatness

immortal: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as immortal means “not able to become bad or ruined or dead.” God lives forever and he will not become sick or die. Here are other ways to translate this word:

incorruptible (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
eternal (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
imperishable
-or-
not able to be ruined/destroyed

1:23b

images: This word refers to an object that someone makes to look like something else. Here it refers to idols that represent the false gods that people worship. For example:

idols (New Living Translation (2004))

of: Here this word refers to looking like something or someone else. These idols looked like a person, a bird, an animal, or a creeping thing. For example:

look like (New International Version)
-or-
resembling (English Standard Version)

mortal: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as mortal means “able to become bad or ruined or dead.” Here are other ways to translate this Greek word:

corruptible
-or-
perishable
-or-
able to be ruined/destroyed

man: Here the word man refers generally to people.

1:23c

birds: This word refers to creatures that have wings and (usually) fly. It does not refer to insects. Some languages do not have a general word for birds. If that is true in your language, you should:

• Describe them. For example:

things/creatures that fly
-or-
flying creatures/things

• Use a specific bird that can represent birds in general.

• Use a specific large or strong kind of bird, such as eagles or vultures.

animals: The Greek word is “four-footed creatures.” These are animals that have four legs and walk on the ground, but are not reptiles. Examples are horses, bears, pigs, elephants, and dogs.

reptiles: The Greek word refers to any animal that moves with its stomach close to the ground or on it. It includes snakes, lizards, salamanders, and frogs. Here are other ways to translate this word:

crawling things (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
things that crawl on their belly

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