The Greek, and Latin that is translated as “creation” in English is translated in Lisu as ꓟꓵ ꓚꓰꓼ ꓟꓲ ꓚꓰꓼ — my tshe mi tshe, verbatim translated as “place — make — earth — make.” This construction follows a traditional four-couplet construct in oral Lisu poetry that is usually in the form ABAC or ABCB. (Source: Arrington 2020, p. 58)
In American Sign Language it is translated with a sign that signifies creating out of nothing. (Source: RuthAnna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Creation” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
The Greek that is typically translated as “will” in English is translated in Warao as obojona, 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.
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “vanity,” “emptiness,” “breath,” or similar in English is translated in Mandarin Chinese as xūkōng (虚空) or “hollow,” “empty.” This is a term that is loaned from Buddhist terminology where it is used for Akasha (Sanskrit: आकाश). (Source: Zetzsche)
“Hope is sometimes one of the most difficult terms to translate in the entire Bible. It is not because people do not hope for things, but so often they speak of hoping as simply ‘waiting.’ In fact, even in Spanish, the word esperar means both ‘to wait’ and ‘to hope.’ However, in many instances the purely neutral term meaning ‘to wait’ may be modified in such a way that people will understand something more of its significance. For example, in Tepeuxila Cuicatec hope is called ‘wait-desire.’ Hope is thus a blend of two activities: waiting and desiring. This is substantially the type of expectancy of which hope consists.
In Yucateco the dependence of hope is described by the phrase ‘on what it hangs.’ ‘Our hope in God’ means that ‘we hang onto God.’ The object of hope is the support of one’s expectant waiting.
In Ngäbere the phrase “resting the mind” is used. This “implies waiting and confidence, and what is a better definition of hope than ‘confident waiting’.” (Source for this and above: Nida 1952, p. 20, 133)
In Mwera “hope” and “faith” are translated with the same word: ngulupai. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Enlhet: “waitings of (our) innermost” (“innermost” or valhoc is a term that is frequently used in Enlhet to describe a large variety of emotions or states of mind — for other examples see here) (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
Kwang: “one’s future is restored to one’s soul like a fresh, cool breeze on a hot day.” (Source: Mark Vanderkooi right here )
Noongar: koort-kwidiny or “heart waiting” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Anjam: “looking through the horizon” (source: Albert Hoffmann in his memoirs from 1948, quoted in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 7)
Ron: kintiɓwi or “put lip” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
Alekano: “wait not hearing two ears” (meaning to “wait without being double-minded” — source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation June 1986, p. 36ff.)
Marathiaasha (आशा) with a stronger emphasis on desire
C.M. Doke looks at a number of Bantu languages and their respective translations of “hope” with slightly varying connotations (in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 9ff. ):
Xhosa and Zulu: themba “hope, expect,” also “have faith in, rely upon”
Tswana: tsholofelo “hope, expect, look for confidently”
Southern Sotho: tshepo “trust, rely on, believe in, have confidence in”
“Unlike English, which uses the word hope broadly, the French language uses two words that derive from the word espérer (to hope): espoir and espérance. Both can first refer to something hoped for. In this sense, the word espoir usually refers to an uncertain object; that is, someone who hopes for something in this way does not have the certainty that it will happen (“I hope the weather will be nice tomorrow”). On the other hand, espérance describes what, rightly or wrongly, is hoped for or expected with certainty. It often refers to a philosophical or eschatological object (‘I hope in the goodness of human beings’; ‘I hope for the return of Jesus Christ’).
“When we speak of espoir or espérance, we then have in mind different types of objects hoped for. This difference matters, because both terms also commonly refer to the state of mind that characterizes the hopeful. And this state of mind will be different precisely according to the object hoped for.
“Having espoir for an uncertain yet better future in these difficult times may be a good thing, but it is not enough. Such hope can be disappointed and easily fade away when our wishes and expectations (our hopes) do not materialize.
