Language-specific Insights

bless(ed)

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The Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and Aramaic that is translated into English as “(to) bless” or “blessed” is translated into a wide variety of possibilities.

The Hebrew term barak (and the Aramaic term berak) also (and originally) means “kneel” (a meaning which the word has retained — see Gen. 24:11) and can be used for God blessing people (or things), people blessing each other, or people blessing God. While English Bible translators have not seen a stumbling block in always using the same term (“bless” in its various forms), other languages need to make distinctions (see below).

In Bari, spoken in South Sudan, the connection between blessing and knees/legs is still apparent. For Genesis 30:30 (in English: “the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned”), Bari uses a common expression that says (much like the Hebrew), ‘… blessed you to my feet.'” (Source: P. Guillebaud in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 189ff. .)

Other examples for the translation of “bless” when God is the one who blesses include (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):

  • “think well of” (San Blas Kuna)
  • “speak good to” (Amganad Ifugao)
  • “make happy” (Pohnpeian)
  • “cause-to-live-as-a-chief” (Zulu)
  • “sprinkle with a propitious (lit. cool) face” (a poetic expression occurring in the priests’ language) (Toraja Sa’dan) (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • “give good things” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • “ask good” (Yakan) (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • “praise, say good things” (Central Yupik) (source: Robert Bascom)
  • “greatly love” (Candoshi-Shapra) (source: John C. Tuggy)
  • “showing a good heart” (Kutu) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • “good luck — have — good fortune — have” (verbatim) ꓶꓼ ꓙꓳ ꓫꓱꓹ ꓙꓳ — ɯa dzho shes zho (Lisu). 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 Tagbanwa a phrase is used for both the blessing done by people and God that back-translates to “caused to be pierced by words causing grace/favor” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).

Ixcatlán Mazatec had to select a separate term when relating “to people ‘blessing’ God” (or things of God): “praise(d)” or “give thanks for” (in 1 Cor. 10:16) (“as it is humans doing the ‘blessing’ and people do not bless the things of God or God himself the way God blesses people” — source: Robert Bascom). Eastern Bru and Kui also use “praise” for this a God-directed blessing (source: Bru back translation and Helen Evans in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) and Uma uses “appropriate/worthy to be worshipped” (source: Uma back translation).

When related to someone who is blessing someone else, it is translated into Tsou as “speak good hopes for.” In Waiwai it is translated as “may God be good and kind to you now.” (Sources: Peng Kuo-Wei for Tsou and Robert Hawkins in The Bible Translator 1962, pp. 164ff. for Waiwai.)

Some languages associate an expression that originally means “spitting” or “saliva” with blessing. The Bantu language Koonzime, for instance, uses that expression for “blessing” in their translation coming from either God or man. Traditionally, the term was used in an application of blessing by an aged superior upon a younger inferior, often in relation to a desire for fertility, or in a ritualistic, but not actually performed spitting past the back of the hand. The spitting of saliva has the effect of giving that person “tenderness of face,” which can be translated as “blessedness.” (Source: Keith Beavon)

Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the Danish Bibelen 2020, comments on the translation of this term: “As for ‘blessing’, in the end we in most instances actually kept the word, after initially preferring the expression ‘giving life strength’. The backlash against dropping the word blessing was too hard. But we would often add a few words to help the reader understand what the word means in a given context — people often understand it to refer more to a spiritual connection with God, but in the Hebrew texts, it usually has to do with material things or good health or many children. So when e.g. in Isaiah 19:25 the Hebrew text says ‘God bless them’, we say ‘God bless them’ and we add: ‘and give them strength’. ‘And give them strength’ is not found in the overt Hebrew text, but we are again making explicit what we believe is the meaning so as to avoid misunderstanding.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )

See also bless (food and drink), blessed (Christ in Mark 11:9), and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse.

See also “Blessed by ‘The Blessing’ in the World’s Indigenous Languages” and Multilingual version of “The Blessing” based on Numbers 6:24-26 .

complete verse (Psalm 1:1)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 1:1:

  • West African language: “If you want to be truly happy do not hear the advice of bad people, do not walk in the feet of those who refuse God? Do not live in the compound of those who spoil God’s name.” (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1983, p. 420ff. )
  • Eastern Bru: “Whatever person does not follow the teaching of the evil person, or does not do according to what the sinner does, or does not follow/imitate those those who customarily mock God, surely that person receives blessing.” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Blessed is the man/person who does- not -live in the guidance/advice of the wicked people, does- not -follow what the sinners do, and does- not -join-with the people who mock/ridicule.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “God is pleased with those who do not do what wicked people advise them to do, and who do not imitate the behavior of sinful people, and who do not join in with people who ridicule/sneer at God.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

complete verse (Psalm 1:2)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 1:2:

  • West African language: “If you want to be truly happy, let your belly be sweet on God’s command words. Let your mind eat them day and night.” (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1983, p. 420ff. )
  • Eastern Bru: “But that person, he is very happy/delighted with the law of God only. And he spends time thinking about the book of that law all night and all day.” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Instead, he (is) happy in following the teachings that (come) from the LORD, and he meditates on these day-(and)-night.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Those whom God is pleased with delight in doing the things that he has instructed/taught us to do. They read and think about Yahweh’s requirements, day and night.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

complete verse (Psalm 1:3)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 1:3:

  • West African language: “Then you will be like a river-by tree whose leaves the sun cannot kill, whose children are always ripe at the right time. Then everything you do will finish on a good road.” (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1983, p. 420ff. )
  • Eastern Bru: “That person becomes like a tree someone planted near flowing water. At the appropriate time, it produces fruit, and its leaves never wither/dry up. And everything he does produces profit/benefit.” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “He is like a tree planted beside the stream that bears-fruit in season of bearing-fruit, and (whose) leaves do- not -wither. A man like this will-prosper in what he does.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “They constantly produce/do things that please God just like fruit trees that have been planted along the banks of a stream produce fruit at the right time every year. Like trees that never wither, they succeed in everything that they do.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

complete verse (Psalm 1:4)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 1:4:

  • West African language: “Bad people are not like the river-by tree, they are like dry (corn) chaff which the wind blows away, puff! puff! [=ideophone, i.e. word that expresses what is perceived by the five senses]” (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1983, p. 420ff. )
  • Eastern Bru: “But the wicked person doesn’t produce like that, but that person is like chaff that the wind scatters.” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “But not like this the wicked people. They on-the-other-hand have-no value, like chaff that just blows-away by the wind.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “But wicked people are not like that! Wicked people are as worthless as chaff that is blown away by the wind.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

complete verse (Psalm 1:5)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 1:5:

  • West African language: “That is why God will hit them when he judges all people, he will not let them share with those who are at his back.” (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1983, p. 420ff. )
  • Eastern Bru: “Arriving at the day God judges the wicked people, on that day God will sort out those wicked people from the straight good/righteous people.” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “So on the day of judgment, they will-be-punished by God and they will- not -be-joined-in with the righteous-ones.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Therefore, wicked people will not be acquitted/will be condemned when God judges people, and furthermore, sinful people will not even be present when God gathers righteous people together,” (Source: Translation for Translators)

complete verse (Psalm 1:6)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 1:6:

  • West African language: “God will show his good ways to the ones at his back, but he will let sinners follow the way to perdition.” (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1983, p. 420ff. )
  • Eastern Bru: “Surely, God continues to protect/care for the straight good/righteous people, but those wicked people, surely God will destroy them.” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “For the LORD guides/leads the righteous-ones but the way-of-living of the wicked brings them to destruction.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “because he guides and protects righteous people, but the path that the wicked walk on leads them to where they will be destroyed/punished by God forever.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

complete verse (Ruth 1:4 - 1:5)

Following are a number of back-translations of Ruth 1:4-1:5:

  • Noongar: “Now Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, he died, and Naomi stayed with her two sons. Her two sons married two wives from Moab, named Orpah and Ruth. When they had lived there ten years, Mahlon and Chilion died; so Naomi was widowed, without sons and without a husband.” (Source: Bardip Ruth-Ang 2020)
  • Eastern Bru: “The two sons took wives from the people of Moab. The names of the women were Orpha and Ruth. So they lived in that place about ten years. But in that place, Mahlon and Chilion also died. So Naomi still lived, but she no longer had husband or children.” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
  • Newari: “” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Some-time-later her children married [plural] Moabnon (women). The name of one was Orpah and the (other)-one was Ruth. After- ten years -had-passed, Mahlon and Kilion also died, so only Noemi was left.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “They married women from Moab. One of them was named Orpah, and the other one was named Ruth. But after they had lived in that area for about ten years, Mahlon and Chilion died. So then Naomi had no husband and no sons.” (Source: Translation for Translators)