complete verse (Romans 10:5)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 10:5:

  • Uma: “There are words of the prophet Musa long ago that say: whoever wants to become straight from their following the Lord’s Law, they will get good life as long as they follow all of the Lord’s Law.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “This has been written by Musa about a person who follows/obeys the law so that he is considered straight by God. He says, ‘Whoever really can follow/obey all the commands in the law, he will live in heaven without end.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But there’s a written word of Moses about people being considered righteous by means of obeying the Law. He says, ‘The person who the thing that he trust is his obedience to the Law, he will be given life without end if there isn’t even one mistake there in his carefully fulfilling everything that is commanded by the Law,’ said Moses.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “This is what Moses wrote concerning people’s being counted as righteous because of their following the law. He said, ‘The person who obeys absolutely-all the commands of the law, he will have life that has no end.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But concerning those people who say that God clears their sins when they will do all which the law says, it is Moses who wrote the word which says: ‘It is the person who completes all the words which the law says who will save his soul’ it says.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “Moses was God’s ancient servant. And this is what he said about the people who say that God can see their lives as if they were straight if they would do what the law of God says. He said: If anyone could (but they can’t) do all that the law says, in that way God could look at them as if their lives were straight.§” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

righteous, righteousness

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The Greek, Hebrew, and Latin terms that are translated in English mostly as “righteous” as an adjective or personified noun or “righteousness” (also as “justice”) are most commonly expressed with concept of “straightness,” though this may be expressed in a number of ways. (Click or tap here to see the details)

Following is a list of (back-) translations of various languages:

  • Bambara, Southern Bobo Madaré, Chokwe (ululi), Amganad Ifugao, Chol, Eastern Maninkakan, Toraja-Sa’dan, Pamona, Batak Toba, Bilua, Tiv: “be straight”
  • Laka: “follow the straight way” or “to straight-straight” (a reduplicated form for emphasis)
  • Sayula Popoluca: “walk straight”
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl, Kekchí, Muna: “have a straight heart”
  • Kipsigis: “do the truth”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “do according to the truth”
  • Huautla Mazatec: “have truth”
  • Yine: “fulfill what one should do”
  • Indonesian: “be true”
  • Navajo (Dinė): “do just so”
  • Anuak: “do as it should be”
  • Mossi: “have a white stomach” (see also happiness / joy)
  • Paasaal: “white heart” (source: Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
  • (San Mateo del Mar Huave: “completely good” (the translation does not imply sinless perfection)
  • Nuer: “way of right” (“there is a complex concept of “right” vs. ‘left’ in Nuer where ‘right’ indicates that which is masculine, strong, good, and moral, and ‘left’ denotes what is feminine, weak, and sinful (a strictly masculine viewpoint!) The ‘way of right’ is therefore righteousness, but of course women may also attain this way, for the opposition is more classificatory than descriptive.”) (This and all above from Bratcher / Nida except for Bilua: Carl Gross; Tiv: Rob Koops; Muna: René van den Berg)
  • Central Subanen: “wise-good” (source: Robert Brichoux in OPTAT 1988/2, p. 80ff. )
  • Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “live well”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “goodness before the face of God” (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl: “the result of heart-straightening” (source: Nida 1947, p. 224)
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “entirely good” (when referred to God), “do good” or “not be a debtor as God sees one” (when referred to people)
  • Carib: “level”
  • Tzotzil: “straight-hearted”
  • Ojitlán Chinantec: “right and straight”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “walk straight” (source for this and four previous: John Beekman in Notes on Translation November 1964, p. 1-22)
  • Makonde: “doing what God wants” (in a context of us doing) and “be good in God’s eyes” (in the context of being made righteous by God) (note that justify / justification is translated as “to be made good in the eyes of God.” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Aari: The Pauline word for “righteous” is generally rendered by “makes one without sin” in the Aari, sometimes “before God” is added for clarity. (Source: Loren Bliese)
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun: “having sin taken away” (Source: Nida 1952, p. 144)
  • Nyamwezi: wa lole: “just” or “someone who follows the law of God” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Venda: “nothing wrong, OK” (Source: J.A. van Roy in The Bible Translator 1972, p. 418ff. )
  • Ekari: maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (the same word that is also used for “truth“; 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. ).
  • Guhu-Samane: pobi or “right” (also: “right (side),” “(legal) right,” “straightness,” “correction,” “south,” “possession,” “pertinence,” “kingdom,” “fame,” “information,” or “speech” — “According to [Guhu-Samane] thinking there is a common core of meaning among all these glosses. Even from an English point of view the first five can be seen to be closely related, simply because of their similarity in English. However, from that point the nuances of meaning are not so apparent. They relate in some such a fashion as this: As one faces the morning sun, south lies to the right hand (as north lies to the left); then at one’s right hand are his possessions and whatever pertains to him; thus, a rich man’s many possessions and scope of power and influence is his kingdom; so, the rich and other important people encounter fame; and all of this spreads as information and forms most of the framework of the people’s speech.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in Notes on Translation 1964, p. 11ff.)
  • German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): Gerechtheit, a neologism to differentiate it from the commonly-used Gerechtigkeit which can mean “righteousness” but is more often used in modern German as “fairness” (Berger / Nord especially use Gerechtheit in Letter to the Romans) or Gerechtestun, also a neologism, meaning “righteous deeds” (especially in Letter to the Ephesians)
  • “did what he should” (Eastern Highland Otomi)
  • “a clear man, good [man]” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004)

