obedience / obey

The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, and Greek that is translated in English typically as “obedience” or “obey” is translated in Tepeuxila Cuicatec as “thing hearing.” “For to hear is to obey.” (Source: Marjorie Davis in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 34ff. )

In Huba it is translated as hya nǝu nyacha: “follow (his) mouth.” (Source: David Frank in this blog post )

In Central Mazahua it is translated as “listen-obey” and in Huehuetla Tepehua as “believe-obey” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), and in Noongar as dwangka-don, lit. “hear do” (source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).

See also disobedience.

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 9:13

And the LORD says is translated “The LORD answered” by Good News Translation and “The Lord himself gives the answer” by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch.

My law which I set before them (literally “my law which I put before their faces”) is translated “the teaching that I gave them” by Good News Translation. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch simply has “my instruction.” It omits the clause, which I set before them, on the grounds that the information will be understood without needing to be stated. Law is first used in 2.8.

Hebrew frequently speaks of a part of the body as representative of the total person. Such is the case with voice, which Good News Translation translates “me.” Have not obeyed my voice, or walked in accord with it is translated “they did not obey what I said” by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch. Translators could also say “They did not obey what I said, or live as I told them.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .