Language-specific Insights

repent, repentance

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The Greek and Hebrew that is often translated as “repent” or “repentance” is (back-) translated in various ways (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):

  • Western Kanjobal: “think in the soul”
  • Kekchí: “pain in the heart”
  • Northwestern Dinka: “turn the heart”
  • Pedi: “become untwisted”
  • Baoulé: “it hurts to make you quit it” (source for this and above: Nida 1952, p. 137)
  • Balinese: “putting on a new mind”
  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “be sorry on account of one’s sins”
  • Uab Meto: “turn the heart upside down” (source for this and the two above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Central Mazahua / Chichimeca-Jonaz: “turn back the heart” (source: Nida 1952, p. 40)
  • Suki: biaekwatrudap gjaeraesae: “turn with sorrow” (source: L. and E. Twyman in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 91ff. )
  • Yamba and Bulu: “turn over the heart” (source: W. Reyburn in The Bible Translator 1959, p. 1ff. )
  • Chichewa: kutembenuka mtima (“to be turned around in one’s heart”) (source: Ernst Wendland in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 319ff.)
  • Caribbean Javanese: mertobat (“tired of old life”)
  • Saramaccan: bia libi ko a Massa Gadu (“turn your life to the Lord God”)
  • Sranan Tongo: drai yu libi (“turn your life”) or kenki libi (“change life”)
  • Eastern Maroon Creole: dai yu libi (“turn your life”) (source for this and 3 above: Jabini 2015)
  • Eggon: “bow in the dust” (source: Kilgour, p. 80)
  • Embu: “change heart” (“2 Cor. 7:10 says ‘For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death.’ In ordinary speech the terms ‘repent’ and ‘regret’ are used interchangeably in Embu, so that this verse comes out as: ‘godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no repentance,’ which is contradictory. The problem was solved by using ‘changing heart’ in the first, and ‘sadness’ in the second.”) (source: Jan Sterk)
  • Anuak: “liver falls down”
  • Kafa: “return from way of sin to God” (source for this and the one above: Loren Bliese)
  • Latvian: atgriezties (verb) / atgriešanās (noun) (“turn around / return” — see turn around / convert) (source: Katie Roth)
  • Obolo: igwugwu ikom: “turn back (from evil)” (source: Enene Enene)
  • Mairasi: make an end (of wrongdoing) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Luchazi: ku aluluka mutima: “turn in heart” (source: E. Pearson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 160ff. )
  • Chokwe: kulinkonyeka: “fold back over” or “go back on oneself” (source D.B. Long in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 135ff. ).
  • Muna: dofetompa’ao dhosa bhe dodoli ne Lahata’ala: “radically-end sin and to turn to God” (source: René van den Berg)
  • Bacama: por-njiya: “fetch sand” (“Before the coming of Christianity 100 years ago, when the elders went to pray to the gods, they would take sand and throw it over each shoulder and down their backs while confessing their sins. Covering themselves with sand was a ritual to show that they were sorry for what they had done wrong, sort of like covering oneself with sackcloth and ashes. Now idol worship for the most part is abandoned in Bacama culture, but the Christian church has retained the phrase por-njiya to mean ‘repent, doing something to show sorrow for one’s sins’” — source: David Frank in this blog post .)
  • “In Tzotzil two reflexive verbs to communicate the biblical concept of repentance are used. Xca’i jba means to know or to reflect inwardly on one’s self. This self inquiry or self examination is similar to the attitude of the prodigal son where Luke 15:17 records that ‘he came to his senses.’ Broke, starving, and slopping hogs, the prodigal admitted to himself that he was in the wrong place. The second reflexive verb ‘jsutes jba’ means turning away from what one is and turning to something else. In a sense, it is deciding against one’s self and toward someone else. It is similar to the attitude of the prodigal son when he said, ‘I will get up and go to my father’ (v. 18).” (source: Aeilts, p. 118)
  • Enlhet “exchange innermosts.” “Innermost” or valhoc is a term that is frequently used in Enlhet to describe a large variety of emotions or states of mind (for other examples see here). (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
  • San Blas Kuna: “sorry for wrong done in the heart” (source: Claudio and Marvel Iglesias in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 85ff. )
  • Desano: “change your bad deeds for good ones”
  • Isthmus Mixe: “put your hearts and minds on the good road”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “change your thinking about evil and walk in the way of God”
  • San Mateo del Mar Huave: “just remember that you have done wicked, in order that you might do good”
  • Coatlán Mixe: “heart-return to God” (source for this and four above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Sierra de Juárez Zapotec: “get on the right road”
  • Isthmus Zapotec: “heart becomes soft” (source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Tibetan: ‘gyod tshangs byed (འགྱོད་​ཚངས་​བྱེད།), lit. “regret + pure” (source: gSungrab website )