“The opposite is true with espérance, which is deeper than our desire and wish for an end to a crisis or a future without pain and suffering. To face the trials of life, we need peace and joy in our hearts that come from expecting certain happiness. This is what espérance is: a profound and stable disposition resulting from faith in the coming of what we expect. In this sense, it is similar in meaning to the English word hopefulness.
“If we have believed in the Son of the living God, we have such a hope. It rests on the infallible promises of our God, who knows the plans he has for us, his children—plans of peace and not misfortune, to give us a hope and a future (Jer. 29:11). By using the two meanings of the word, we can say that the espérance that the fulfillment of his promises represents (the object hoped for) fills us with espérance (the state of mind).”
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 8:20:
Uma: “For long ago, this world and all its contents became cursed, with the result that their lives were no longer useful [i.e., no longer fulfilling their purpose]. That happened not because of the desire of this world. God himself cursed this world, for thus was his decision.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “All that God has created, is not now as (it was) at the beginning. But it is not from their fault/wrong that they are not good as at the beginning, but it is from the will/want of God. But these created things of God” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For all creation, because it was what God wanted, God made it long ago so that it’s true purpose might be removed. However, we are expecting a time in the future,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Because God condemned his creation so that their proper purpose/function would not be fulfilled. They of course were not the ones who planned to undergo such a punishment, but rather it was God’s plan. But there was nevertheless something to hope-for,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Because God made the world but it was spoiled when God said there would be the punishment on account of sin committed by Adam. But also God determined that there would come the day that the earth would become new.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The word translated worthless appears in the emphatic position in this sentence. Some translators see in the word the idea of “futility” (so Revised Standard Version, New American Bible), others see in it the meaning of “frustration” (New English Bible, An American Translation*), while in the Jerusalem Bible it appears as “unable to attain its purpose.” In the New Testament this word appears elsewhere only in Ephesians 4.17 (Good News Translationworthless; New English Bible “good-for-nothing”; Jerusalem Bible “aimless”) and in 2 Peter 2.18 (Good News Translationstupid; New English Bible “empty”; Jerusalem Bible “hollow”). In the Septuagint the word is often used in reference to heathen idols. The concept of worthless is rendered in a variety of ways in other languages—for example, “has no meaning,” “has no use,” “has no purpose,” “is full of nothing” (that is to say, “empty”), or “to be as though it were nothing.”
The verb rendered was condemned literally means “was made subject to.” The tense is aorist, and commentators see here a specific reference to Genesis 3.17, when God brought his judgment against the earth because of Adam’s sin. This reference to Genesis helps to explain the translation of but because God willed it to be so (literally “but because of the one who subjected it”). Some see in “the one who subjected it” a reference either to the sin of Adam (or the sin of man in general) or a reference to Satan. However, most commentators agree that the reference is to God, and some translators make this information explicit (so Jerusalem Bible, Moffatt, Phillips; see alternative rendering in New English Bible).
The passive expression was condemned must frequently be changed into an active expression in which God is the agent. Under such circumstances, however, the term condemned is not necessarily the most satisfactory rendering. Some chose to use an expression such as “God decided that,” “God determined that,” or God judged all creation as.
There is a difference of opinion as to how the latter part of this verse should be punctuated, and the decision that is made in this respect will also affect the translation of verse 21. (1) One may do as the Good News Translation does and put a full stop after because God willed it to be so (literally “because of the one who subjected it”). (2) Or one may relate the last words of the verse, yet there was this hope (literally “on the basis of hope”), with the preceding words and so translate as the Revised Standard Version does: “by the will of him who subjected it in hope.” This problem also relates to verse 21, which begins with a word which may mean either “because” or “that” (in its latter meaning the word often introduces indirect discourse). The Good News Translation, of course, translates this word as that, and so makes the passage read: Yet there was this hope, that creation …
The contrast between what creation did not want and what God decided may be expressed as “that is not what creation itself wanted but it was what God determined” or “that was not what creation decided but what God decided.”
In many languages it is difficult to speak of hope without relating it in some way to the person who hopes. One may, therefore, translate the last clause of verse 20 as “nevertheless God had this hope” or “God looked forward in confidence.”
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 .