Translation commentary on Romans 16:26

The relation of the writings of the prophets to the process of “bringing out the truth” may be restructured as “but now the writings of the prophets have caused the truth to be known openly” or “… have caused many people to know the truth.” Similarly, the second clause in verse 26 may be rendered as “the eternal God has commanded that all nations should know that truth.” As in other contexts, eternal God may be translated as “the God who never dies,” “the God who always is,” or “the God who never ends.”

So that all may believe and obey is literally “for the obedience of faith” (see 1.5). If a grammatical goal is required for verbs “believe” and “obey,” God may be introduced: “so that all may believe God and obey him.”

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 16:26

16:26a

but now revealed: This clause is passive. Some languages must use an active clause. For example:

⌊he⌋ has now revealed

now: Here this word refers generally to this new period of time where the revelation of Jesus as the Christ/Messiah is known.

revealed: The Greek word here refers to making something visible. God has caused the knowledge that was unknown (16:25c: the mystery) to now be known. Here are other ways to translate this word:

disclosed (English Standard Version)
-or-
brought out into the open (Good News Translation)

16:26b

and: This word connects “now revealed” (16:26a) and “made known” (16:26b).

made known through the writings of the prophets: In some English versions, the phrase through the writings of the prophets is first in the clause to emphasize it. For example:

through the prophetic writings has been made known (English Standard Version)

Some languages must have it in its usual place, as the Berean Standard Bible models.

made known: This clause is passive. Some languages must use an active clause. For example:

⌊he⌋ has made known

through the writings of the prophets: Here the word through introduces how the mystery was made known to the nations. God revealed it in these writings.

the writings of the prophets: This refers to the prophecies that were written in the Hebrew Bible, what many Christians now call the Old Testament. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

the ⌊holy⌋ writings with its prophecies
-or-
the writings/books ⌊of God⌋ and their prophecies

In some languages a literal translation would not clearly imply the Old Testament. If that is true in your language, you may want to explain in a footnote. Here is an example footnote:

This refers to the prophecies in the Old Testament.

16:26c

by the command of the eternal God: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as by means both:

(a) that the event of God making the mystery known happened as the command of God said it would.

(b) that the event of God making the mystery known happened because God commanded it to happen.

Some languages may be able to indicate both meanings. But many languages will have to choose to translate one or the other meaning. For example:

as the eternal God commanded (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
because the eternal God commanded it

the eternal God: The word eternal indicates that God always existed in the past and will always exist in the future.

16:26d

in order to lead…to the obedience that comes from faith: The words in order to introduce the purpose of Paul’s gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ (16:25b) being made known (16:26b). The purpose was that the people would obey Jesus because they believe in him. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

for the obedience of faith (King James Version)
-or-
to the obedience that is associated with faith (God’s Word)
-or-
so that…obey in faith (New Jerusalem Bible)

in order to: Here the phrase in order to introduce the purpose of God making known the mystery that was “concealed for ages past” (16:25c).

the obedience that comes from faith: See how you translated this phrase in 1:5.

all nations: The singular word “nation” here refers to a group of people united by a common language and culture. It is also sometimes used to refer a group of these groups organized under one government. Use a word that allows both meanings.

Some languages must choose between those two meanings. If that is true in your language, refer to the first kind of group, a group of people united by a common language and culture.

© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

Commentaire sur la traduction de la lettre aux Romains 16.26

mais maintenant… rend le grec δὲ νῦν de nun, qui est reproduit tel quel dans beaucoup de versions.

manifeste et porté à la connaissance de tous les peuples païens par des écrits : la Traduction œcuménique de la Bible restructure partiellement le texte, sans que, pour autant, il devienne parfaitement clair. Cette partie du verset est litt. « manifesté maintenant par des écrits prophétiques… porté à la connaissance pour toutes les nations ».

manifeste rend un verbe grec qui veut dire « révéler ». La Bible en français courant et la Parole de Vie disent qu’il (le plan de Dieu, Rom 16.25) « a été mis en pleine lumière ».

et porté à la connaissance de tous les peuples païens est un élément à la fin du verset en grec que la Traduction œcuménique de la Bible place vers le début. porté à la connaissance est un seul verbe en grec « faire connaître ». Le complément d’objet indirect est tous les peuples païens, encore une fois le nom ἔθνος ethnos, dans ce contexte un terme neutre se référant à tous les non-Juifs. Voir Rom 1.5.

par des écrits prophétiques : les écrits rend un mot qui ailleurs est rendu par « Écritures » (voir Rom 15.4). Ici, Paul fait allusion aux « livres des prophètes ». Leenhardt (p. 219) note en effet, « Comme l’apôtre l’a longuement souligné, les écrits de la loi et des prophètes ont ensemble annoncé prophétiquement le dessein de Dieu réalisé en Jésus-Christ… » Pour faciliter la compréhension, on pourrait tourner cette proposition à l’actif en disant, par exemple, « mais maintenant, les livres des Prophètes ont fait connaître pleinement ce plan secret ».

selon l’ordre du Dieu éternel : Dieu a en effet ordonné que toutes les nations puissent connaître son plan. La Parole de Vie traduit par : « …Dieu… a donné cet ordre ». En grec, Dieu est qualifié comme éternel (αἰώνιος aiônios), un mot lié à une expression qui veut dire « d’âge en âge ». Les traducteurs pourront utiliser le mot qu’ils ont l’habitude d’utiliser pour éternel. Ici, la Parole de Vie choisit de dire « Le Dieu qui existe depuis toujours ». On pourrait aussi dire « le Dieu qui ne meurt jamais », « le Dieu qui demeure toujours » ou « le Dieu qui n’a jamais de fin ».

pour les conduire à l’obéissance de la foi est litt. « pour l’obéissance de la foi », la même expression qu’en Rom 1.5. Paul explique le but de cette révélation : pour (εἰς eis, « en vue de »). On pourrait rendre cette idée explicite en disant « pour qu’elles croient en lui et lui obéissent ». Dans plusieurs langues, il sera nécessaire de donner un complément aux verbes : « croient en lui et lui obéissent » (Bible en français courant) ou « croient en Dieu et lui obéissent ».

Source: Margot, Jean-Claude & Zogbo, Lynell. La lettre aux Romains – Manuel de traduction – Commentaire linguistique et exégétique de la Bible. Alliance biblique universelle, 2021.