judge vs. condemn

The Greek terms krino and katakrino/katadikazo that are translated as “judge” and “condemn” respectively in English are translated with only one term in Kutu (tagusa). (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

See also do not condemn.

sin

The Hebrew and Greek that is typically translated as “sin” in English has a wide variety of translations.

The Greek ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō) carries the original verbatim meaning of “miss the mark” and likewise, many translations contain the “connotation of moral responsibility.”

  • Loma: “leaving the road” (which “implies a definite standard, the transgression of which is sin”)
  • Navajo (Dinė): “that which is off to the side” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: kasalan, originally meaning “transgression of a religious or moral rule” and in the context of the Bible “transgression of God’s commandments” (source: H. van der Veen in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 21ff. )
  • Kaingang: “break God’s word”
  • Sandawe: “miss the mark” (like the original meaning of the Greek term) (source for this and above: Ursula Wiesemann in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 36ff., 43)

In Shipibo-Conibo the term is hocha. Nida (1952, p. 149) tells the story of its choosing: “In some instances a native expression for sin includes many connotations, and its full meaning must be completely understood before one ever attempts to use it. This was true, for example, of the term hocha first proposed by Shipibo-Conibo natives as an equivalent for ‘sin.’ The term seemed quite all right until one day the translator heard a girl say after having broken a little pottery jar that she was guilty of ‘hocha.’ Breaking such a little jar scarcely seemed to be sin. However, the Shipibos insisted that hocha was really sin, and they explained more fully the meaning of the word. It could be used of breaking a jar, but only if the jar belonged to someone else. Hocha was nothing more nor less than destroying the possessions of another, but the meaning did not stop with purely material possessions. In their belief God owns the world and all that is in it. Anyone who destroys the work and plan of God is guilty of hocha. Hence the murderer is of all men most guilty of hocha, for he has destroyed God’s most important possession in the world, namely, man. Any destructive and malevolent spirit is hocha, for it is antagonistic and harmful to God’s creation. Rather than being a feeble word for some accidental event, this word for sin turned out to be exceedingly rich in meaning and laid a foundation for the full presentation of the redemptive act of God.”

In Warao it is translated as “bad obojona.” Obojona is a term that “includes the concepts of consciousness, will, attitude, attention and a few other miscellaneous notions.” (Source: Henry Osborn in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 74ff. ). See other occurrences of Obojona in the Warao New Testament.

Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the Danish Bibelen 2020, comments on the translation of this term: “We would explain terms, such that e.g. sin often became ‘doing what God does not want’ or ‘breaking God’s law’, ‘letting God down’, ‘disrespecting God’, ‘doing evil’, ‘acting stupidly’, ‘becoming guilty’. Now why couldn’t we just use the word sin? Well, sin in contemporary Danish, outside of the church, is mostly used about things such as delicious but unhealthy foods. Exquisite cakes and chocolates are what a sin is today.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )

See also sinner.

complete verse (Romans 2:12)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 2:12:

  • Uma: “People who don’t know the Lord’s Law, if they sin, they are still/nonetheless guilty and fit to be separated from God. God punishes them because of their sins, but he does not punish them because of their breaking of the Lord’s Law. So also people who know the Lord’s Law. If they sin, God will punish them as well, but them he will punish because of their breaking of the Lord’s Law.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “The people not Yahudi they do not know the law of God written by Musa. When/if they sin God punishes them and they go to hell. But their punishment is not as is said in the law. The Yahudi, the ones who were given the law, when/if they sin they are judged (by) whether they were able to follow/obey the law or not. If they did not follow/obey, God punishes them like/as is said in the law.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “As for the people who are not Jews, they do not know what is commanded by the Law that Moses left behind, and when they do evil, they will be judged just the same in the future by God. However, He will not use the Law in His judging them, but He will punish them with death which is forever. And as for the people who are Jews, they by contrast know what is commanded by the Law, and if they do evil, God will judge them according to what they have transgressed there in the Law.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because all who have sinned, they will be separated from God to be punished forever. As for the Gentiles, they don’t know the law of Moses, so that will not be the basis for God’s condemning them, but they will be punished nevertheless. As for the Jews by-contrast, they do know the law of Moses, so God will use that law in condemning them.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Now then, all people have sins and God will judge them. Concerning the people who do not know the law which the Jews follow, they also will be judged according to what they know. But concerning the people who know what is said in the law which the Jews follow, they will be judged according to that word which is written in the law.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Teutila Cuicatec: “All those who owe sin, who do not know the law that Moses wrote, it will not be that law that will rule what punishment they have, but they will be punished. Also all those who do know that law but owe sin, they will have to be punished as that law commands.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

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).

Translation commentary on Romans 2:12

In the previous verse Paul has concluded that all men, both Jews and Gentiles, are equal before God. However, there is one evident difference: the Jews possess the Law, and the Gentiles do not. Paul deals with this problem in verses 12-16. He points out that God has spoken to all men, some through the Jewish Law and some through the law of conscience, and so all men must answer to him. The Greek text of this verse reads literally: “Whoever sinned without having the law will be lost without having the law; and whoever sinned in the law will be judged by the law.” But most commentators agree that Paul is contrasting the Gentiles who do not have the Law of Moses (see also New English Bible) with the Jews who have the Law, and this information is made explicit in the Good News Translation.

They sin translates an aorist tense in Greek, and it is best taken as the expression of a truth that is valid for all times, rather than as an action that is past (“they sinned”).

The logical connections in thought between the various clauses of verse 12 are not always easy to specify. In reality, do not have the Law of Moses is a nonrestrictive attributive to the Gentiles—for example, “the Gentiles, who do not have the Law of Moses, sin and are lost apart from the Law.” This type of involved nonrestrictive clause is made a complete sentence in the Good News Translation, the Gentiles do not have the Law of Moses. The expression they sin constitutes the temporal setting for the final part of this clause are lost apart from the Law—for example, “when they sin they are lost apart from the Law.” In some languages this first half of verse 12 may be rendered as “whenever the Gentiles, who do not have the Law of Moses, sin, they are lost apart from the Law.”

The phrase apart from the Law is difficult to express in some languages. In certain cases the closest equivalent is “even though they do not have the Law.” But in some languages it is difficult to express concession implied by the conjunctive phrase “even though.” The closest equivalent may be some adversative expression introduced by a conjunction such as “but”—for example, “they are lost, but the Law does not apply to them.”

The expression the Law of Moses must be made somewhat more specific in some languages, as “the Law that came through Moses” or “the Law that was given by means of Moses.” In order to indicate clearly that in the rest of this passage the same Law is being spoken of, one may use such phrases as “this same Law,” “this Law,” or even in some contexts the repetition of the entire phrase “the Law that came through Moses.”

The second half of verse 12 may be rendered as “whenever the Jews who have the Law, sin, they are judged by the Law.” However, in many languages one cannot speak of “being judged by Law.” One can only “be judged by God on the basis of the Law,” “be judged by what is written in the Law,” or “be judged on the basis of what is written in the Law.”

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 .