The Greek that is translated as “this is my blood of the covenant” is translated into Tase Naga as “this is my blood that caused the covenant to come into being.”
covenant
The Hebrew, Greek, and Latin that are translated as “covenant” in English are translated in a variety of ways. Here are some (back-) translations:
- Mossi: “helping promise”
- Vai: “a thing-time-bind” (i.e. “an arrangement agreed upon for a period of time”)
- Loma (Liberia): “agreement”
- Northwestern Dinka: “agreement which is tied up” (i.e. “secure and binding”)
- Chol: “a word which is left”
- Huastec: “a broken-off word” (“based on the concept of ‘breaking off a word’ and leaving it with the person with whom an agreement has been reached”)
- Tetelcingo Nahuatl: “a death command” (i.e. “a special term for testament”)
- Piro: “a promised word”
- Eastern Krahn: “a word between”
- Yaka: “promise that brings together” (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
- Nabak: alakŋaŋ or “tying the knot” (source: Fabian 2013, p. 156)
- Nyamwezi: ilagano: “agreement, contract, covenant, promise” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
- Q’anjob’al: “put mouths equal” (representing agreement) (source: Newberry and Kittie Cox in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. )
- Manikion, Indonesian: “God’s promise” (source: Daud Soesilo)
- Natügu: nzesz’tikr drtwr: “oneness of mind” (source: Brenda Boerger in Beerle-Moor / Voinov, p. 164)
- Tagalog: tipan: mutual promising on the part of two persons agreeing to do something (also has a romantic touch and denotes something secretive) (source: G. Henry Waterman in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 24ff. )
- Tagbanwa: “initiated-agreement” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Guhu-Samane: “The concept [in Mark 14:24 and Matthew 16:28] is not easy, but the ritual freeing of a fruit and nut preserve does afford some reference. Thus, ‘As they were drinking he said to them, ‘On behalf of many this poro provision [poro is the traditional religion] of my blood is released.’ (…) God is here seen as the great benefactor and man the grateful recipient.” (Source: Ernest Richert in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. )
Law (2013, p. 95) writes about how the Ancient Greek Septuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew berith was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments (click or tap here to read more):
“Right from the start we witness the influence of the Septuagint on the earliest expressions of the Christian faith. In the New Testament, Jesus speaks of his blood being a kaine diatheke, a ‘new covenant.’ The covenant is elucidated in Hebrews 8:8-12 and other texts, but it was preserved in the words of Jesus with this language in Luke 22:20 when at the Last Supper Jesus said, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Jesus’s blood was to provide the grounds for the ‘new covenant,’ in contrast to the old one his disciples knew from the Jewish scriptures (e.g., Jeremiah 31:31-34). Thus, the earliest Christians accepted the Jewish Scriptures as prophecies about Jesus and in time began to call the collection the ‘Old Testament’ and the writings about Jesus and early Christianity the ‘New Testament,’ since ‘testament’ was another word for ‘covenant.’ The covenant promises of God (berith in Hebrew) were translated in the Septuagint with the word diatheke. In classical Greek diatheke had meant ‘last will, testament,’ but in the Septuagint it is the chosen equivalent for God’s covenant with his people. The author of Hebrews plays on the double meaning, and when Luke records Jesus’ announcement at the Last Supper that his blood was instituting a ‘new covenant,’ or a ‘new testament,’ he is using the language in an explicit contrast with the old covenant, found in the Jewish scriptures. Soon, the writings that would eventually be chosen to make up the texts about the life and teachings of Jesus and the earliest expression of the Christian faith would be called the New Testament. This very distinction between the Old and New Testaments is based on the Septuagint’s language.”
See also establish (covenant) and covenant (book).
complete verse (1 Corinthians 11:25)
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 11:25:
- Uma: “So also after they ate, he took a cup filled with wine, and he said: ‘The contents of this cup stand-for God’s new promise, the one that connects God and mankind, the one that is-fulfilled/brought-to-pass with my blood. Every time you drink [it], do this to remember me.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “Likewise also when they had finished eating, he took the glass and said, ‘This drink is a sign of God’s new covenant to you. God’s covenant is made certain/sure by my blood which is poured out. Whenever you drink like this, drink it so that you remember me.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then when they’d already eaten, Jesus got a cup full of drink and He said again, ‘As for this drink, this is the sign of the new way of being freed which God has established, and this is possible by means of my blood which will be shed, and when you drink this drink at any time, think about me,’ said Jesus.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “When they had eaten, like that likewise is what he did with the cup which he took and said, ‘This cup, it is God’s new agreement which my blood will-confirm/seal (lit. tie-the-knot-in). On each occasion-that-you -drink of this, you do this in order that you will thus-remember me.’ That is what the Lord Jesus commanded.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “After they had eaten he took hold of the cup(generic). He said, ‘As for the contents of this cup, it is the strength/pledge of God’s new initiated-agreement with people, this strength/pledge being none other than my own blood that I will shed. Every time you drink this, always do it like this as your remembrance also of me.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “Having eaten, he picked up a cup and said: ‘Concerning this, it is a sign that there is put in force the new agreement God makes with you when I have died, spilling my blood for you. Each time you drink this, remember that I died’, he said.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
pronoun for "God"
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff.) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal ta (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential ta (祂) is used.”
In Kouya, Godié, Northern Grebo, Eastern Krahn, Western Krahn, and Guiberoua Béte, all languages of the Kru family in Western Africa, a different kind of systems of pronouns is used (click or tap here to read more):
In that system one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and one for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff) explains in the following way: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff.)
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible, but most translations, especially those published in the 21st century, do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In both languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
See also this chapter in the World Atlas of Language Structures on different approaches to personal pronouns.
Translation: Chinese
在现代汉语中，第三人称单数代词的读音都是一样的（tā），但是写法并不一样，取决于性别以及是否有生命，即男性为“他”，女性为“她”，动物、植物和无生命事物为“它”（在香港和台湾的汉语使用，动物则为“牠”）。这些字的部首偏旁表明了性别（男人、女人、动物、无生命事物），而另一偏旁通常旁提示发音。
到1930年为止，基督教新教《圣经》经过整整一百年的翻译已经拥有了十几个译本，当时的一位圣经翻译者王元德新造了一个“神圣的”代词“祂”，偏旁“礻”表示神明。一般汉语读者会立即知道这字的发音是tā，而这个偏旁表示属灵的事物，因此他们明白这个字指出，三位一体的所有位格都没有性别之分，而单单是上帝。
然而，最重要的新教圣经译本（1919年的《和合本》）和天主教圣经译本（1968年的《思高圣经》）都没有采用“祂”；虽然如此，许多其他的圣经译本采用了这个字，另外还广泛出现在赞美诗和其他基督信仰的书刊中。（资料来源：Zetzsche）
《吕振中译本》的几个早期版本也使用“祂”来指称“上帝”；这个译本的《新约》于1946年译成，整部《圣经》于1970年完成。克拉默斯（Kramers）指出：“‘他’的这种新写法（即‘祂’）产生了一个小问题，就是在指称耶稣的时候，是否一律使用这个敬语代词？《吕振中译本》遵循的原则是，在称呼耶稣这个人的时候，用一般的‘他’，而在称呼耶稣神性的时候，特别是升天之后的耶稣，则用尊称‘祂’。”
Translator: Simon Wong
Translation commentary on 1 Corinthians 11:25
In the same way: here, as in verse 24, attention is focused on the actions of Jesus rather than on the bread and wine themselves. Bruce comments: “as he had taken the bread and given thanks for it, so he took the cup and gave thanks for it.”
The in front of cup shows that Paul is referring to a particular cup, either the cup of wine drunk after the Passover meal, or the cup, well known to the readers, which formed part of their regular celebration of the Lord’s supper. Translators need to find a natural way in the receptor language to indicate this.
As in verse 20, supper should be translated in such a way as to make it clear that a real meal was in progress, both at the Last Supper itself, and in the Lord’s Supper as it was celebrated at Corinth and elsewhere.
The idea of the new covenant can best be understood in the light of Jer 31.31-34; the words in my blood recall Exo 24.8. New covenant is found also in Luke 22.20. The basic meaning of covenant is that of an agreement, normally between two parties. In the Old Testament the term covenant was specially used of the inevitably one-sided agreement by which God claimed Israel as his special people and gave himself to Israel as their God. In many languages there is no parallel to this idea apart from language based on the Bible. Good News Bible and some other common language translations try to bring out the meaning by adding “God’s,” but covenant is not used in modern secular English except in the sense of a financial arrangement. An American Translation and Phillips translate “agreement,” which has a somewhat wider range of meaning in English than covenant. Barclay translates “This cup stands for the new relationship with God made possible at the cost of my death.” Whatever expression the translator chooses, he or she must carefully examine its meaning in common language to avoid misunderstanding or lack of understanding by the readers of the translation. See A Translator’s Handbook on the Letter to the Hebrews Appendix B, on “The Translation of ‘Covenant.’ ”
In my blood (Good News Bible‘s “sealed in…”): the Greek may mean “by means of” or “at the cost of my blood”; compare Bijbel in Gewone Taal “ratified by,” Bible en français courant “guaranteed by,” Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente “established with,” Translator’s New Testament “made by my blood.” The grammar of this sentence is understood in different ways. The two most likely meanings are (1) to take my blood with This cup, meaning “if the cup is a cup of the covenant, it is because of my blood”; and (2) to take the phrase “sealed with my blood” (Good News Bible) with new covenant. Good News Bible and most translations and commentaries favor the second.
In verse 25b the words translated as often as you drink it may mean “as often as you drink wine” (Barrett), suggesting that bread, but not wine, was a normal article of diet. However, the context suggests rather “as often as you drink wine in celebrating the Lord’s Supper.” In many languages, including English, it is not natural to speak of drinking a cup. In such cases it will be necessary for reasons of style to translate “each time you drink wine from it,” that is, “from this cup,” as in verse 26. There is nothing in the Greek to suggest how often the Lord’s Supper was celebrated at Corinth.
The words Do this may be expanded to “You should do this.”
In remembrance: see comments on verse 24.
The final sentence can be translated as “Whenever you drink wine from this cup, you should do it in memory of me.”
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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