forgive, forgiveness

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The concept of “forgiveness” is expressed in varied ways through translations. Following is a list of (back-) translations from some languages:

  • Tswa, North Alaskan Inupiatun, Panao Huánuco Quechua: “forget about”
  • Navajo: “give back” (based on the idea that sin produces an indebtedness, which only the one who has been sinned against can restore)
  • Huichol, Shipibo-Conibo, Eastern Highland Otomi, Uduk, Tepo Krumen: “erase,” “wipe out,” “blot out”
  • Highland Totonac, Huautla Mazatec: “lose,” “make lacking”
  • Tzeltal: “lose another’s sin out of one’s heart”
  • Lahu, Burmese: “be released,” “be freed”
  • Ayacucho Quechua: “level off”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “cast away”
  • Chol: “pass by”
  • Wayuu: “make pass”
  • Kpelle: “turn one’s back on”
  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “cover over” (a figure of speech which is also employed in Hebrew, but which in many languages is not acceptable, because it implies “hiding” or “concealment”)
  • Tabasco Chontal, Huichol: “take away sins”
  • Toraja-Sa’dan, Javanese: “do away with sins”
  • San Blas Kuna: “erase the evil heart” (this and all above: Bratcher / Nida, except Tepo Krumen: Peter Thalmann in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 25f.)
  • Eggon: “withdraw the hand”
  • Mískito: “take a man’s fault out of your heart” (source of this and the one above: Kilgour, p. 80)
  • Western Parbate Kham: “unstring someone” (“hold a grudge” — “have someone strung up in your heart”) (source: Watters, p. 171)
  • Hawai’i Creole English: “let someone go” (source: Jost Zetzsche)
  • Cebuano: “go beyond” (based on saylo)
  • Iloko: “none” or “no more” (based on awan) (source for this and above: G. Henry Waterman in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 24ff. )
  • Tzotzil: ch’aybilxa: “it has been lost” (source: Aeilts, p. 118)
  • Suki: biaek eisaemauwa: “make heart soft” (Source L. and E. Twyman in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 91ff. )
  • Warao: “not being concerned with him clean your obonja.” Obonja is a term that “includes the concepts of consciousness, will, attitude, attention and a few other miscellaneous notions” (source: Henry Osborn in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 74ff. See other occurrences of Obojona in the Warao New Testament.)
  • Martu Wangka: “throw out badness” (source: Carl Gross)
  • Mairasi: “dismantle wrongs” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Nyulnyul: “have good heart” (source
  • Koonzime: “remove the bad deed-counters” (“The Koonzime lay out the deeds symbolically — usually strips of banana leaf — and rehearse their grievances with the person addressed.”) (Source: Keith and Mary Beavon in Notes on Translation 3/1996, p. 16)
  • Ngbaka: ele: “forgive and forget” (Margaret Hill [in Holzhausen & Ridere 2010, p. 8f.] recalls that originally there were two different words used in Ngbaka, one for God (ɛlɛ) and one for people (mbɔkɔ — excuse something) since it was felt that people might well forgive but, unlike God, can’t forget. See also this lectionary in The Christian Century .
  • Amahuaca: “erase” / “smooth over” (“It was an expression the people used for smoothing over dirt when marks or drawings had been made in it. It meant wiping off dust in which marks had been made, or wiping off writing on the blackboard. To wipe off the slate, to erase, to take completely away — it has a very wide meaning and applies very well to God’s wiping away sins, removing them from the record, taking them away.”) (Source: Robert Russel, quoted in Walls / Bennett 1959, p. 193)

See also this devotion on YouVersion .

