sin

The Hebrew, Ge’ez, 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”
  • Bariai: “bad behavior” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • 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)
  • Nias: horö, originally a term primarily used for sexual sin. (Source: Hummel / Telaumbanua 2007, p. 256)
  • Mauwake: “heavy” (compare forgiveness as “take away one’s heaviness”) (source: Kwan Poh San in this article )

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.

implicit exclusiveness (Rom. 6:12-13; 16-23)

The translation in Yatzachi Zapotec had to make the inclusion of the writer in these verse explicit by changing the second person plural pronoun (“you”) to an inclusive first person plural pronoun (“we,” including the group that is addressed in the letter). Otherwise the warnings would have not applied to the author of the letter as well. (Source: Inez Butler in Notes on Translation 16, 1965, p. 4-5)

complete verse (Romans 6:12)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 6:12:

  • Uma: “So, let’s not allow sin to control our lives on this earth any more, let’s not follow our evil desires.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Therefore you (pl.) ought/must not let/abandon yourselves to sin and you should not follow your greedy-desires.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Because of this, brothers, let us no longer permit that our evil desires control our body which easily dies. Because if we permit this, we will have to obey the evil desires of our body.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Therefore we must not permit the ruling of sin over us so that we will not obey the evil-things which our bodies desire.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Therefore now, during the time we live here on earth, no longer will we give the road to sin. We must not want that we will be conquered by our own body’s desires.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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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 choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

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

Translation commentary on Romans 6:12

In this and the following verses (12-14) Paul reinforces the argument stated in the previous verses (1-11). Must no longer rule (so also New English Bible) translates a present imperative in Greek which has precisely the force that the Good News Translation and the New English Bible bring out. In many languages a third person imperative is difficult to express, and it is often necessary to render “you must not let sin rule any longer in your mortal bodies.” In Greek bodies is singular (see New English Bible “body”), but in English the plural makes better sense.

There are several complications in the first clause of verse 12. It may be difficult, for example, to employ the active expression sin must no longer rule, but one may be able to say: “your mortal bodies must not be controlled by sin” or “… must not be under the power of sin” or “… controlled by your desire to sin.” However, in some languages it is difficult to speak of mortal bodies, since the only equivalent would be “bodies which die,” while in some other languages one cannot say “bodies which die”, since it is not the body but the person which dies. Nevertheless, one can translate mortal as “which have an end” or “which do not continue forever.” The concept of bodies may be more effectively expressed in some languages as “inside of you,” so that this first clause may be translated as “sin should no longer have control inside of you.”

Of your natural self is literally “of it,” and the antecedent is “your mortal body.” However, it is better to translate in such a way as not to limit the idea of sinful desires to “bodily passions” (so Jerusalem Bible; New English Bible “the body’s desires”; Phillips “your lusts”). Such a rendering seems to limit Paul’s idea too narrowly; he has in mind not merely one’s bodily passions, but the whole range of sinful desires and intentions which place one over against God. Since Paul, as a Jew, can speak of the body as the totality of one’s person, he can speak of “the desires of your mortal body” and cover a much larger spectrum than the English translation “bodily desires” would imply.

The conjunctive phrase so that introduces purpose, but with a causative relation—for example, “so as to cause you to obey the desires of your natural self,” “obey what you yourselves desire,” or “… what you as a human being desire.”

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 6:12

Paragraph 6:12–14

6:12a

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body: In some English versions, the word Therefore is in the middle of the clause. For example:

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body (English Standard Version)

In some languages, it may be more natural to put the word Therefore at the beginning of the sentence, as the Berean Standard Bible does.

do not let sin reign: There are two ways to interpret the Greek words here:

(1) It is a command to not do something. For example:

do not let sin reign (Berean Standard Bible)

(Berean Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, King James Version, English Standard Version, New Living Translation (2004), New American Standard Bible, God’s Word, Contemporary English Version, NET Bible, New Century Version, New American Bible, Revised Edition)

(2) It is a command to stop doing something. For example:

sin must no longer reign in your mortal body (Revised English Bible)

(Good News Translation, Revised English Bible)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), because many scholars support it as well.

This clause refers to not following the temptations of sin. The figure of speech speaks of sin as a ruler/king over someone. In some languages a literal translation would have the wrong meaning or not be clear as to its meaning. If that is true in your language, you may want to:

• Use “like/as” to indicate the comparison. For example:

Do not let sin control you like a ruler/king

• Translate the meaning without the figure of speech. For example:

Do not let sin control you

• Translate literally and explain the meaning in a footnote. Here is an example footnote:

This clause refers to not following/obeying the temptations of sin.

The present tense refers to the ongoing effort of the believer to not follow the temptations of sin. Each time a believer is tempted, he must reject that temptation. For example:

Always be stopping sin from reigning/controlling you

in your mortal body: Here the word body implies the things someone does. The power of sin should not control what we do. In some languages a literal translation would imply that.

But in some languages a literal translation would wrongly refer only to sins internal to the physical body. If that is true in your language, refer to what we do. For example:

do not let sin control your life here on earth (New Century Version)

mortal body: The word mortal refers to something being able to die. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

the body which dies
-or-
your bodies are a thing for dying
-or-
during the time we live here on earth

6:12b

so that you obey its desires:
Here the phrase so that introduces the purpose of sin reigning in believers’ lives. It does not connect to “Do not let.” Make that clear in your translation. For example:

and make you obey its evil desires
-or-
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body. It/Sin wants to make you obey its passions.

desires: Here this word means “strong urge to do something.” It refers here to anything that sin might try to make believers want that they should not. It does not refer here to only desires of having sex. Other ways to translate it are:

evil desires (New International Version)
-or-
passions (English Standard Version)

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