See also: convert / conversion / turn back and see Seat of the Mind for traditional views of “ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling.”

forgive, forgiveness

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The concept of “forgiveness” is expressed in varied ways through translations. Following is a list of (back-) translations from some languages:

  • Tswa, North Alaskan Inupiatun, Panao Huánuco Quechua: “forget about”
  • Navajo: “give back” (based on the idea that sin produces an indebtedness, which only the one who has been sinned against can restore)
  • Huichol, Shipibo-Conibo, Eastern Highland Otomi, Uduk, Tepo Krumen: “erase,” “wipe out,” “blot out”
  • Highland Totonac, Huautla Mazatec: “lose,” “make lacking”
  • Tzeltal: “lose another’s sin out of one’s heart”
  • Lahu, Burmese: “be released,” “be freed”
  • Ayacucho Quechua: “level off”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “cast away”
  • Chol: “pass by”
  • Wayuu: “make pass”
  • Kpelle: “turn one’s back on”
  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “cover over” (a figure of speech which is also employed in Hebrew, but which in many languages is not acceptable, because it implies “hiding” or “concealment”)
  • Tabasco Chontal, Huichol: “take away sins”
  • Toraja-Sa’dan, Javanese: “do away with sins”
  • San Blas Kuna: “erase the evil heart” (this and all above: Bratcher / Nida, except Tepo Krumen: Peter Thalmann in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 25f.)
  • Eggon: “withdraw the hand”
  • Mískito: “take a man’s fault out of your heart” (source of this and the one above: Kilgour, p. 80)
  • Western Parbate Kham: “unstring someone” (“hold a grudge” — “have someone strung up in your heart”) (source: Watters, p. 171)
  • Hawai’i Creole English: “let someone go” (source: Jost Zetzsche)
  • Cebuano: “go beyond” (based on saylo)
  • Iloko: “none” or “no more” (based on awan) (source for this and above: G. Henry Waterman in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 24ff. )
  • Tzotzil: ch’aybilxa: “it has been lost” (source: Aeilts, p. 118)
  • Suki: biaek eisaemauwa: “make heart soft” (Source L. and E. Twyman in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 91ff. )
  • Warao: “not being concerned with him clean your obonja.” Obonja is a term that “includes the concepts of consciousness, will, attitude, attention and a few other miscellaneous notions” (source: Henry Osborn in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 74ff. See other occurrences of Obojona in the Warao New Testament.)
  • Martu Wangka: “throw out badness” (source: Carl Gross)
  • Mairasi: “dismantle wrongs” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Nyulnyul: “have good heart” (source
  • Koonzime: “remove the bad deed-counters” (“The Koonzime lay out the deeds symbolically — usually strips of banana leaf — and rehearse their grievances with the person addressed.”) (Source: Keith and Mary Beavon in Notes on Translation 3/1996, p. 16)
  • Ngbaka: ele: “forgive and forget” (Margaret Hill [in Holzhausen & Ridere 2010, p. 8f.] recalls that originally there were two different words used in Ngbaka, one for God (ɛlɛ) and one for people (mbɔkɔ — excuse something) since it was felt that people might well forgive but, unlike God, can’t forget. See also this lectionary in The Christian Century .
  • Amahuaca: “erase” / “smooth over” (“It was an expression the people used for smoothing over dirt when marks or drawings had been made in it. It meant wiping off dust in which marks had been made, or wiping off writing on the blackboard. To wipe off the slate, to erase, to take completely away — it has a very wide meaning and applies very well to God’s wiping away sins, removing them from the record, taking them away.”) (Source: Robert Russel, quoted in Walls / Bennett 1959, p. 193)

See also this devotion on YouVersion .

circumcise, circumcision

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The Hebrew and Greek terms that are translated as “circumcise” or “circumcision” in English (originally meaning of English term: “to cut around”) are (back-) translated in various ways:

  • Chimborazo Highland Quichua: “cut the flesh”
  • San Miguel El Grande Mixtec, Navajo: “cut around”
  • Javanese: “clip-away”
  • Uab Meto: “pinch and cut” (usually shortened to “cut”)
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun, Western Highland Purepecha: “put the mark”
  • Tetelcingo Nahuatl: “put the mark in the body showing that they belong to God” (or: “that they have a covenant with God”)
  • Indonesian: disunat — “undergo sunat” (sunat is derived from Arabic “sunnah (سنة)” — “(religious) way (of life)”)
  • Ekari: “cut the end of the member for which one fears shame” (in Gen. 17:10) (but typically: “the cutting custom”) (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Hiri Motu: “cut the skin” (source: Deibler / Taylor 1977, p. 1079)
  • Garifuna: “cut off part of that which covers where one urinates”
  • Bribri: “cut the soft” (source for this and the one above: Ronald Ross)
  • Amele: deweg cagu qoc — “cut the body” (source: John Roberts)
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “cut the flesh of the sons like Moses taught” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.)
  • Newari: “put the sign in one’s body” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Central Mazahua: “sign in his flesh”
  • Hopi: “being cut in a circle in his body” (source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Mandarin Chinese: gēlǐ (割礼 / 割禮) or “rite of cutting” (Protestant); gēsǔn (割损 / 割損) or “cut + loss” (Catholic) (Source: Zetzsche)
  • Tibetan: mdun lpags gcod (མདུན་​ལྤགས་​གཅོད།), lit. “fore + skin + cut” (source: gSungrab website )
  • Kutu: “enter the cloth (=undergarments)” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

synagogue, temple (inner), temple (outer)

In many English translations the Greek terms “hieron” (the whole “temple” in Jerusalem or specifically the outer courts open to worshippers) and “naos” (the inner “shrine” or “sanctuary”) are translated with only one word: “temple” (see also for instance “Tempel” in German [for exception see below] and “tempel” in Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans).

Other languages make a distinction: (Click or tap here to see more)

  • Navajo: “house in which worship is carried out” (for naos)
  • Balinese: “inner part of the Great Temple” (“the term ‘inner part’ denoting the hindmost and holiest of the two or three courts that temples on Bali usually possess”) vs. “Great Temple”
  • Telugu: “womb (i.e. interior)-of-the-abode” vs. “abode”
  • Thai: a term denoting the main audience hall of a Buddhist temple compound vs. “environs-of-the-main-audience-hall”
  • Kituba: “place of holiness of house-God Lord” vs. “house-God Lord”
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “deep in God’s house” vs. “God’s house” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • German das Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022): “inner court of the temple” (Tempelinnenhof) vs. “temple”

Languages that, like English, German, Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans don’t make that distinction include:

  • Mandarin Chinese: “聖殿 Shèng diàn” (“holy palace”)
  • Loma: “the holy place”
  • Pular: “the sacred house” (source for this and the one above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Zarma: “God’s compound”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “big church of the Jews”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “big house on top (i.e. most important)”
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: “house that is looked upon as holy, that is sacred, that is taboo and where one may not set foot” (lit. “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” — because taboo is violated — using a term that is also applied to a Muslim mosque) (source for this and the three above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Mairasi: Janav Enggwarjer Weso: “Great Above One’s (God’s) House” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Noongar: Maya-maya-Kooranyi: “Sacred House” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “the big church of the Israelites”
  • Aguaruna: “the house for talking to God” (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Guhu-Samane: “festival longhouse of God” (“The biiri, ‘festival longhouse’, being the religious and social center of the community, is a possible term for ‘temple’. It is not the ‘poro house’ as such. That would be too closely identified with the cult of poro. The physical features of the building, huge and sub-divided, lend it further favor for this consideration. By qualifying it as ‘God’s biiri’ the term has become meaningful and appropriate in the context of the Scriptures.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. )
  • Enga: “God’s restricted access house” (source: Adam Boyd on his blog)

Another distinction that tends to be overlooked in translations is that between hieron (“temple” in English) and sunagógé (“synagogue” in English). Euan Fry (in The Bible Translator 1987, p. 213ff. ) reports on this:

“Many older translations have simply used transliterations of ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ rather than trying to find equivalent terms or meaningful expressions in their own languages. This approach does keep the two terms separate; but it makes the readers depend on explanations given by pastors or teachers for their understanding of the text.

“Translators who have tried to find meaningful equivalents, for the two terms ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ have usually made a distinction between them in one of two ways (which focus on the contrasting components of meaning). One way takes the size and importance of the Temple to make a contrast, so that expressions such as ‘sacred meeting/ worship house of the Jews’ and ‘big sacred meeting/worship house of the Jews’ are used. The other way focuses on the different nature of the religious activity at each of the places, so that expressions such as ‘meeting/worship house of the Jews’ and ‘sacrifice/ceremony place of the Jews’ are used.

“It is not my purpose in this article to discuss how to arrive at the most precise equivalent to cover all the components of meaning of ‘temple’. That is something that each translator really has to work through for himself in the light of the present usage and possibilities in his own language. My chief concern here is that the basic term or terms chosen for ‘temple’ should give the reader of a translation a clear and correct picture of the location referred to in each passage. And I am afraid that in many cases where an equivalent like ‘house of God’ or ‘worship house’ has been chosen, the readers have quite the wrong picture of what going to the Temple or being in the Temple means. (This may be the case for the word ‘temple’ in English too, for many readers.)”

Here are some examples:

  • Bambara: “house of God” (or: “big house of worship”) vs. “worship house” (or: “small houses of worship”)
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” (see above) vs. “meeting house for discussing matters concerning religious customs” (and “church” is “house where one meets on Sunday”)
  • Navajo: “house in which worship is carried out” vs. “house of gathering” (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida)
Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Herod’s temple (source: Bible Lands 2012)

Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing synagogues in New Testament times (source: Bible Lands 2012)

See also this devotion on YouVersion .

complete verse (John 4:1)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 4:1:

  • Uma: “The Parisi people heard that more and more people were going asking Yesus to baptize them becoming his followers, with the result that number of followers of Yesus surpassed the followers of Yohanes the Baptizer.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then the Pariseo heard that many more people were reportedly becoming disciples of Isa and bathed by him than those that became disciples of Yahiya. (” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The Pharisees heard the news that Jesus was making more disciples and Jesus was baptizing more people than John was; however Jesus himself wasn’t baptizing, but it was his disciples. And when Jesus also heard this news he left the province of Judea and he returned to the province of Galilee.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “The Pharisees, they heard-reported that Jesus was reportedly persuading and baptizing more disciples than Juan.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “The Pariseo got news that many were the people who were being drawn to and baptised by Jesus, many more than to Juan.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The Pharisees knew that many learners were gathered by Jesus and that he baptized many more people than John.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “You whom I love, do not believe the words of just anybody who says that the Spirit of God is in his head-heart, but rather test them if the Spirit of God is in their head-hearts in order for them to speak true words. Many people are going about in this world lying saying they are proclaiming God’s word.”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “Loved ones, we can’t believe all whatever word is said to be God’s Word. But you must taste (try out) the words, so that you will know if a word is truly the Word of God, or not. Because many deceiver prophets (word-passers) are walking here in the world.”
  • Tzotzil: “You that I love, do not believe whatever word you hear. Be wise, listen if it is the same as God’s word. Because there are many here in the world who think wrongly they are saying God’s word.” (Source for this and two above: John Beekman in Notes on Translation 12, November 1964, p. 1ff.)

complete verse (Acts 1:2)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 1:2:

  • Uma: “until the day arrived of his being lifted going to heaven. After he was killed and brought back alive, many times he appeared to his apostles, so that they would clearly know that he lived again. During forty days, they indeed saw him and he taught them of God’s purpose of lifting mankind from the punishment of their sins and making them his people in his Kingdom. Before he left going to heaven, with authority of the Holy Spirit he placed [i.e., gave] his commands to those apostles of his whom he had chosen.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “until the day he was caused to ascend to heaven. Before he ascended, he instructed the people he had chosen and commissioned to proclaim/preach the good news. Those instructions of his were from the Holy Spirit.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “until he was taken up by God to heaven. When Jesus was killed and rose again, there were many ways in which he showed his apostles proof that he was raised from the dead. For within forty days from that time he was always appearing to them. He taught them the ruling of God. Before he was taken up to heaven, he taught by means of the power of the Holy Spirit that which he wanted them to do to the apostles whom he had chosen before.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “from when-he-began to teach until his being-raised to heaven. When he died and-then lived again, he appeared to those whom he chose as apostles, and he did many things so-that they would thoroughly come-to-know that he lived again. Forty days went by during which he was appearing to them and was teaching them concerning God’s ruling. He also commanded them that which the Ispirito Santo (Holy Spirit) had-him-tell.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “until the day when he was caused to return to heaven/sky, after finishing the things he said to those disciples whom he had chosen, instructing them what they were to do through the strength of the Espiritu Santo.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Morelos Nahuatl: “He continued until when God took him to heaven. Before he went to heaven Jesus chose his 12 servants. The Holy Spirit helped Jesus to give commands to them.”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi; “And I told you all Jesus did until he went to heaven. When He lived here on earth the Holy Spirit of God told Jesus what to tell the apostles to do. The apostles are the ones Jesus had chosen.” (Source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)