they are a law to themselves

The Greek that is often translated into English as “they are a law to themselves” is translated these ways:

  • Bilua: “they follow their own law” (source: Carl Gross)
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “it is just as if they had a law in their hearts”
  • Highland Totonac: “on their own they think of the law they should do”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “what their head-hearts tell them to do is like the law for them”
  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “their very hearts is a law which issues orders to them”
  • Tzeltal: “it is because there are commandments in their hearts”
  • Sierra de Juárez Zapotec: “show that they themselves know what they ought to do” (source for this and five above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Uma: “their own hearts become like the Lord’s Law to them” (source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “they have a Law there in their breath” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “their minds are like their law which directs them” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)

See also a law unto themselves.

a law unto themselves

The now commonly-used English idiom “Ta law unto themselves” (meaning someone who does whatever they desire, ignoring the rules and regulations) was first coined in 1526 in the English New Testament translation of William Tyndale (in the spelling a lawe vnto them selve). (Source: Crystal 2010, p. 282)

In Russian, this phrase (они сами себе закон — oni sami sebe zakon) is also widely used as an idiom. The wording of the quote originated in the Russian Synodal Bible (publ. 1876). (Source: Reznikov 2020, p. 73)

For other idioms in English that were coined by Bible translation, see here.

See also they are a law to themselves.

gentiles / nations

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė)) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).

Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).

In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

See also nations.

complete verse (Romans 2:14)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 2:14:

  • Uma: “Non-Jews do not know the Lord’s Law that was written by Musa. But sometimes their own hearts teach them to do good behavior, like the behavior that is written in the Lord’s Law. Even though they don’t know the Lord’s Law that is written, their own hearts become like the Lord’s Law to them.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “The tribes who are not Yahudi, the law of God is not there with them. But even if the law of God is not there with them, sometimes they can/happen-to follow some commands in the law because they know in their minds as to what are the good things to be done. That’s why it is as if they have a law in their minds/thoughts.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And as for the people who are not Jews, they do not know about the Law which was left behind by Moses, but there is a time when they obey what is commanded in the Law, for even though they do not know the Law, there is in their breath that which teaches them what is good to do; and because of this, we can say they have a Law there in their breath.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Even though the Gentiles don’t know the written law of Moses, they nevertheless follow some of the commands of that law, because their minds are like their law which directs them.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Although there are people who have never heard of the word written in the law which the Jews follow, yet they also know in themselves what the good is that God commands them to live by. Because they know in their own thoughts what good they should do. This also meets with the good which is written in God’s law.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

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 2:14

The Gentiles do not have the Law may need to be changed to the past tense, “the Gentiles have not possessed the Law,” “the Gentiles did not receive the Law through Moses,” or “the Law which came through Moses was not given to the Gentiles.”

Of their own free will has been translated in a variety of ways: “instinctively” (Moffatt, An American Translation*), “by the light of nature” (Phillips, New English Bible) and “led by reason” (Jerusalem Bible, with a note indicating “guided by conscience, not by revealed law”). In most translations this is rendered “by nature” (see Revised Standard Version). The Good News Translation understands Paul to be speaking of the free and inner response of a man to the conscience given him by God. This is a “natural” response, not because it is something that one does by instinct or by nature, but because it is a response of the divinely created conscience within man. An expression for their own free will is difficult to render in a number of languages. In some instances it is simply equivalent to “whenever they themselves decide,” “whenever their own heart tells them to,” or “whenever their innermost thoughts say they should.”

The Law commands may need to be recast as “what is commanded in the Law” or “what the words written in the Law say that people should do.”

They are a law to themselves must not be rendered in such a way as to imply that people can do whatever they want to do. A more appropriate equivalent is “they themselves show what should or should not be done” or “they have demonstrated that they know what should or should not be done.”

In the last clause of verse 14 it may be again necessary to specify “the Law which comes from Moses”—for example, “even though they have not possessed the Law which came through Moses” or “even though the Law which came through Moses was not given to them.”

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 .