Isthmus Mixe: “stays with me” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August, 1966, p. 86ff)
Teutila Cuicatec: “in all authority at the right side” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.).
Bariai: “chief seat at the right hand” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
In Lamnso’, the seat on the right-hand side signifies that the person seated there would have a higher position than the one to his left (vs. just being a seat of honor). To circumvent any misunderstanding of the biblical text, the translation here refers to the “highest seat next to God.” (Source: Karl Grebe in Holzhausen 1991, p. 52)
(Note that in Elhomwe the idiom “I see you through the left hand” stands for “useless.” [Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext])
Nida (1947, p. 230) says this about the translation of the concept of “truth”: “The words for ‘truth’ and ‘true’ are not always the most readily discovered in aboriginal languages. In some instances the only expression which corresponds to ‘true’ is something like ‘it happened.’ A falsehood is something that ‘did not happen.’ In a good many languages the meaning of ‘truth’ is expressed by the words signifying ‘straight’ and ‘direct.’ Untruth is accordingly ‘crookedness.’ An abstract noun such as English “truth” is quite difficult to find in some instances. Only an expression such as ‘true statement’ or ‘true word’ will be found to correspond to English ‘truth.’”
The Greek, Latin, Ge’ez, 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. ).
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.”
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:
“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’ (John 14:6) 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. )
The German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) has followed a somewhat similar path to the Malay committee 50 years earlier in the gospel of John. In John 1 it translates “truth as “God’s nature,” in John 3 as “God’s will,” in John 8 as “God’s reality,” in John 14 as “encountering God,” and in John 16 as “God’s truth.”
This verse consists of six lines arranged in three pairs. Good News Translation puts the second pair first. This is recommended, because the enemy’s offense seems then to progress from trying to take your place at a meal to actually overthrowing you. Good News Translation‘s reordering is certainly not necessary, but if translators find it helpful they should follow it. The following comments follow the order of Revised Standard Version only to keep the discussion simple.
Do not put him next to you, lest he overthrow you and take your place: Do not put him next to you is literally “Do not stand him next to you.” Standing your enemy beside you means taking him into your confidence, treating him as a friend and as an equal; it implies letting down your guard. If you do this with an enemy or false friend, the next thing you know you will be discredited, put to shame, and he will be standing there in your place. Possible alternative models for these two lines are “Don’t let an enemy stand next to you or he will push you aside and take your place” and “Don’t treat an enemy as your equal or he will overthrow you and take your place.”
Do not have him sit at your right, lest he try to take your seat of honor: The imagery here is that of a banquet or some other formal occasion, where the host has the seat of honor, but where the most honored guest is seated at the host’s right. If you honor an enemy like this, he will not be satisfied until he has your own place. Good News Translation‘s model is a good one to follow.
And at last you will realize the truth of my words, and be stung by what I have said is literally “And at last you will appreciate my words, and be stung at my words.” This may be rendered “When that happens [you are overthrown by an enemy you trusted], you will realize just how true these words of mine are, and when you remember them, you will bitterly regret not paying attention.” In his comments on this verse, Di Lella (1987; page 248) quotes Benjamin Franklin: “Experience keeps a dear [expensive] school, but fools will learn in no other.”
Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Sirach. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.
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