Translation commentary on Hosea 1:6

She conceived again and bore a daughter: See 1.3. Good News Translation restructures this sentence to reflect English style: “Gomer had a second child—this time it was a daughter.” However, the element of repetition is obvious in the Hebrew text and reinforces the symbolic meaning of events. Translators should try to maintain this repetition. This verse begins with the Hebrew waw conjunction (literally “And”), which Contemporary English Version renders “Later.” In many languages the pronoun She has to be made explicit at the start of this new episode (so Good News Translation with “Gomer”). 1.3 says “bore him a son,” but here the text says simply bore a daughter. Hosea is not mentioned explicitly as the father, so some commentators believe that another man may have been the father. The normal way to understand this clause is that Hosea was the father, since Hebrew style does not waste words by repeating what would be understood. However, in this context it is quite possible that the second and third children had someone else as father, not Hosea. This is to be expected if the mother acted as a harlot. However, the translation should in no way make this explicit. The ambiguity of the text should be maintained in translation.

And the LORD said to him is literally “and he said to him.” In many cases the pronouns have to be made explicit here by saying “The LORD said to Hosea,” especially if the receptor language does not distinguish between masculine and feminine third person singular pronouns.

Call her name Not pitied, for …: The construction of this sentence is identical to the one in 1.4. In Hebrew an imperative, masculine, singular verb (rendered Call) is followed by the name and the conjunction translated for. We recommend that the translation of the structure is identical, so that the reader can easily recognize the pattern in the text.

It is better to translate the name Not pitied, as most modern versions do, rather than retain the Hebrew form of the name, which is Lo-ruchamah, since the meaning is needed immediately to clarify the name as a sign from Yahweh. However, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible gives both the Hebrew name and its meaning, saying “Lo-Rouhama—that is, Not-Loved.” Some translators may wish to follow this model. Another possible translation is “No mercy” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Translators will have to decide how to write translated names that include more than one word. Revised Standard Version simply uses a capital letter for the first word in the name. It is also possible to use capitals for all the words of a name, to separate the words by hyphens (so Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), or to use quotation marks, depending on the style of the receptor language. In any case, the solution to this issue should be applied consistently.

But what does the name Not pitied mean? The Hebrew word for pitied refers to tender, motherly feelings a woman has for her child. In fact, the word as a noun can refer to the womb itself. “Tender mercy” has been used in some translations. Many languages may have a word far better than “pity” to express the motherly love and compassion expressed here—even though such compassion is to be kept from Israel. In any case, the name and the situation to which it applies should match in translation.

The word for emphatically expresses the causal relationship between the meaning of the name and its implications for Israel.

I will no more have pity on the house of Israel: The Hebrew verb for have pity comes from the same root as the noun for pitied. The house of Israel refers to everyone in the northern kingdom of Israel, both king and people alike (see comments on 1.4). So “the nation of Israel” ( NET Bible) is an appropriate translation.

To forgive them at all renders a difficult Hebrew emphatic expression, which is literally “for [or better, surely] to take I will [not] take to [or, for] them.” The verb translated forgive is literally “take” and can also mean “lift” or “carry,” and the word “not” is implied from the previous statement. Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation follow the most common and the most likely interpretation, along with New International Version, New English Bible, Jerusalem Bible, the American Translation (An American Translation), the New Jewish Publication Society Version (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), Louis Segond (Segond), Bible de Jérusalem, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and the Spanish common language version (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). King James Version has “but I will utterly take them away,” which is similar to the Luther translation. This rendering would predict taking the Israelites away into Assyrian captivity, but it does not reflect the Hebrew well since the pronoun for “them” cannot be an indirect object after the preposition for “to/for.” So it seems better to understand “sins” as the implied direct object not to be taken from Israel—that is, they are emphatically not to be forgiven. Bible en français courant has “I will take all my love away from them” (similarly Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Einheitsübersetzung), but the Hebrew does not express “my love,” and such a reference to the action of “showing love” would be unusual. The New American Bible (New American Bible) says “rather, I abhor them utterly,” which is based on an emendation. This emendation follows the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, but it is not reliable.

Translation models for this verse are:

• Later she became pregnant again and bore a daughter. The LORD said to Hosea, “You should name her No-Mercy, because I will have no mercy on the nation of Israel. I will certainly not forgive them.

• She conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. The LORD told Hosea, “Call her No Pity, for I will not show pity to the people of Israel and not forgive them anything at all.

Quoted with permission from Dorn, Louis & van Steenbergen, Gerrit. A Handbook on Hosea. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2020. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .