Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )
Following are a number of back-translations of John 15:6:
Uma: “Whoever does not remain in-harmony with me will definitely be thrown-away, like the throwing away of the branches that have been broken off until they are dry. Branches like that are gathered and thrown into the fire.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “If a person does not remain with/in me he is figuratively like a broken-off branch which is thrown away and whithers. Then these branches are gathered and thrown into the fire to be burnt.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For if there is a person who separates from me, he will be abandoned just like a branch which is thrown away so that it will dry up. And those dried up branches are gathered and thrown into the fire to be burned.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Whoever though doesn’t continue to be united-with me, he is like a cut-off branch that is thrown away. When those branches dry-up, they are gathered and burned.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “That one who will not hold fast to me, he will be thrown away because he will be separated like a branch which has been broken off. Well, those branches, when they’re now dead, they will be gathered and thrown on the fire so that they will be burned up.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “He who forsakes my word will have done to him like it is done to a branch which doesn’t bear fruit. It is cut off to dry. When it is dry it is gathered to be burned.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.
As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator 2002, p. 210ff.), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.
Here, Jesus is addressing his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.
In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.
This verse states negatively what was stated positively in verse 5. Whoever in Greek is literally “if someone,” but it also has the force of an indefinite relative pronoun in English (see 12.26).
The verbs translated is thrown out and dries up are in the aorist indicative tense in Greek. The aorist indicative (normally indicating completed action in past time) is used here for one of two reasons: (1) to indicate the certainty of the action, by speaking of a future action as though it were already accomplished; or (2) to indicate habitual or customary action. The context seems to suggest the first of these possibilities.
Like a branch must apply not only to being thrown out, but also to drying up. It may be necessary to say, therefore, “Whoever does not remain in me is thrown out and dries up, just as a branch would be thrown out and dry up.”
Are gathered up and thrown is literally “they gather them and throw (them).” But this Semitic use of the third person plural is the equivalent of a passive construction, and so a number of translations render in essentially the same way as Good News Translation. If a passive cannot be used, one may translate “people gather them up and throw them into the fire.” Since the fire has not been previously identified, and cannot be directly related to any specific aspect of judgment, it is better in some languages to translate “thrown into a fire.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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