The concept that is expressed as “mind” in English is translated as “head-heart” in Yatzachi Zapotec. This concept is applied to terms that are translated in English as “fellowship” (“head-hearts are one”), the “inner-self” (“have no evil” is “have no evil in our head-hearts”), “eye” (in the sense of “understanding”), “heart” and “soul.”
Source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation November 1964, p. 1-22.
The Greek that is translated with the capitalized “Father” in English when referring to God is translated in Highland Totonac with the regular word for (biological) father to which a suffix is added to indicate respect. The same also is used for “Lord” when referring to Jesus. (Source: Hermann Aschmann in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 171ff. )
The Greek that is often translated as “flesh” in English (when referring to the lower human nature) can, according to Nida (1947, p. 153) “very rarely be literally translated into another language. ‘My meat’ or ‘my muscle’ does not make sense in most languages.” He then gives a catalog of almost 30 questions to determine a correct translation for that term.
The Toraja-Sa’dan translation uses a variety of terms for the translation of the same Greek term (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight)
A form of kale tolinona or “corporeal” is for instance used in Romans 9:5 or Colossians 1:22 (and also in Genesis 6:3 and Exodus 30:32)
A form of mentolinona or “the human” is for instance used in Matthew 16:17 or John 1:14
Phrases that include pa’kalean or “bodiliness” (also: “human shape”) are for instance used in Romans 6:6 or 1 Peter 2:11 (as well as in Isa 52:14, Isa 53:2, and Lamentations 4:7
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “world” in English is translated in Mandarin Chinese with shìjiè (世界). While shìjiè is now the commonly used term for “world” in Chinese, it was popularized as such by Chinese Bible translations. (Source: Mak 2017, p. 241ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 John 2:16:
Uma: “For all that is in this world–like the evil desires of our hearts, what we see and we desire, whatever makes-high [i.e.,, haughty] our hearts–all that sort of thing is not from our Father, it is from the world [emphatic].” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Because all that belongs to this world, that means the bad things that ones (dual) body/person craves, and (the things) that one (dual) sees and craves and (the things) that mankind boasts-about, all these (things) are only of this world and are not from our (dual) Father God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For as for any kind of evil behaviour here on the earth, like evil desires or the evil things which are seen and desired by people, or their causing themselves to be praised because of the possessions they have acquired, these things do not come from our Father God, rather they just come from here on the earth.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Because all that are like these: the bad-things that sinful people love/want, their coveting (lit. grabbing-after) what they see, and their boasting about their possessions and their status, it is not God our Father who is their source but rather they are from this earth.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Because as for all the evil here under the heavens, it really is opposed to God. Like the habit of indulging our own desire which is evil, the habit of wanting to get everything one sees, and the habit of being conceited about the things in our lives. These ways/habits didn’t come from God the Father, but rather they come from here under the heavens.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Because all the evil here in the world is not the decision of God, rather it is the decision of people themselves. People do their own pleasures. What all they see, they want to own it all. And they pride themselves about how they live.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Yatzachi Zapotec: “All these things people do who are in this world: they do evil which their evil head-hearts desire intensely, and they do evil which they want to do by reason of what they see, and they are proud of their possessions. The people who do like that think only of what happens on this earth. They do not do what our father God wants.”
Eastern Highland Otomi: “Because all the deeds of the world, God didn’t cause (prescribe, ordain) them like doing one’s own will, and the sins which one’s heart likes, and when one is proud because of what he possesses. But doings like these originated here in the world.”
Tzotzil: “The people (unbelieving) who are here in the world, their hearts are taken up with what their bodies want and what looks nice to their eyes, and what they are proud about (raise themselves up about), our (in) Father God does not want that we (in) still do this also like the people do.”
Sayula Popoluca: “Because all that is in this world, the evil our heart begs for, and we want that evil we see, and if we boast because of our possessions, these things our father doesn’t give, but this world gives them.” (Source for this and three above: John Beekman in Notes on Translation 12, November 1964, p. 1ff.)
This verse serves to show why love for the world and love for God cannot go together.
All that is in the world takes up “the things in the world” (verse 15) but emphasizes it by adding all. The three following phrases are given not as an exhaustive enumeration but by way of characteristic examples of “all that is in the world.”
