love (by God)

Translator Lee Bramlett submitted this on the translation of the Greek word that is translated into English as “love” (referring to God’s love). This letter was then reposted by Wycliffe Bible Translators (see here ):

“Translator Lee Bramlett was confident that God had left His mark on the Hdi culture somewhere, but though he searched, he could not find it. Where was the footprint of God in the history or daily life of these Cameroonian people? What clue had He planted to let the Hdi know who He was and how He wanted to relate to them?

“Then one night in a dream, God prompted Lee to look again at the Hdi word for ‘love.’ Lee and his wife, Tammi, had learned that verbs in Hdi consistently end in one of three vowels. For almost every verb, they could find forms ending in i, a, and u. But when it came to the word for love, they could only find i and a. Why no u?

“Lee asked the Hdi translation committee, which included the most influential leaders in the community, ‘Could you ‘ɗvi’ your wife?’ ‘Yes,’ they said. That would mean that the wife had been loved but the love was gone.

“‘Could you ‘ɗva’ your wife?’ ‘Yes,’ they said. That kind of love depended on the wife’s actions. She would be loved as long as she remained faithful and cared for her husband well.

“‘Could you ‘ɗvu’ your wife?’ Everyone laughed. ‘Of course not! If you said that, you would have to keep loving your wife no matter what she did, even if she never got you water, never made you meals. Even if she committed adultery, you would be compelled to just keep on loving her. No, we would never say ‘ɗvu.’ It just doesn’t exist.’

“Lee sat quietly for a while, thinking about John 3:16, and then he asked, ‘Could God ‘ɗvu’ people?’

“There was complete silence for three or four minutes; then tears started to trickle down the weathered faces of these elderly men. Finally they responded. ‘Do you know what this would mean? This would mean that God kept loving us over and over, millennia after millennia, while all that time we rejected His great love. He is compelled to love us, even though we have sinned more than any people.’

“One simple vowel and the meaning was changed from ‘I love you based on what you do and who you are,’ to ‘I love you, based on Who I am. I love you because of Me and NOT because of you.’

“God had encoded the story of His unconditional love right into their language. For centuries, the little word was there — unused but available, grammatically correct and quite understandable. When the word was finally spoken, it called into question their entire belief system. If God was like that, did they need the spirits of the ancestors to intercede for them? Did they need sorcery to relate to the spirits? Many decided the answer was no, and the number of Christ-followers quickly grew from a few hundred to several thousand.

“The New Testament in Hdi is ready to be printed now, and 29,000 speakers will soon be able to feel the impact of passages like Ephesians 5:25: ‘Husbands, ‘ɗvu’ your wives, just as Christ ‘ɗvu’-d the church…'”

In Hawai’i Creole English the love that God has is often translated as love an aloha. Aloha has a variety of meanings, including “hello,” “goodbye,” “love,” “thank you,” etc.

The Philippine languages of Cebuano, Tagalog, and Pampanga use a word (gugma, pag-ibig, and lugud respectively) that is also used for a “noble, refined love of people for each other,” distinct from romantic love. (Source: G. Henry Waterman in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 24ff. )

In Mairasi, the term that is used for love by God, for God and for people is the same: “desire one’s face.” (source: Enggavoter 2004)

See also love (Jesus for young, rich man), God is love and this devotion on YouVersion .

complete verse (Romans 12:9)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 12:9:

  • Uma: “Really love your companions not [doing it] just out of custom. Discard evil behavior, hold-on-to good behavior.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Your love for your companions must/ought-to be from inside the liver. Hate everything which is bad and regard/cherish/keep in you liver everything which is good.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “It’s necessary that our showing kindness to our companions is not false; it’s necessary that we are very disgusted with evil behavior. We must hold tight to good behavior.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Your (pl.) love should be sincere. Hate what is evil and at-the-same-time follow continually what is good.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “You must truly from the heart love your fellowman, each one of you. Separate from evil. Do what is good.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Romans 12:9

Though the Greek expressions is this verse are not imperatives, they are used to express obligation and should be so translated in English.

It is very difficult in some languages to say love must be completely sincere. One can speak of people as “loving sincerely” but not of “love being sincere.” Hence one may say “when you love you must be completely sincere” or “you must be completely sincere in your loving people.” Moreover, it is not easy in some languages to find a term for sincere. In some languages a negative expression is employed—for example, “don’t pretend to love.”

Hold on to what is good may be rendered idiomatically as “tie yourself to what is good.” Since hold on to is in contrast with hate, it may be useful to suggest something of the emotive implications involved—for example, “hold on to in your heart” or “keep firm in your heart.”

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 .