There are no lions in Bawm country, so the Bawm Chin translation uses “a tiger with a mane” where the Greek term for “lion” is used and in Sranan Tongo the “roaring lion” in 1 Peter 5:8 is a krasi tigri, an “aggressive tiger.”
In the Kahua culture, lions are not known either so the Kahua translation used “fierce animal.”
In 1 Peter 5:8, the Uripiv translation uses “a hungry shark” instead of a roaring lion.
Sources: David Clark for Bawm Chin and Kahua, Japini 2015, p. 33, for Sranan Tongo, and Ross McKerras for Uripiv)
The Greek that is translated in English as “devil” is sometimes translated with indigenous specific names, such as “the avaricious one” in Tetelcingo Nahuatl, “the malicious deity” in Toraja-Sa’dan (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel), or in Yoruba as èṣù. “Èṣù is thought of as bringing evil, but also as giving protection. The birth of a child may be attributed to him, as the names given to some babies show, Èṣùbiyi (Èṣù brought this forth), and Èṣùtoyin (Èṣù is worthy of praise).” (Source: John Hargreaves in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 39ff. )
Other translations include:
Muna: Kafeompu’ando seetani or “Master of the evil-spirits” (source: René van den Berg)
Mairasi: owe er epar nan or “headman of malevolent spirits” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Ojitlán Chinantec: as “head of the worldlings” (source for the last two: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125).
Mandarin Chinesemóguǐ (魔鬼), literally “magical ghost.” This is a term that was adopted from Buddhist sources into early Catholic writings and later also by Protestant translators. (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 32)
In Lak and Shughni it is translated with terms of feminine gender. Vitaly Voinov tells this story (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):
“In the Lak language of Dagestan, the names ‘Iblis’ and ‘sheytan’ (referring to Satan and his minions, respectively) in this language were borrowed from the Arabic Islamic tradition, but they entered Lak as feminine nouns, not masculine nouns. This means that they grammatically function like nouns referring to females in Lak; in other words, Laks are likely to think of Iblis as a woman, not a man, because of the obligatory grammatical patterning of Lak noun classes. Thus, when the team explained (in Russian) what the Lak translation of Jesus’ wilderness temptation narrative at the beginning of Matthew 4 said, it sounded something like the following: ‘After this, the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by Iblis… .The temptress came to Jesus, and she said to Him…’
“Since this information (that the devil is a female spirit) is part of the very name used for Satan in Lak, nothing can really be done about this in the translation. The Lak translator did not think that the feminine gender of Iblis should cause any serious misunderstandings among readers, so we agreed to leave it in the translation. Prior to this, I had never heard about languages in which the devil is pictured as a woman, but recently I was told by a speaker of the Shughni language that in their language Sheytan is also feminine. This puts an interesting spin on things. The devil is of course a spirit, neither male nor female in a biologically-meaningful sense. But Bible translators are by nature very risk-aversive and, where possible, want to avoid any translation that might feed misleading information to readers. So what can a translator do about this? In many cases, such as the present one, one has to just accept the existing language structure and go on.”
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Peter 5:8:
Uma: “Be on the watch, and be careful. For the King of Evil-ones who is your enemy, he goes around like a lion that is roaring, hunting for those he can snatch-up-in-his-mouth.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Cause your thoughts/minds to be good and be careful/watch out. Your enemy, the leader of demons wants to annoy/attack you so that you no longer follow/obey God. He is like a growling lion going-back-and-forth looking-for/searching whom he can eat.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Be on your guard; watch, for our (incl.) enemy Satan wanders around like a growling lion, for he is looking for someone to seize.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Limit (i.e. don’t do to excess) what you do and be careful. Because our enemy who is the Diablo, he can-be-compared to a growling lion (layon) who wanders-around searching for what it will eat.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “It’s necessary that you be self-controlled and you are always alert-for-danger. Because your enemy Satanas, an illustration of him is a leon who is roaring, who is going back and forth looking for what he can tear-and-eat.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Control your thoughts, be good and watchful. Because your enemy is the devil and does like a wild animal which roars and goes about, looking for someone to eat.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The exhortations to humility in 5b-7 may be misunderstood by the readers as encouraging them to adopt an attitude of passive resignation to their plight. Therefore, in the next few verses Peter calls them back into a posture of vigilance, alertness, and firmness in their faith.
For Be alert, see notes on 1.13 and 4.7. In some languages Be alert may be rendered as “keep awake,” but it is more likely that Be alert can be rendered more satisfactorily as “be constantly ready.”
Be on watch obviously has a parallel meaning. The two verbs also occur together in 1 Thessalonians 5.6, which is part of an eschatological passage; separately they are also used in various eschatological passages (for example, Matt 24.42, 43; Luke 21.34-36; Rev 3.2, 3; 16.15; 2 Tim 4.5). In view of this, it is very probable that this posture of alertness is part of the Christian teaching regarding the end of the world. Be on watch may be rendered as “be ready for whatever may happen” or “be prepared for what will happen.” Because of the context which follows, one might be tempted to translate be on watch as “beware of,” but this is not the implication of the Greek text.
A new element is, however, introduced here; they are to be on guard because of the Devil. Two preliminary notes need to be made at this point. (1) References to the Devil are found in later books of the Old Testament, (for example, Zech 3.1; 1 Chr 21.1). It became quite popular in the last two centuries before the Christian era to portray the Devil as the prince of evil, the anti-Christ, God’s enemy, who nevertheless is allowed by God to have temporary dominion over the world (compare John 14.30; 1 John 5.19). (2) Christian eschatological belief accents the fact that in the age immediately before the end, the Devil will show forth his power in order to lead the believers astray (for example, Matt 24.4-28; 2 Thes 2.3-12; 2 Tim 3.1-9; Rev 20.7, 8).
Enemy (compare Matt 5.25) is literally “plaintiff” or “opponent in a lawsuit” (compare Prov 18.7), but in an extended sense is used to mean an enemy (compare Est 8.11). Devil also carries the same meaning (that is, “accuser”), but with the implication that the charge is false. It is possible, however, that Devil has already become a title or a name, and the Good News Translation indicates this understanding by capitalizing the word (also Barclay).
Both enemy and Devil are translations of the same Hebrew word Satan, which literally means “adversary” or “opponent,” that is, of God and his people.
In this context Your enemy may be readily rendered as “the one who is against you” or “the one who accuses you.” Such an expression must then be placed in apposition to the Devil.
In a number of languages a proper name for the Devil already exists, and it may therefore be employed. However, such a term may refer to a local evil demon which has certain characteristics which one may not wish to introduce into the Scriptures. Therefore, it is possible, as in some languages, to use a phrase for the Devil, namely, “the chief of the demons” or “the great demon.”
The Devil is compared to a roaring lion. The lion is chosen because of its nature as a cruel, ferocious beast of prey. In Judaism, the opponents of God and his people are frequently pictured as lions (for example, Psa 22.13 Revised Standard Version “They open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion”). Roams around may be reminiscent of Job 1.7, where Satan is described as “going to and fro on the earth, and … walking up and down on it” (Revised Standard Version). Roams around may be expressed as “goes from place to place” or “walks here and there” or “walks about.”
Like a roaring lion may be rendered as “like a lion who is roaring.” In some instances a term for lion is not known and therefore needs to be borrowed. This may require some kind of classifier so that one may use a phrase such as “a fierce animal called lion.”
Looking for someone to devour describes the typical activity of the lion. That the intended victims are the Christians is clear from someone. Devour is literally “swallow” or “drink down,” “eat up”; in the present context, it refers to the activity of the Devil in trying to destroy believers, particularly their faith, and lead them into apostasy, that is, to deny their faith in Jesus Christ. Implied in all these is the thought that the sufferings experienced by Christians are not simply the work of people, but are instigated by the Devil himself.
Rarely can one translate literally looking for someone to devour, since a term which relates to “eating” may not suggest the process of “destroying.” Therefore, one can sometimes better render looking for someone to devour as “looking for someone to destroy” or “… to ruin.”
There is a minor textual problem in that some manuscripts have “someone he may devour” instead of “someone to devour,” but in a dynamic equivalent translation, this would not present any difficulties, since the two variants have the same meaning.
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The First Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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