The lust of the flesh, or ‘what the flesh lusts after (or desires, or is hungry for)’: this expression includes sexual desires and sensuality, but its reference is not restricted to this (as is shown, for example, by Gal 5.16-24).
The Greek term translated as lust may have the meaning of “longing.” In cases like the present one and verse 17, however, it is used in an unfavorable sense, ‘sinful longing,’ ‘to desire what is unlawful’.
Flesh is, again, a term with various shades of meaning. The principal ones are: (1) the soft substance of which the body is composed (as in Luke 24.39); (2) body (as in Heb 9.10); (3) man, compare “all flesh” in the sense of “all men” (as in Luke 3.6); (4) the physical, corporeal nature and existence of man, with all restrictions inherent in the fact that he and his emotions are “only human” (as in 1 John 4.2; 2 John 7); and (5) human nature and existence, ruled by sin and bearing the consequences of sin (as in Rom 8.5 and in the present verse).
As with world the use of one rendering in all contexts would be the ideal solution. This has actually been tried in several older and some modern versions. Such consistency, however, is often in conflict with the demands of meaningful translation.
On the other hand, one should not differentiate and specify more than is needed to be meaningful and idiomatic. Renderings of (4) and (5), for instance, can often be built on the same expression; for example, ‘the self,’ ‘human/physical nature,’ ‘what is-human (literally is-like-man-on-earth).’ To such renderings one may have to add a qualification in passages where the negative connotation of (5) is not clear from the context; for example, “the sinful self” (Good News Translation), ‘man’s evil nature.’
In the present verse the above-mentioned considerations may result in renderings like ‘the (bad) desires of man’s nature,’ ‘what man’s sinful heart is longing for,’ ‘what men, sinners as they are, desire.’
The lust of the eyes, or ‘what the eyes lust after’: by adding this phrase John emphasizes that man’s desires are aroused chiefly by what he sees, an idea often expressed in the Old and the New Testament. If a shift from noun to verb is required, another subject may have to be used, as in ‘what people want when they see it,’ “what people see and want” (Good News Translation), ‘that from which one cannot keep one’s eyes.’
The pride of life: the second noun, life, may be the goal of the act of being proud (compare “everything … that people are so proud of,” Good News Translation), or its agent, ‘the pride which life gives.’ The latter agrees with the interpretation of the two preceding phrases. With a further shift it leads to a rendering like ‘life which causes people to boast.’
The term used here for pride refers primarily to the behavior of a conceited and pretentious hypocrite who glorifies himself; hence renderings such as ‘bragging,’ ‘boasting.’ For these related concepts languages often possess idiomatic phrases; for example, ‘saying, “Look at me,” ’ ‘thinking oneself high (or big),’ ‘lifting oneself up,’ ‘making oneself a chief,’ ‘declaring “I outrank others,” ’ ‘answering haughtily.’
Life renders the Greek term bios (compare 1.1). The word is used here in the sense of what one needs to sustain life; hence, ‘property,’ ‘possessions,’ ‘riches.’
Is not of the Father but is of the world: the Greek preposition rendered “(out) of” indicates origin, here probably quality as it is determined by origin. Accordingly the sentence may be rendered ‘springs from the world, not from the Father,’ ‘does not have the quality of the Father but (has the quality) of the world,’ ‘has nothing to do with the Father but (has) everything (to do) with the world.’ “To be of the Father” is to be compared also with “to be born of him” (that is, of God) in verse 29.
† For other occurrences of “to be of” in John’s Letters, see 2.16b; 3.8, 12, 19; 4.1-2, 4, 6a, 7; 5.19; 3 John 11. Its negative counterpart is found in 2.16a, 19, 21; 3.10; 4.3, 6b. The subject of the verb usually is personal, but in a few cases impersonal, namely, “all that” in 2.16, “lie” in 2.21, “love” in 4.7. The object of the prepositional phrase is also personal, with a few exceptions, “the world” in 2.16 and 4.5, “the truth” in 2.21 and 3.19.
The meaning of the construction is always basically the same as the one it has here. The way that meaning has to be rendered may have to be different where features in the context, especially the classes of the participants, are different. For some such renderings see comments below on 2.19, 21; 3.8; 4.7.
Quoted with permission from Haas, C., de Jonge, M. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on The First Letter of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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