The Greek that is typically translated as “Peace be with you” in English is translated in Ojitlán Chinantec as “Have peaceful happy hearts,” in Huehuetla Tepehua as “Don’t be sad in your hearts,” in Aguaruna as “Be content,” in Shipibo-Conibo as “Think very good,” in Isthmus Mixe as “Don’t worry,” and in Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac as “May it go well with you.” (Source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
In Uma it is “Goodness come to you,” in Yakan it is “May there be peace in your liver,” in Tagbanwa “Protection of your inner-being will now be yours” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)(source: Uma, Yakan, and Tagbanwa Back Translation respectively), and in Mairasi “Good Peace be to you guys!” (source: Enggavoter 2004).
For the Greek that is translated with an equivalent of “It is finished (or: completed)” in most English Bible translations a perfect tense is used that has no direct equivalent in English. It expresses that an event has happened at a specific point in the past but that that event has ongoing results. The English “Expanded Translation” by Kenneth S. Wuest (publ. 1961) attempted to recreate that by translating “It has been finished and stands complete.”
Irish uses yet a different system of tenses, resulting in these translations:
Atá sé ar na chríochnughadh (Bedell An Biobla Naomhtha, publ. early 17th century): “It is upon its completion”
Tá críoch curtha air (Ó Cuinn Tiomna Nua, publ. 1970): “Completion is put on it”
Tá sé curtha i gcrích (An Bíobla Naofa, publ. 1981): “It is put in completion”
Source for the Irish: Kevin Scannell
In Ojitlán Chinantec it is translated as “My work is finished,” in Aguaruna as “It is completely accomplished,” and in Mezquital Otomi as “Now all is finished which I was commanded to do.” (Source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
In Mandarin Chinese, it is translated as chéng le (成了) which means both “it is completed” and “it is finished” (source: Zetzsche).
Artist Willy Wiedmann rendered this scene this way:
Image taken from the Wiedmann Bible. For more information about the images and ways to adopt them, see here .
For other images of Willy Wiedmann paintings in TIPs, see here.
The phrase that is translated into English as “you stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears” is translated into Afar as “You dry stones that nothing enters, and people who have hearts that refuse God, and ears closed saying we didn’t hear God’s message.” (stiff-necked > dry stones, uncircumcised in heart > hearts that refuse God, uncircumcised ears > ears closed to hearing God’s message) (Source: Loren Bliese)
Other translations for “uncircumcised in heart and ears” include:
Rincón Zapotec: “it doesn’t enter your hearts or your ears. You are like those who don’t even believe”
The Greek that is translated as “son of encouragement” in English is translated as “one who makes people receive a helpful word” in Ojitlán Chinantec, “the person who makes our hearts be at peace” in Lalana Chinantec, “he will encourage us” in Isthmus Mixe, “one who enlarges (encourages) hearts” in Chichimeca-Jonaz, “one who comforts” in San Mateo del Mar Huave, “one who consoles people” in Tzotzil, and “gives gladness to those who weep” in Desano. (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
The Greek that is translated as “Follow me” in English is translated as “Be my disciple” in Ojitlán Chinantec and “Don’t forsake me” in Tenango Otomi (the latter is used in John 21). (Source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
In Kaingang it is translated as “run with me and do as I do.” (Source Ursula Wiesemann in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 65).
The Greek that is translated as “tend my sheep” or similar in English is translated in Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac as “take care of the ones who believe in me just as a shepherd carefully cares for his sheep,” in Ojitlán Chinantec as “take care of my people, as if to say, you will take care of my sheep,” in Huehuetla Tepehua as “take care of the people who are like my sheep,” and in Yatzachi Zapotec as “care for the people who trust in me.”
(Source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
The Greek that is translated as “feed my lambs” in English is translated as “teach my people my words, as if to say you will feed my little sheep” in Ojitlán Chinantec, “teach my word to the men who are like lambs” in Huehuetla Tepehua, “help those who believe in me” in Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac, “teach the people who have just begun to trust in me” in Yatzachi Zapotec and “now do like a shepherd does. Take care of the people who believe in me” in Tenango Otomi.
(Source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
The Greek that is translated as a “mixture of myrrh with aloes” refers a mixture of “a fragrant resin used for embalming the dead” (myrrh) and a “powdered aromatic sandalwood, spoken of as providing perfume for the bed or clothes” (aloes) (source: Newman / Nida),
Ojitlán Chinantec translates it as “fragrant powder, resin powder and wood powder mixed” and Chol as “a wood that gives a fragrant smell when it is rotten.”
(Source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