See also respectable, righteous, righteous (person), devout, and She is more in the right(eous) than I.

law

The Greek that is translated in English as “Law” or “law” is translated in Mairasi as oro nasinggiei or “prohibited things” (source: Enggavoter 2004) and in Noongar with a capitalized form of the term for “words” (Warrinya) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

In Yucateco the phrase that is used for “law” is “ordered-word” (for “commandment,” it is “spoken-word”) (source: Nida 1947, p. 198) and in Central Tarahumara it is “writing-command.” (wsource: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

See also teaching / law (of God) (Japanese honorifics).

Moses

The name that is transliterated as “Moses” in English is signed in Spanish Sign Language and Polish Sign Language in accordance with the depiction of Moses in the famous statue by Michelangelo (see here ). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )


“Moses” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here).

In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:


“Moses” in French Sign Language (source )

The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).

Even at the time of his translation, Jerome likely was not the only one making that decision as this article alludes to (see also Moses as Pharaoh’s Equal — Horns and All ).

In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).


“Moses” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the eye make up he would have worn as the adopted son of an Egyptian princess. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)


“Moses” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL

In Estonian Sign Language Moses is depicted with a big beard. (Source: Liina Paales in Folklore 47, 2011, p. 43ff. )


“Moses” in Estonian Sign Language, source: Glossary of the EKNK Toompea kogudus

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

See also Moses and Elijah during the Transfiguration.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Moses .

Translation commentary on Romans 10:5

Paul now speaks of the two ways of seeking salvation, the way of the Law and the way of faith, and illustrates these from Old Testament passages.

About being put right with God by obeying the Law is literally “about the righteousness which is from the Law.” Here again “righteousness” is taken to mean the act of being put right with God, while the phrase “which is from the Law” is best understood in the sense of “which comes from obeying the Law.” It is obvious that Law here refers specifically to the Jewish Law.

This verse has a textual problem, and one solution is reflected in the Good News Translation (cf. Moffatt, New English Bible, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible), while another solution is reflected in the Revised Standard Version (cf. An American Translation*). The question is whether the words rendered in the Good News Translation as about being put right with God by obeying the Law are to be taken as a part of what Moses wrote, or as an introduction to the words which Moses wrote. If the solution of the Revised Standard Version is followed, then the translation into current English would read: “Moses wrote, Whoever does what the Law commands in order to be put right with God will live by it.” Although the manuscript evidence is fairly well divided, the solution of the Good News Translation is favored, because its manuscript support is early and diversified, and because it is easier to see why the scribes would tend to make changes in one direction rather than in the other.

The pronoun this in the introductory expression this is what Moses wrote about being put right with God by obeying the Law refers to what follows, and in many languages it must be placed immediately before the direct discourse, or else the introductory expression must be rather radically modified—for example, “Moses wrote about how God puts men right with himself because they obey the Law [or “by their obeying the Law”]. He had this to say…” or “When Moses wrote about how people are put right with God by obeying the Law, he said….”

The quotation in this verse comes from Leviticus 18.5, but the words what the Law commands are not explicit in this quotation. However, in light of the first part of this verse, it is important to make this information explicit in a translation (note Jerusalem Bible “when Moses refers to being justified by the Law, he writes: those who keep the Law will draw life from it”).

The direct quotation “Whoever does…” is a general statement and may apply to any and all persons. As such, it may also be considered as a conditional—for example, “If a man does what the Law commands, he will live by it.” However, the reference to the Law in the phrase by it, as an expression of the means by which a person lives, may require considerable modification in languages in which such an expression of means becomes the agent of a verb of cause—for example, “If a man does what the Law commands, the Law will cause him to live.” One must avoid the meaning of “live in conformity to the Law,” which could be the meaning of the English expression live by it.

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 .