salvation

Click here to view graphically

The Greek that is translated with “salvation” in English is translated in the following ways:

  • San Blas Kuna: “receive help for bad deeds” (“this help is not just any kind of help but help for the soul which has sinned)
  • Northwestern Dinka: “help as to his soul” (“or literally, ‘his breath'”) (source for this and the one above: Nida 1952, p. 140)
  • Central Mazahua: “healing the heart” (source: Nida 1952, p. 40)
  • Tzeltal: col: “get loose,” “go free,” “get well” (source: Marianna C. Slocum in The Bible Translator 1958, p. 49f. )
  • Aari: “the day our Savior comes” (in Rom 13:11) (source: Loren Bliese)

in Mairasi its is translated as “life fruit” or “life fruit all mashed out.” Lloyd Peckham explains: “In secret stories, not knowable to women nor children, there was a magical fruit of life. If referred to vaguely, without specifying the specific ‘fruit,’ it can be an expression for eternity.” And for “all masked out” he 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.” (See also eternity / forever)

In Lisu a poetic construct is used for this term. Arrington (2020, p. 58f.) explains: “A four-word couplet uses Lisu poetic forms to bridge the abstract concrete divide, an essential divide to cross if Christian theology is to be understood by those with oral thought patterns. Each couplet uses three concrete nouns or verbs to express an abstract term. An example of this is the word for salvation, a quite abstract term essential to understanding Christian theology. To coin this new word, the missionary translators used a four-word couplet: ℲO., CYU. W: CYU (person … save … person … save). In this particular case, the word for person was not the ordinary word (ʁ) but rather the combination of ℲO., and W: used in oral poetry. The word for ‘save’ also had to be coined; in this case, it was borrowed from Chinese [from jiù / 救]. These aspects of Lisu poetry, originally based on animism, likely would have been lost as Lisu society encountered communism and modernization. Yet they are now codified in the Lisu Bible as well as the hymnbook.”

See also save.

human head hair

The Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew that is translated as “hair” in English is translated in Tzeltal as stsotsil sjol (Tzeltal de Oxchuc y Tenejapa) / stsotsel sjol (Tzeltal Bachajón): “blanket for the head.” (Source: Slocum / Watkins 1988, p. 35)

See also hair (body hair) and hairy (like Esau).

complete verse (Acts 27:34)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 27:34:

  • Uma: “So, that’s why I say to you, eat, if only a little, so that you will be strong. Because nothing will happen to you.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “That’s why I beg of you, eat first so that you can endure. Because none of you will perish.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “I beg you that you might eat so that you might be filled with strength so that you might be saved from this. Because there is not one of you that is not going to be saved by this which is going to happen to us.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “So please eat so you will have something-to-strengthen you to escape/survive this typhoon. Don’t worry, because absolutely none of us will die. Neither will anyone will injured.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Therefore, now, listen to me. It’s necessary that you eat a substantial meal, for it’s true, not even one strand of your hair will be lost.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 27:34

I beg you, eat some food may be rendered as “I ask very strongly, therefore, please eat some food” or “therefore I am asking you with strong words, Do eat some food.”

You need it in order to survive translates a noun phrase (literally “this is necessary for your salvation”) in which the word “salvation” is used in the sense of physical survival, as is the verb saved in verse 31. The New English Bible renders this as “your lives depend on it.” In order to survive is equivalent in some languages to “in order not to die.”

Not even a hair of your heads will be lost is a proverbial expression occurring frequently in the Old Testament; it means, of course, “no harm will come to you.” The equivalent of this expression in some languages is “you will in no way be harmed” or “you will not suffer at all.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .