glorify (reveal God's glory to people)

For the translation of the Greek that is translated into English as “glory” or “glorify” into Waama, five categories were found that were all translated differently. (See also raised to glory, glorify (God’s name), glory (honor, raise, approval), glory (of God or Jesus).)

“One group relates to the Greek verb that means ‘to show, make known or reveal God’s glory to people.’ The word ‘glory’ here retains the same sense described in the first group. (See glory (of God or Jesus))

“[Here] we used the expressions ‘show (the Father’s) greatness,’ ’cause the people to recognize that God is great,” “make his greatness obvious, apparent.’

“John 14:13, for example, ‘that the Father may be glorified,’ is rendered as ‘so that I can show the people the greatness of my Father.’ On one occasion (John 17:10 ‘I am glorified in them’), we used ‘because of them people saw my greatness.’

  • John 14:13 ‘Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified.’
  • John 17:1 ‘Father, … glorify thy Son that the Son may glorify thee.’

“Other occurrences: John 11:4, 12:23, 13:31-32 (5), 15:8, 17:4-5 (2), 17:10.”

(Source: Kathrin Brückner in Notes on Translation 2/1988, p. 41-46).

form of address between the persons of the Trinity

In Hindi a differentiation is made between the way that the different persons of the Trinity are addressed by a regular person or by another person of the Trinity. When Jesus addresses God the Father or when God the Father addresses Jesus, a familiar form of address is used, unlike the way that any of them would be addressed with a honorific (pl.) form by anyone else.

Source: C.S. Thoburn in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 180ff.

complete verse (John 17:10)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 17:10:

  • Chol: “All who belong to you also are mine. All who are mine are yours. My greatness has been shown in the believers.”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “All mine are yours and all yours are mine. We own them together. My glory appears in them.”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “And all the people who follow me are your children. And thus it is, whoever are your children are also my children. I receive honor because of what they do.”
  • Central Pame: “. . . It is apparent that I am glorious when the people I rule live righteously.” (Source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Uma: “All people who are my portion are your (sing.) portion, Father. And all people who are your (sing.) portion are my portion. They are the ones who show the bigness of my life.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “All that are/is mine are/is yours and all that are/is yours are/is mine. And I am honored/made great by them, because they trust in me.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And as for the people who belong to you, they are mine also, and all that are mine are yours also. And by means of them my power is known.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because all that-is/who-are mine is/are yours (sing.), and what is/are yours (sing.), is/are likewise also mine. And I am already being-honored/praised by-means-of them.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “All the ones who are mine, these are indeed yours, and all who are yours, they’re mine too. And my glory is apparent in/to them.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “All those who are in my hand are in your hand. Those who are in your hand are in my hand. I will be looked upon favorably because of them.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on John 17:10

All I have, though neuter in Greek, refers to those you gave me of verse 9 (note also the use of the neuter in verse 2). The phrase all you have is also neuter. To make clear that all refers to people (as clearly shown by the pronoun them at the end of verse 10), it may be necessary to expand the first part of verse 10, for example, “All those people who belong to me, belong to you, and all who belong to you belong to me.”

And my glory is shown through them is more literally “and I have been glorified in them.” The meaning of “to glorify” is not “to bring honor to” (Goodspeed “and they have done me honor”), but “to reveal the glory of” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “through them is my glory seen”). The Greek is in the perfect tense (“I have been glorified”), used to indicate the continuing revelation of Jesus’ glory through his disciples. The perfect tense suggests that the time perspective is that of the writing of the Gospel rather than that of Jesus’ own day; its force is probably best expressed by the present tense in English.

The passive expression, my glory is shown through them, must be made active and causative in some languages, for example, “they show how glorious I am” or “… what my glory really is.”

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 .