complete verse (John 5:46)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 5:46:

  • Uma: “But if you really believed Musa, certainly you would also believe me, because what Musa wrote, it concerns / was about [lit., touches] me.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “If you truly believed Musa, you should believe me because it is about me hep that he wrote in the holy-book.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “If only your belief in him was true, you would be able to believe also in me because he wrote about me.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “because if you did believe/obey-it, you would also believe/obey me, because what Moses wrote, I am the one he is speaking-about.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “If it’s so that you are believing-in/obeying Moises, surely it’s necessary that as for me, you indeed believe-in/obey me also, because as for the things he wrote, I really am the one he was referring to.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “If you had believed the word Moses spoke, you also would have believed me then. Because Moses wrote in the book about me.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

formal pronoun: Jesus addressing his disciples and common people

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.

Moses

The name that is transliterated as “Moses” in English is signed in Spanish Sign Language and Polish Sign Language in accordance with the depiction of Moses in the famous statue by Michelangelo (see here ). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff.)


“Moses” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here).

In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:


“Moses” in French Sign Language (source )

The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).

Even at the time of his translation, Jerome likely was not the only one making that decision as this recent article alludes to.

In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).


“Moses” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

In Estonian Sign Language Moses is depicted with a big beard. (Source: Liina Paales in Folklore 47, 2011, p. 43ff.)

See also Moses and Elijah during the Transfiguration.

Translation commentary on John 5:46

The if clause in this verse presupposes that the Jews did not believe Moses. Good News Translation translates it If you had really believed Moses. Jerusalem Bible has “If you really believed him.”

There are difficulties involved in translating a condition contrary to fact in present or past time. The negation of such a condition must sometimes be made explicit in a separate clause, for example, “If you believed Moses—but you really have not believed him—then you would believe me.” It may even be necessary to indicate the negation of the second part of the condition, for example, “you would believe me—but you really do not.” If the second part of the condition is set off by a negative statement, it is necessary to treat the final clause in a somewhat different manner, for example, “It is clear you do not believe Moses, because he wrote about me” or “it is clear you do not believe what Moses wrote, because he wrote about me.” The logical force of this final clause, introduced by because, is made clearer in the following verse.

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 .