Language-specific Insights

cast lots

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    The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “casting” or “drawing lots” in English is often translated with a specific idiom, such as “to take out bamboo slips” — 掣 籤 chè qiān (in most Mandarin Chinese Bibles), “each to pick-up which is-written (i.e. small sticks inscribed with characters and used as slots)” (Batak Toba), a term for divination by means of reed stalks (Toraja-Sa’dan).

    In some cases a cultural equivalent is not available, or it is felt to be unsuitable in this situation, e.g. in Ekari where “to spin acorns” has the connotation of gambling, one may have to state the fact without mentioning the means, e.g. “it came to him,” (source for this and all above: Reiling / Swellengrebel). In Shipibo-Conibo there was no equivalent for “casting lots” so the translation for Mark 15:24 is descriptive: “they shook little things to decide what each one should take” (source: Nida 1952, p. 47).

    Other solutions include:

    • Purari: “throw shells” (source: David Clark)
    • Kwara’ae (in Acts 1:26) “they played something like dice to find out who of the two God chose (God revealed his will that way)” (source: Carl Gross)
    • Navajo: “draw straws”
    • Yatzachi Zapotec “raffle”
    • Chol “choose by a game” (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125)
    • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “threw one or two little hard things that had a sign…to see which person it would be”
    • Kekchí: “try with luck”
    • Lalana Chinantec: “there were little things they played with that made evident who it would be who would be lucky”
    • Chuj: “enter luck upon them”
    • Ayutla Mixtec: “put out luck” (Source for this and five above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
    • Lacandon: “play with small stones in order to see who was going to win” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)

    In North Alaskan Inupiatun a term for “gambling” is used. The same Inupiatun term is also used in Esther 3:7, “though there winning and losing is not in view, but rather choosing by chance” (source: Robert Bascom)

    The stand-alone term that is translated “lots” in English is translated as “two pieces of potsherd” in Highland Totonac. (Source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.)

whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all

The Greek that is translated as “whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all” or similar in English is translated in Tzotzil as “If anyone wants to be thought of as the most important, let him humble himself, let him help all people,” in Chuj as “If there is one man wants to lift up himself among you, he must make himself lowly before you. He must enter as the servant of you all, he said,” and in Choapan Zapotec as “If a person wants to command his fellow-men, he must consider himself to be as a person who has no authority, let him work without pay for anyone.” (Source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)

See also complete verse (Mark 9:35).

greatest of all shrubs

The Greek that is translated as “the greatest of all shrubs” or similar in English is translated in Chuj as “larger than all the plants we plant each year,” and in Shuar as “larger than all weeds” (Some “weeds” grow to over ten feet.) (Source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)

everything they owned was held in common

The Greek that is translated as “everything they owned was held in common” or similar in English is translated as “no one said, ‘This is mine.’ They owned everything together” in Isthmus Mixe, as “not one of them considered their things apart, because they considered their things as if they belonged to all of them” in Teutila Cuicatec, as “there was no person who said that one thing was his alone. But everything of theirs one only its thusness by them all” in Chuj. (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

uneducated and ordinary men

The Greek that is translated as “uneducated and ordinary men” or similar in English is translated in the following ways:

  • Lalana Chinantec: “people who were not learned, humble people
  • Morelos Nahuatl: “hadn’t studied a lot but were like anybody”
  • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “had not studied long in school, truly ordinary people, that is not officials”
  • Chuj: “they had never studied, they were plain people”
  • Teutila Cuicatec: “were not from important families and didn’t know paper (= didn’t have education)”
  • Totontepec Mixe: “they talked like people who plow” 8(source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

captain of the temple

The Greek that is often translated as “captain of the temple” in English is translated in the following ways:

  • Desano: “captain of the temple chief of the persons who guard the big temple”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “boss of the big church of the Jews”
  • Chuj: “chief of the guards of God’s house”
  • Isthmus Mixe: “church building leader”
  • Lalana Chinantec: “boss of the soldiers of the church
  • Ayutla Mixtec: “he who is over the soldiers of the temple”
  • Morelos Nahuatl: “the chief of police of the big church” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)