resurrect / rise again (Jesus)

The term that is translated as “resurrect” or “rise again” as referring to Jesus in English is translated in British Sign Language with a sign that combines the signs for “Jesus” and “standing on feet again.” (Source: Anna Smith)


“Resurrect” or “rise again” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)

The Christian BSL website notes: “A British Sign Language (BSL) translation of Resurrection / Rise Again / Rose Again (Jesus). Jesus’ return to life three days after his death on the cross. In the translation of Rise Again or Rose Again the word AGAIN isn’t signed; signing the word AGAIN in BSL in this context would erroneously indicate that Jesus was resurrected more than once.” (see here )

See also resurrection.

transgression, trespass

The Greek that is often translated as “trespass” or “transgression” in English is translated as “missing the commandment” in Kipsigis and “to step beyond the law” in Navajo (Dinė). (Source: Bratcher / Nida 1961)

In Tepeuxila Cuicatec it is translated as “thing not reached.” Marjorie Davis (in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 34ff. ) explains: “[This] implies that the goal was not reached, the task was not finished, or of finished, it was not satisfactorily done. According to the Cuicateco way of thinking of one does not what is expected of him, he offends [or: trespasses] and is an offence.”

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Rom. 4:25)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, translators typically select the inclusive form (including the writer of the letter and the readers).

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

complete verse (Romans 4:25)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 4:25:

  • Uma: “Yesus is the one who gave himself to be killed to redeem our wrongs. And after that God brought him back to life so that we become straight in his sight.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “This Isa Almasi was killed because of our (incl.) sin and was caused to live again by God so that we (incl.) could be forgiven and considered straight by God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Jesus is the one God sent in order to let himself be killed as punishment because of our (incl.) transgressions. And then God raised Him from the dead so that God might consider us righteous, just as if we had never done anything wrong.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “God handed-Jesus -over to die on account of our sins and he made-him -alive again so that we would be made-righteous.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Concerning Jesus, it was allowed that he died in order to pay for our sins. Afterwards he resurrected. And now it is this that clears us with God.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God ("resurrect")

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 rare (られ) 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, yomigae-rare-ru (よみがえられる) or “resurrect” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Romans 4:25

The first part of this verse, he was given over to die because of our sins, is an allusion to Isaiah 53.4, 5; and it reflects a kind of Jewish parallelism (see Revised Standard Version “who was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification”).

The verb given over to die literally means “to give over” (see 1.24, 26, 28), but in this context the meaning is “to give over to die” (compare it use in 8.32 where the Good News Translation translates by offered).

In Greek the same preposition is used in each clause and is ambiguously rendered by the Revised Standard Version as “for.” Most commentators appear to take the first “for” as retrospective or causal (“because of our sins”), though An American Translation* seems to take it prospectively (“to make up for our offenses”). On the other hand, the second “for” is usually taken in a prospective or final sense, to put us right with God (Jerusalem Bible “to justify us”; An American Translation* “to make us upright”; Phillips “to secure our justification”; Moffatt “that we might be justified”). It is possible, though not as well in keeping with the context, to understand the second “for” as retrospective (see the alternative rendering in the New English Bible, “raised to life because we were now justified”). The translator should keep in mind that there is no separation in Paul’s thinking between the significance of Christ’s death and resurrection; they are inseparable events, because they both describe the mighty act of God by which we are brought into a right relationship with him and our sins are forgiven.

The passive expression he was given over to die may be rendered as active: “God gave Christ over to die,” “God allowed Christ to die,” or “God handed Christ over to people and they killed him.”

Because of our sins is most frequently translated as “because we had sinned” or “because we had done evil.” The passive expression was raised to life may likewise be made active with God as the agent—for example, “God caused him to live again in order that we would be put right with God,” “… in order to put us right with God,” or “… right with himself.”

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 4:25

4:25a

He was delivered over: This clause further describes Jesus. It does not separate this Jesus from other Jesuses. This clause is also passive. Some languages must translate it as an active clause. For example:

God gave Jesus to die (Contemporary English Version)
-or-

⌊God⌋ ⌊put⌋ Jesus in the hands of ⌊killers⌋
-or-
God handed-Jesus -over to die

delivered over: This verb phrase indicates here that God put Jesus into the hands of certain people so that they would kill him. See the examples above.

for: There are two ways to interpret the Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as for :

(1) It means on account of here. Jesus died for the sake of doing something about our sins. This is the meaning of the English word for here.

