complete verse (Romans 2:15)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 2:15:

  • Uma: “From that behavior of theirs we clearly know that there are commands from the Lord’s Law written in their heart. From their thinking also we know that there are laws in their heart, for they say in their hearts: ‘That action is wrong,’ or they say: ‘That action is good.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “It is seen by their deeds that they know in their livers as to what is said in the law of Musa. They know in their minds whether their deeds are good or bad. Sometimes they think that their deeds are bad and sometimes also they think that their deeds are good.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “By means of their good works, we can tell that their breath teaches them what is commanded by the Law. They know in their minds what is good and what is bad to do. For there are times when they say that their behavior is good, and times when they say that it’s bad.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Thus they show by what they do that the commands of the law are stored/put-away in their minds. Their minds also confirm that that is true, because their minds are the very-thing that tells them whether what they are doing is good or bad.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “By how they live it is apparent that they know in their thoughts the good which the law says to do. They know whether it is good or not good what they do.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

    • Central Mazahua: “Those who aren’t Jews, when they do good, it is seen that they know in their hearts what the law says. They know in their hearts when they do good, when they do bad. Their thoughts, sometimes they think, Why did I do bad? Sometimes they know that they did good.”

  • Hopi: “For he who walks that way shows that he has a law in his heart. And he knows quickly when he has sinned. And he knows when he has done right.”
  • Isthmus Zapotec: “In this way they show they already have the law in their hearts. All by themselves they realize what is right and their minds make them understand if they are erring or if they are doing right.”
  • Central Tarahumara: “And they thus show that they obey well a commandment which is written like there in their hearts. And they know well in their own hearts that they are thus ordered, because they are accused by their own thoughts when they do evil. And they are not thus accused when they do good.” (Source for this and two above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

complete verse (Romans 2:29)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 2:29:

  • Uma: “Jews who are really God’s people, are people who are/become Jews in their hearts, and who are circumcised in their hearts. That means the work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts makes them God’s people, they did not become God’s people from their following written laws. People like that are the ones God praises. Even though men do not praise them, God will still praise them.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But the real Yahudi, is a person whose liver has been made new by God’s Spirit. His following/obeying the law is not what makes his liver new. This person even if his fellow human beings do not praise him yet God praises him.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “In the same way also the true Jew is the person whose breath has been marked by God by means of the Holy Spirit and not by means of obeying the Law. And a person like this, it may be that he is not praised by his fellow men. However, he by contrast will be praised by God.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because the true Jew, I mean to say, the true person of God, it is not the person who is like a Jew in appearance and in custom only but rather it is the person whose thoughts are right. The circumcision moreover that is valuable in God’s estimation, it is not the circumcision of part of the body but rather it is the removal of evil from a person’s mind which is the work of the Spirit of God, not the work of the written law. The person who is like this, even though his companions don’t praise him, God praises him nonetheless.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “He who truly is God’s people, is the one who sets his heart on separating from evil. This is the person whom God looks well upon, even though people don’t look well upon that person.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Mezquital Otomi: “But the true Jew is he who obeys God in his heart, and that true sign in that which is inside a clean heart. This true sign is that which God does in one’s life principle, it is not that made in the body as written in the law. People will elevate the honor of the Jews just in appearance, but God is the one who will elevate the honor of those who are truly Jews in their hearts.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

complete verse (Romans 3:7)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 3:7:

  • Uma: “So, maybe there are some who think like this: ‘If it is really because of our crooked actions that God’s uprightness ends up being more apparent and he is praised, why does he punish us because of our sins?'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Perhaps you say, ‘As for me, even if I lie, yet because of my lie it becomes even more clear that God does not lie therefore he is praised. Na, why does God judge me that I am a sinner and-what’s-more he is praised because of my sin?'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And there are also some foolish people who say, ‘It’s better if we tell lies because when people realize that we are liars they will think that God, by contrast, is not a liar, and they will praise Him and that will be very good. And if by means of our lies it is made clear that the words of God are by contrast true, why are we still punished because of our lies?'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “There is perhaps someone who is answering-back saying, ‘I oughtn’t to be condemned to be punished on account of my lies, because on account of my lies, the trueness of God’s word is increasingly seen and he is honored/praised thereby.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But if one lies, then it makes it apparent that God’s word is supremely good because He never lies. Then is it possible that we say it is not right to be judged for our sins?” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “And there is another foolish word that those people say. They say we can know that very fine are the true words that God speaks. Because very different is his word from the lying words which we speak. So say they. So therefore it is good that we tell lies and it isn’t right that God should say that we bear sin, say they.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

complete verse (Romans 3:13)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 3:13:

  • Uma: “‘Their words are dirty and shameful, Deceiving words appear on their lips.’ ‘Their words hurt the hearts of others, like the bite of a dalimoo’ [small poisonous snake].'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Their words are not good, like figuratively a grave not covered having a rotten odor. They always lie. Their words when they slander their companions are very venomous like a snake’s venom when it strikes, because their words really destroy.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “What they talk about is very ugly and filthy. It’s like the stink from a grave that has not been covered up. They are liars, and what they say is like the sting of a snake, because it causes their companion’s breath to be very painful (it hurts the feelings of their companions).” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Their mouths are like stinking graves, because the words they utter (lit. cause-to-come-out) are filthy. They use their words to deceive their fellows and what they say is destructive like the poison of a snake.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “When people speak, it is like there has been opened up where a corpse is placed. Like this is the badness of the word they speak. All is lies they speak. Death accompanies their words, like a poisonous snake when it bites a person has poison where it bites.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Hopi: “Their throat is like an open grave. Dirty words come therefrom. By their tongue they deceive people. Their words are like the poison of rattlesnakes.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

complete verse (Romans 3:15)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 3:15:

  • Uma: “‘They are always ready-to-fight, wanting to kill others.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “They easily hurt and kill.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And that’s not all, for they can easily murder.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “It is easy for them to murder,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Only killing do they want.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “They kill people at slight provocation.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

complete verse (Romans 3:16)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 3:16:

  • Uma: “Wherever they go they bring evil and suffering.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Wherever they go many are destroyed by them, and they carry sadness/troubles to people.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Wherever they go they destroy and they bring hardship.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “and no matter where (lit. even wherever) they go, there are those whom they ruin and cause-to-be-piteous.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “There where they go, always they ruin the people.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Isthmus Zapotec: “Wherever they pass by they destroy and in that place will remain pain for others.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

complete verse (Romans 3:17)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 3:17:

  • Uma: “They refuse to seek harmony.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “They do not want to live peacefully/harmoniously.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “They do not know about the peaceful custom.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “They have not walked-on the path which leads to harmony and peace,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Concerning how to bring about that people stop fighting, they do not know about this.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Teutila Cuicatec: “They don’t even know how to live well together.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

complete verse (Romans 3:18)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 3:18:

  • Uma: “‘They do not know at all how to submit to God.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “They have no fear of God.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And they also do not think that they should be afraid to sin against God.’ This is what the written word of God says.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “and neither do they know how to fear God.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Neither does there come into their hearts that they respect God.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Tzeltal: “Not the slightest do they lower their eyes from fear of God, it says.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)