The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin terms that are typically translated as “mercy” (or “compassion” or “kindness”) in English are translated in various ways. Bratcher / Nida classify them in (1) those based on the quality of heart, or other psychological center, (2) those which introduce the concept of weeping or extreme sorrow, (3) those which involve willingness to look upon and recognize the condition of others, or (4) those which involve a variety of intense feelings.
While the Englishmercy originates from the Latinmerces, originally “price paid,” Romance languages (Italian, Spanish, Corsican, Catalan) and other Germanic languages (German, Swedish, Danish — Barmherzigkeit, barmhärtighet and barmhjertighed, respectively) tend to follow the Latin misericordia, lit. “misery-heart.”
Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Timothy 1:16:
Uma: “But as for Onesiforus, many times he comforted me. For even though I was imprisoned, he wasn’t ashamed to visit me. When he arrived here in Roma, he exerted effort to search for me until he met with me. And you yourself know how much was his help to me before [lit., yesterday] when I was in Efesus. I call out to the Lord, I request that he bless all the relatives of Onesiforus, and that he show love to Onesiforus on the Judgment Day.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “But as for Onesiporos and family may God pity/have mercy on them all because Onesiporus often encouraged my liver. He was not ashamed to visit me even though I am here in prison.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “However, may the Lord show mercy to Onesiphorus and his family, for he is always helping me here in my troubles. He is not ashamed to visit me, a prisoner,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “But as for Onesiforus, may God show-mercy/grace to all them who are a family-unit, because many times he was making-me-happy. He was also not ashamed at my being-in-chains,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “However as for Onesiforo, he was always encouraging me (lit.strengthening my mind/inner-being) when he was still here, therefore I pray that hopefully his household will always be shown grace/mercy by the Lord. For Onesiforo really isn’t ashamed of me, even though I’m a prisoner.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “But concerning Onesiphorus, may God bless all who live in his house. Because many times he comforted me. He was not ashamed because I was in prison.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The Hebrew adonai in the Old Testament typically refers to God. The shorter adon (and in two cases in the book of Daniel the Aramaic mare [מָרֵא]) is also used to refer to God but more often for concepts like “master,” “owner,” etc. In English Bible translations all of those are translated with “Lord” if they refer to God.
In English Old Testament translations, as in Old Testament translations in many other languages, the use of Lord (or an equivalent term in other languages) is not to be confused with Lord (or the equivalent term with a different typographical display for other languages). While the former translates adonai, adon and mare, the latter is a translation for the tetragrammaton (YHWH) or the Name of God. See tetragrammaton (YHWH) and the article by Andy Warren-Rothlin in Noss / Houser, p. 618ff. for more information.
In the New Testament, the Greek term kurios has at least four different kinds of use:
referring to “God,” especially in Old Testament quotations,
meaning “master” or “owner,” especially in parables, etc.,
as a form of address (see for instance John 4:11: “Sir, you have no bucket”),
or, most often, referring to Jesus
In the first and fourth case, it is also translated as “Lord” in English.
Most languages naturally don’t have one word that covers all these meanings. According to Bratcher / Nida, “the alternatives are usually (1) a term which is an honorific title of respect for a high-ranking person and (2) a word meaning ‘boss’, ‘master’, or ‘chief.’ (…) and on the whole it has generally seemed better to employ a word of the second category, in order to emphasize the immediate personal relationship, and then by context to build into the word the prestigeful character, since its very association with Jesus Christ will tend to accomplish this purpose.”
When looking at the following list of back-translations of the terms that translators in the different languages have used for both kurios and adonai to refer to God and Jesus respectively, it might be helpful for English readers to recall the etymology of the English “Lord.” While this term might have gained an exalted meaning in the understanding of many, it actually comes from hlaford or “loaf-ward,” referring to the lord of the castle who was the keeper of the bread (source: Rosin 1956, p. 121).
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Following are some of the solutions that don’t rely on a different typographical display (see above):
Iyansi: Mwol. Mwol is traditionally used for the “chief of a group of communities and villages” with legal, temporal, and spiritual authority (versus the “mfum [the term used in other Bantu languages] which is used for the chief of one community of people in one village”). Mwol is also used for twins who are “treated as special children, highly honored, and taken care of like kings and queens.” (Source: Kividi Kikama in Greed / Kruger, p. 396ff.)
Binumarien: Karaambaia: “fight-leader” (Source: Oates 1995, p. 255)
Warlpiri: Warlaljamarri (owner or possessor of something — for more information tap or click here)
We have come to rely on another term which emphasizes God’s essential nature as YHWH, namely jukurrarnu (see tetragrammaton (YHWH)). This word is built on the same root jukurr– as is jukurrpa, ‘dreaming.’ Its basic meaning is ‘timelessness’ and it is used to describe physical features of the land which are viewed as always being there. Some speakers view jukurrarnu in terms of ‘history.’ In all Genesis references to YHWH we have used Kaatu Jukurrarnu. In all Mark passages where kurios refers to God and not specifically to Christ we have also used Kaatu Jukurrarnu.
New Testament references to Christ as kurios are handled differently. At one stage we experimented with the term Watirirririrri which refers to a ceremonial boss of highest rank who has the authority to instigate ceremonies. While adequately conveying the sense of Christ’s authority, there remained potential negative connotations relating to Warlpiri ceremonial life of which we might be unaware.
Here it is that the Holy Spirit led us to make a chance discovery. Transcribing the personal testimony of the local Warlpiri pastor, I noticed that he described how ‘my Warlaljamarri called and embraced me (to the faith)’. Warlaljamarri is based on the root warlalja which means variously ‘family, possessions, belongingness’. A warlaljamarri is the ‘owner’ or ‘possessor’ of something. While previously being aware of the ‘ownership’ aspect of warlaljamarri, this was the first time I had heard it applied spontaneously and naturally in a fashion which did justice to the entire concept of ‘Lordship’. Thus references to Christ as kurios are now being handled by Warlaljamarri.” (Source: Stephen Swartz, The Bible Translator 1985, p. 415ff. )
Mairasi: Onggoao Nem (“Throated One” — “Leader,” “Elder”) or Enggavot Nan (“Above-One”) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Obolo: Okaan̄-ene (“Owner of person(s)”) (source: Enene Enene)
Lotha Naga: Opvui (“owner of house / field / cattle”) — since both “Lord” and YHWH are translated as Opvui there is an understanding that “Opvui Jesus is the same as the Opvui of the Old Testament”
Seediq: Tholang, loan word from Min Nan Chinese (the majority language in Taiwan) thâu-lâng (頭儂): “Master” (source: Covell 1998, p. 248)
Thai: phra’ phu pen cao (พระผู้เป็นเจ้า) (divine person who is lord) or ong(kh) cao nay (องค์เจ้านาย) (<divine classifier>-lord-boss) (source: Stephen Pattemore)
Arabic often uses different terms for adonai or kurios referring to God (al-rabb الرب) and kurios referring to Jesus (al-sayyid الـسـيـد). Al-rabb is also the term traditionally used in Arabic Christian-idiom translations for YHWH, and al-sayyid is an honorary term, similar to English “lord” or “sir” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin).
Tamil also uses different terms for adonai/kurios when referring to God and kurios when referring to Jesus. The former is Karttar கர்த்தர், a Sanskrit-derived term with the original meaning of “creator,” and the latter in Āṇṭavar ஆண்டவர், a Tamil term originally meaning “govern” or “reign” (source: Natarajan Subramani).
Burunge: Looimoo: “owner who owns everything” (in the Burunge Bible translation, this term is only used as a reference to Jesus and was originally used to refer to the traditional highest deity — source: Michael Endl in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 48)
Aguacateco: Ajcaw ske’j: “the one to whom we belong and who is above us” (source: Rita Peterson in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 49)
Konkomba: Tidindaan: “He who is the owner of the land and reigns over the people” (source: Lidorio 2007, p. 66)
Law (2013, p. 97) writes about how the Ancient GreekSeptuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew adonai was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments: “Another case is the use of kurios referring to Jesus. For Yahweh (in English Bibles: ‘the Lord‘), the Septuagint uses kurios. Although the term kurios usually has to do with one’s authority over others, when the New Testament authors use this word from the Septuagint to refer to Jesus, they are making an extraordinary claim: Jesus of Nazareth is to be identified with Yahweh.”
As if to make sure that all in the previous verse should not be taken too literally, Paul immediately mentions one Asian Christian who has been a big help to him. Onesiphorus is mentioned only here and in 4.19; except for the information in these two verses, nothing more is known about him and his family. The meaning of the name is “profit-bearer.” But of course, as is the usual practice in translations, names are not usually translated but transliterated. In the present passage we are told of two positive things about him but in reverse order: he often refreshed Paul while he (Paul) was in prison; and he was not ashamed of Paul’s chains.
The subjunctive form of the verb for grant produces in English the verb phrase May … grant. In many languages a sentence with such a verb phrase is understood simply as a wish; in this context, however, it is better understood as a prayer, and the sentence can therefore be restructured as “I pray that the Lord” (as in Contemporary English Version “I pray that the Lord will be kind to the family of Onesiphorus”).
Lord once again is ambiguous, but in view of the general usage of this term in the Pastorals, it may be best to understand the word as referring to Christ rather than to God.
For mercy see 1 Tim 1.2.
Household is literally “house,” which very often is used for the family (so Good News Translation); it should be noted, however, that at that time the family included not only the parents and the children, but also other people who lived with the family, including servants and slaves, whenever these were present.
The word for refreshed occurs only here in the whole New Testament. Literally the verb means “to cool off,” hence to “relieve,” “refresh.” Onesiphorus has done this often, that is, many times on many different occasions. Refreshed may also be rendered as “cause to be happy” or “make the heart happy.”
For ashamed see 1.8.
The word for chains appears only here in the Pastoral Letters. It is a symbol of captivity, that is, of being a prisoner. During that time both the hands and the feet of prisoners were bound in chains usually made of heavy iron. This does not necessarily mean that Paul was in chains, but he is using chains here as a symbol of his imprisonment (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version “when I was put in jail”).
Of special interest to the translator is the fact that verse 16 is part of a long sentence that includes both verses 17 and 18. It may be advisable to subdivide this long sentence into several short sentences, as many translations have done.
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1995. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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