The Hebrew that is translated as “I will throw filth on you” in English (referring to the treatment of a prostitute) is rendered in Medumba with the existing expression “throw filth (ashes) at one’s back.” (“This is the way in which ‘children’ — but there is of course no age limit! — are punished by parents for having violated the existing order or some particular — sexual or non-sexual — taboo. However, at the same time, the expression ‘throw ashes at one’s back’ has entered the language in a figurative way, having the extended meaning of ‘making someone ridiculous.’ In fact, both components of punishment and making ridiculous are present here.”)
Source: Jan de Waard in The Bible Translator 1971, p. 146ff.
The Hebrew that is translated as something like “the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands” in English is rendered in Medumba as “the works of the hands of the wicked man throw him into the pit” (“‘To throw into the pit’ is a figure of speech for ‘betraying’, ‘condemning’, and the pit symbolizes a difficult situation from which there appears to be no way out.”)
Source: Jan de Waard in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 143ff.
The Hebrew that is translated as “you hold my lot” or “you support my lot” in English is rendered in Medumba as “you guard the back of me,” “that is to say my posterior from my head to my heels. The predominant idea in this expression is one of protection, while continuing action is indicated by the verb ‘to keep.'”
Source: Jan de Waard in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 143ff.
The Greek that is translated as “his love is perfected in us” in many English versions is translated into Eastern Arrernte as “because he has loved us, we are able to love (properly).”
The Greek that is translated as “test the spirits” in many English versions is translated into Eastern Arrernte as “first listen to them, perhaps their words are from God, perhaps not.”
The Greek that is translated as “abide in him, and he in them” in many English versions is translated into Eastern Arrernte as “become one/united with God.”
The Greek that is translated as “which (the commandment) is true in him and in you” in many English versions is translated into Eastern Arrernte as “this commandment is straight because Christ himself told it to us. You also show that the commandment is straight because you show love to each other.”
The Greek that is translated as “humble” or “humble mind” in many English versions is translated into Eastern Arrernte as the appropriate and correct behavior in kinship relationships.
See also humble / lowly.
