swear, vow

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “swear (an oath)” or “vow” is translated as “God sees me, I tell the truth to you” (Tzeltal), “loading yourself down” (Huichol), “to speak-stay” (implying permanence of the utterance) (Sayula Popoluca), “to say what he could not take away” (San Blas Kuna), “because of the tight (i.e. “binding”) word which he had said to her face” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “strong promise” (North Alaskan Inupiatun) (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida), “eat an oath” (Nyamwezi — source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext), or sswa nak/”drink an oath” (Jju — source: McKinney 2018, p. 31).

In Bauzi “swear” can be translated in various ways. In Hebrews 6:13, for instance, it is translated with “bones break apart and decisively speak.” (“No bones are literally broken but by saying ‘break bones’ it is like people swear by someone else in this case it is in relation to a rotting corpse’ bones falling apart. If you ‘break bones’ so to speak when you make an utterance, it is a true utterance.”) In other passages, such as in Matthew 26:72, it’s translated with an expression that implies taking ashes (“if a person wants everyone to know that he is telling the truth about a matter, he reaches down into the fireplace, scoops up some ashes and throws them while saying ‘I was not the one who did that.'”). So in Matthew 26:72 the Bauzi text is: “. . . Peter took ashes and defended himself saying, ‘I don’t know that Nazareth person.'” (Source: David Briley)

See also swear (promise) and Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’, or ‘No, No’.

complete verse (Hebrews 3:18)

Following are a number of back-translations of Hebrews 3:18:

  • Uma: “It was those Yahudi people that God referred with his swearing/oath that said: ‘They will really not be allowed to get the rest/stopping with me.’ He did not permit them to get his/the rest, for they did not submit to him.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “And about whom did God speak when he covenanted/promised, he said, ‘They really will not enter the land where I would have given them rest?’ They were the people who did not want to follow/obey him.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “There are still those people who, concerning them God said, He said, ‘They cannot enter into that land that I prepared that they might rest along with me.’ The reason He said this was they would not obey His word.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Who moreover are those to whom God said that he would never have-them -enter the resting-place that he had prepared? They indeed are those who refused to obey him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “And then, who also was he referring to (lit.causing-to-be-hit) by this that he vowed saying, ‘Truly they cannot rest under my care/jurisdiction in that place that I promised them’? Was he not referring to those who did not follow/obey his words?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “And you know that these people rejected the word God spoke. Therefore God said to these people: ‘Now you will not enter into the land I had decided that you should have as a place to rest with me,’ he said.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Hebrews 3:18

The first part of verse 18 must be translated in a way which reflects the rendering of verse 11. But as already noted, it may be necessary to eliminate the rhetorical question and make an emphatic statement; for example, “When God solemnly declared, ‘They will never enter the land where I would have given them rest,’ he was indeed speaking about those who rebelled” or “… refused to follow him.”

Rebelled translates a different Greek word from the one used in verse 16 (compare verses 8, 15) but one related to that used in 4.6. The meaning in this verse is “disobeyed,” but since a particular act of disobedience is intended, the two Greek words mean much the same. Different terms are used only to give variety.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Letter of the Hebrews. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .