eternity, forever, forever and ever

The Greek that is typically translated as “eternity,” “forever,” or “forever and ever” in English are translated in Mairasi as “mashed out infinitely.” Lloyd Peckham explains: “Bark cloth required pounding. It got longer and wider as it got pounded. Similarly, life gets pounded or mashed to lengthen it into infinity. Tubers also get mashed into the standard way of serving the staple food, like the fufu of Uganda, or like poi of Hawaii. It spreads out into infinity.” (Source: Lloyd Peckham)

In Lisu the phrase “forever and ever” is translated as ꓕꓲꓽ ꓞꓲꓼ ꓕꓲ ꓑ — thi tsi thi pa, verbatim translated as “one – lifetime – one – world.” This construction follows a traditional four-couplet construct in oral Lisu poetry that is usually in the form ABAC or ABCB. (Source: Arrington 2020, p. 57f.)

See also forever, eternal life and salvation.

complete verse (2 Corinthians 9:9)

Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Corinthians 9:9:

  • Uma: “Like is written in the Holy Book long ago: ‘God distributes blessings to people who are pitiable. There is no end to the goodness of his heart.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “It is written in the holy-book about a person who gives generously, it says, ‘He gives generously to the poor people. This his good doing will not stop forever.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “There is a written word of God which says, ‘God always gives much to the poor; His kindness will never be forgotten forever.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “It’s like what God caused-to-be-written concerning the righteous person which says, ‘He gives much to the poor, so his goodness will not be forgotten forever.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For like what-it-says in the written word of God which says, ‘He is happy who gives (financial) help to the poor. Truly this good (work) that he is doing will not be forgotten for ever.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The Holy Book says: ‘Concerning the good person, in that he overflowingly helps the poor, he will not lack for what he gives.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

righteous, righteousness

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The Greek, Hebrew, and Latin terms that are translated in English mostly as “righteous” as an adjective or personified noun or “righteousness” (also as “justice”) are most commonly expressed with concept of “straightness,” though this may be expressed in a number of ways. (Click or tap here to see the details)

Following is a list of (back-) translations of various languages:

  • Bambara, Southern Bobo Madaré, Chokwe (ululi), Amganad Ifugao, Chol, Eastern Maninkakan, Toraja-Sa’dan, Pamona, Batak Toba, Bilua, Tiv: “be straight”
  • Laka: “follow the straight way” or “to straight-straight” (a reduplicated form for emphasis)
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl, Kekchí, Muna: “have a straight heart”
  • Kipsigis: “do the truth”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “do according to the truth”
  • Huautla Mazatec: “have truth”
  • Yine: “fulfill what one should do”
  • Indonesian: “be true”
  • Navajo: “do just so”
  • Anuak: “do as it should be”
  • Mossi: “have a white stomach” (see also happiness / joy)
  • Paasaal: “white heart” (source: Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
  • Nuer: “way of right” (“there is a complex concept of “right” vs. ‘left’ in Nuer where ‘right’ indicates that which is masculine, strong, good, and moral, and ‘left’ denotes what is feminine, weak, and sinful (a strictly masculine viewpoint!) The ‘way of right’ is therefore righteousness, but of course women may also attain this way, for the opposition is more classificatory than descriptive.”) (This and all above from Bratcher / Nida except for Bilua: Carl Gross; Tiv: Rob Koops; Muna: René van den Berg)
  • Central Subanen: “wise-good” (source: Robert Brichoux in OPTAT 1988/2, p. 80ff. )
  • Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “live well”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “goodness before the face of God” (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl: “the result of heart-straightening” (source: Nida 1947, p. 224)
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “entirely good” (when referred to God), “do good” or “not be a debtor as God sees one” (when referred to people)
  • Carib: “level”
  • Tzotzil: “straight-hearted”
  • Ojitlán Chinantec: “right and straight”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “walk straight” (source for this and four previous: John Beekman in Notes on Translation November 1964, p. 1-22)
  • Aari: The Pauline word for “righteous” is generally rendered by “makes one without sin” in the Aari, sometimes “before God” is added for clarity. (Source: Loren Bliese)
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun: “having sin taken away” (Source: Nida 1952, p. 144)
  • Nyamwezi: wa lole: “just” or “someone who follows the law of God” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Venda: “nothing wrong, OK” (Source: J.A. van Roy in The Bible Translator 1972, p. 418ff. )
  • Ekari: maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (the same word that is also used for “truth“; bokouto — “enormous” — is being used as an attribute for abstract nouns to denote that they are of God [see also here]; source: Marion Doble in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 37ff. ).
  • Guhu-Samane: pobi or “right” (also: “right (side),” “(legal) right,” “straightness,” “correction,” “south,” “possession,” “pertinence,” “kingdom,” “fame,” “information,” or “speech” — “According to [Guhu-Samane] thinking there is a common core of meaning among all these glosses. Even from an English point of view the first five can be seen to be closely related, simply because of their similarity in English. However, from that point the nuances of meaning are not so apparent. They relate in some such a fashion as this: As one faces the morning sun, south lies to the right hand (as north lies to the left); then at one’s right hand are his possessions and whatever pertains to him; thus, a rich man’s many possessions and scope of power and influence is his kingdom; so, the rich and other important people encounter fame; and all of this spreads as information and forms most of the framework of the people’s speech.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in Notes on Translation 1964, p. 11ff.)

See also respectable, righteous, righteous (person), and She is more in the right(eous) than I.

Translation commentary on 2 Corinthians 9:9

As it is written: Good News Translation, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Revised English Bible make explicit that this quotation comes from the “scripture” (see also 3.16; 8.15; 10.17; 13.1). Paul is quoting directly from the Septuagint translation of Psa 112.9. But since the quotation is not from the Hebrew original, the receptor language translation of this verse need not look exactly like the rendering of the verse in the Psalms.

He … his: the referent of these two pronouns is debated by scholars. Though some understand the reference to be to God (Contemporary English Version “God freely gives…”), it is unlikely that God is the intended subject of the verb scatters, or that the later reference is to God’s righteousness. It is more likely that, as is clearly the case in Psalm 112, the righteousness is that of a person who fears the Lord (see verse 1 of that psalm).

Scatters abroad … gives to the poor: these two verbs are rendered by a single verb in several English translations (Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version, for example). The first is the opposite of “gathering in” but does not necessarily imply the sowing of seed. Here it probably means “be liberal or generous.” For this reason it may be translated by an adverb such as “generously” (Good News Translation) or “freely” (Translator’s New Testament). Revised English Bible includes this idea in the verb: “he lavishes his gifts on the needy.” Perhaps a more difficult problem is to decide whether the verb tenses should be present (Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, Contemporary English Version) or past (New International Version, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Anchor Bible). Though the verbs scatters and gives are past tense in Greek, they may be translated in the present tense or by habitual verb forms in many languages. Greek often used past tense verbs in axioms and proverbial statements.

Here in Hebrew parallelism righteousness perhaps means “acts of almsgiving.” In Hebrew the word for righteousness came to mean “almsgiving” in some contexts. Revised English Bible translates as “his benevolence lasts for ever.” Since this verse contains Hebrew parallelism, it is not likely that righteousness here has the sense of upright character in general, as it sometimes has in other contexts.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .