selfish ambition

The term rendered “selfish ambition” in many English versions is translated as “they want to make themselves come out on top” in Kahua. (Source: David Clark)

In Tzeltal it is translated “raise themselves before God.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

truth

The Greek, Latin and Hebrew that is usually translated in English as “truth” is translated in Luchazi with vusunga: “the quality of being straight” (source: E. Pearson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 160ff. ), in Obolo as atikọ or “good/correct talk” (source: Enene Enene), and in Ekari as maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (esp. in John 14:6 and 17; 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. ).

The translation committee of the Malay “Good News Bible” (Alkitab Berita Baik, see here ) wrestled with the translation of “truth” in the Gospel of John (for more information click or tap here):

“Our Malay Committee also concluded that ‘truth’ as used in the Gospel of John was used either of God himself, or of God’s revelation of himself, or in an extended sense as a reference to those who had responded to God’s self-disclosure. In John 8:32 the New Malay translation reads ‘You will know the truth about God, and the truth about God will make you free.’ In John 8:44 this meaning is brought out by translating, ‘He has never been on the side of God, because there is no truth in him.’ Accordingly Jesus ‘tells the truth about God’ in 8:45, 46 (see also 16:7 and 8:37a). Then, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’ becomes ‘I am the one who leads men to God, the one who reveals who and what God is, and the one who gives men life.” At 3:21 the translation reads ” … whoever obeys the truth, that is God himself, comes to the light …’; 16:13a appears as ‘he will lead you into the full truth about God’; and in 18:37 Jesus affirms ‘I came into the world to reveal the truth about God, and whoever obeys God listens to me.’ On this basis also 1:14 was translated ‘we saw his glory, the glory which he had as the Father’s only Son. Through him God has completely revealed himself (truth) and his love for us (grace)’; and 1:17 appears as ‘God gave the law through Moses; but through Jesus Christ he has completely revealed himself (truth) and his love for us (grace).'” (Source: Barclay Newman in The Bible Translator 1974, p. 432ff. )

Helen Evans (in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) tells of the translation into Kui which usually is “true-thing.” In some instances however, such as in the second part of John 17:17 (“your word is truth” in English), the use of “true-thing” indicated that there might be other occasions when it’s not true, so here the translation was a a form of “pure, holy.”

complete verse (Romans 2:8)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 2:8:

  • Uma: “But there are also people who just consider themselves. They refuse to follow the desire of God, they follow evil desires instead. They are the prime ones to get God’s anger and punishment.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Some people also what they think of is only themselves. They do not obey/follow the true teaching from God but what they follow/obey is what does not hit-the-mark/is-not-right. God shows them that he is very-very angry and he really punishes them.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But there are also some people that the only thing they think about is what they want, and they will not believe in the true doctrine but rather, what they obey is what is not right. And it’s not just a little anger that God will show them, but rather His punishment to them will be very heavy.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But the people who put-first what they desire and who refuse to believe the truth in order to do evil, they will experience God’s severe (lit. heavy) judgment upon them.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But God will punish the people who reject his word and do not want to obey the true word but only live in evil.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Honorary "are" construct denoting God (“cast down”)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, kudas-are-ru (下される) or “cast down” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Romans 2:8

(Please note that there are further comments on verse 8, in conjunction with verses 9 and 10 below.)

The contrast between some men (v. 7) and other men (v. 8) may be introduced in some languages with an adversative particle such as “but,” “on the other hand,” or “in contrast with these.”

The word rendered selfish by the Good News Translation (see New English Bible “who are governed by selfish ambition” and An American Translation* “self-seeking people”) originally was a term used to describe persons who sought a political office for selfish purposes. However, it is possible that his word could also have the meaning of “strife” or “contentiousness” (see Jerusalem Bible “unsubmissive” and Moffatt “willful”). This meaning may be rendered as “other men are always fighting with others” or “other men are always arguing against others” or “others only want their own way.” Selfish may be rendered as “who always want to do just what they want to do,” “who are always looking for their own benefit,” or “who want everyone else to serve them.”

In order to indicate that for Paul “truth” is a moral term and not merely an abstract idea, the Good News Translation renders Paul’s phrase “reject the truth” by reject what is right. In many languages what is right is rendered as “what they should do,” thus implying moral obligation. In other languages the contrast with wrong is “that which is good.” In many languages one cannot “follow what is wrong”; it is necessary to say “to do what is wrong” or “to continually do what is wrong.”

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 .

Translation commentary on Romans 2:8 – 2:10

It may be helpful to consider these three verses together, since they have a common translational problem. The Greek text does not mention the source of wrath and anger (8), suffering and pain (9), and glory, honor, and peace (10). But Paul makes it clear that in each case God is the source, and for that reason the Good News Translation supplies God will pour (8), there will be (9), and God will give (10). In the Greek text the series of nouns appears without verbs to relate them to particular agents, but for the English reader it is necessary to supply some sort of verb. Most English translations accomplish this by providing an impersonal verb (for example “… will come” or “there will be…”), but Paul is clearly speaking of that which is brought about by God himself.

In verse 8 wrath and anger are essentially synonyms, both describing the attitude of God towards those on whom his judgment falls. In many languages it is impossible to speak of “pouring out wrath and anger.” One can, however, say “God will judge them in anger” or “God will be angry with them and judge them.” By combining both “anger” and “judging,” it is possible to reproduce something of the significance of the Greek terms translated wrath and anger. It is also possible to translate “God will punish” as an appropriate rendering of “pouring out wrath and anger.”

Similarly, it is difficult to introduce terms such as suffering and pain without indicating who is the agent. Therefore, one may transform this expression into “God will cause them to suffer and to have pain.”

For all men is literally “upon every soul of man,” a Semitic way of speaking of all mankind.

The contrast between first applied to Jews and also applied to Gentiles should not be interpreted in a chronological sense—that is, that the Jews will suffer first and the Gentiles afterwards, or that the Jews were the first to do evil and the Gentiles afterwards. The emphasis here is simply one of priority in God’s revelation of dealing with mankind, but this is difficult to indicate without distorting the actual meaning. For this reason, in some translations the contrast is made by a kind of collective expression “this includes both the Jews and the Gentiles.” The order of “Jews” and “Gentiles” is only an indication of the underlying historical sequence.

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 .