(Berean Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition, Revised English Bible, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, King James Version)

(2) It means because of here. Jesus died because we sinned.

(Good News Translation, New Living Translation (2004), God’s Word, NET Bible, New American Standard Bible)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), because it seems a better fit here.

trespasses: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as trespasses means “failures” or “errors.” Here it refers to failures to do as God says, implying that there will be consequences for those failures. It is similar in meaning to “sins,” but is more general. Here are other ways to translate trespasses :

offences (King James Version)
-or-
failures (God’s Word)
-or-
misdeeds (Revised English Bible)

In some languages one term is used for both “failures” and “sins.” If that is true in your language, use that term here.

4:25b

was raised: Some languages must translate the phrase was raised as an active clause. For example:

⌊whom he/God⌋ raised
-or-

⌊he/God⌋ raised

for: There are three ways to interpret the Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as for :

(1) It means on account of here. Jesus was raised to life for the sake of justifying us. This is the meaning of the English word for here.

(Berean Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition, NET Bible, Revised English Bible, King James Version)

(2) It means so that here. Jesus was raise for the purpose of justifying us.

(Good News Translation, New Living Translation (2004), God’s Word, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version)

(3) It means because of here. Jesus was raised because we were justified.

(New American Standard Bible)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). Interpretation (2) is very similar in meaning to interpretation (1), but the Greek lexicons do not say that the Greek word introduces purpose. Interpretation (3) indicates an incorrect relationship between the two events.

our justification: The word justification indicates that God decides that a person is acceptable to him. When people believe that Jesus died for their sins, God forgives them, accepts them, and considers them as righteous. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

putting us right with God
-or-
making us right in his sight
-or-
receiving God’s approval
-or-
declaring us righteous

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Commentaire sur la traduction de la lettre aux Romains 4.25

Le verset, qui continue la pensée du Rom 4.24, se présente sous forme d’un parallélisme grammatical :
CH1 livré pour nos fautes
CH1 et ressuscité pour notre justification.

livré pour nos fautes est une allusion à És 53.4-6,12. Pour alléger le style, la Bible en français courant commence une nouvelle phrase ici. Le verbe grec correspondant à livré (litt. « qui a été livré ») signifie « livrer à, remettre à ». On le trouve déjà en Rom 1.24, Rom 1.26, Rom 1.28, mais dans ce verset, il signifie « livré à la mort » (Bible en français courant). Cette idée sera répétée en Rom 8.32 : « il [Dieu] l’a livré pour nous tous » (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible en français courant). La forme passive peut poser des problèmes dans certaines langues, mais si les traducteurs optent pour une forme active, il vaut mieux essayer de préserver le parallélisme :
CH1 Dieu
CH2 l’a livré pour nos fautes
CH3 et
CH2 il l’a ressuscité pour notre justification

pour nos fautes : pour rend la préposition διά dia que certains comprennent comme désignant une cause, « à cause de nos péchés/fautes » (Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie).

fautes : c’est la première fois que ce mot παράπτωμα paraptôma apparaît dans la lettre aux Romains. Il désigne un « faux pas » ou une « transgression » contre Dieu (Éph 1.7) ou les êtres humains (Matt 6.15). Il est différent du mot général pour « péché », mais est clairement un synonyme.

et ressuscité pour notre justification : pour ressuscité, voir le verset Rom 4.24. La préposition διά dia apparaît pour la deuxième fois. Ici, comme plus haut, elle a le sens de « à cause de » ou « pour ».

pour notre justification : cette expression peut s’avérer difficile à traduire. On pourrait dire « pour que nous soyons rendus justes aux yeux de Dieu » ou « pour nous rendre justes devant lui [Dieu] » (Bible en français courant), mais ceci détruit le parallélisme. Les traducteurs pourront chercher à équilibrer les deux vers. Pour « justifier » ou justification, voir Rom 3.24.

En fait pour Paul, il ne s’agit pas d’une distinction entre la signification de la mort du Christ et celle de sa résurrection : les deux événements sont inséparables. Tous les deux décrivent l’intervention puissante de Dieu grâce à laquelle nous obtenons le pardon de nos péchés et nous sommes justifiés.

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