“Usually, Thai men spend their free time with other men. Women only enter to serve them food, but here a woman has entered into the male social space in a counter-cultural way Not only is she female, she is a lowly prostitute. Although a Thai woman may sometimes wash her husband’s feet, she will never use her hair to dry them The men observing her are shocked at it all.”
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”)
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)
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)
The Hebrew and Greek that is typically translated as “sin” in English has a wide variety of translations.
The Greek ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō) carries the original verbatim meaning of “miss the mark.” Likewise, many translations contain the “connotation of moral responsibility.” Loma has (for certain types of sin) “leaving the road” (which “implies a definite standard, the transgression of which is sin”) or Navajo uses “that which is off to the side.” (Source: Bratcher / Nida). In Toraja-Sa’dan the translation is kasalan, which originally meant “transgression of a religious or moral rule” and has shifted its meaning in the context of the Bible to “transgression of God’s commandments.” (Source: H. van der Veen in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 21ff. ).
In Shipibo-Conibo the term is hocha. Nida (1952, p. 149) tells the story of its choosing: “In some instances a native expression for sin includes many connotations, and its full meaning must be completely understood before one ever attempts to use it. This was true, for example, of the term hocha first proposed by Shipibo-Conibo natives as an equivalent for ‘sin.’ The term seemed quite all right until one day the translator heard a girl say after having broken a little pottery jar that she was guilty of ‘hocha.’ Breaking such a little jar scarcely seemed to be sin. However, the Shipibos insisted that hocha was really sin, and they explained more fully the meaning of the word. It could be used of breaking a jar, but only if the jar belonged to someone else. Hocha was nothing more nor less than destroying the possessions of another, but the meaning did not stop with purely material possessions. In their belief God owns the world and all that is in it. Anyone who destroys the work and plan of God is guilty of hocha. Hence the murderer is of all men most guilty of hocha, for he has destroyed God’s most important possession in the world, namely, man. Any destructive and malevolent spirit is hocha, for it is antagonistic and harmful to God’s creation. Rather than being a feeble word for some accidental event, this word for sin turned out to be exceedingly rich in meaning and laid a foundation for the full presentation of the redemptive act of God.”
In Kaingang, the translation is “break God’s word” and in Sandawe the original meaning of the Greek term (see above) is perfectly reflected with “miss the mark.” (Source: Ursula Wiesemann in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 36ff., 43)
Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the DanishBibelen 2020, comments on the translation of this term: “We would explain terms, such that e.g. sin often became ‘doing what God does not want’ or ‘breaking God’s law’, ‘letting God down’, ‘disrespecting God’, ‘doing evil’, ‘acting stupidly’, ‘becoming guilty’. Now why couldn’t we just use the word sin? Well, sin in contemporary Danish, outside of the church, is mostly used about things such as delicious but unhealthy foods. Exquisite cakes and chocolates are what a sin is today.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )
The Greek that is typically translated with a generic expressions such as “he who,” “whoever,” or “if anyone” in English is translated with the plural form (“they”) in Daga. “A literal translation of these conveys the idea that one specific unnamed individual is being dis cussed. Thus, for instance, in John 5:24 ‘he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life’ meant in Daga that there was one fortunate individual to whom it applied.”
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 7:47:
Noongar: “Then I tell you, because she gave much love, we can see the proof — her much sinning is forgiven. But the person who is forgiven a small thing, he loves little.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “So, since she has great love, that is why we know for sure/certain, her many sins are forgiven. But the person who just a little/few his sins have been forgiven, his love is also just a little.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Therefore I tell you, this woman has a great love for me because her many sins have been forgiven. If a person has few sins forgiven he will also show little love.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The reason I said this to you is that we can discern from this woman that there are many evil deeds of hers which are now forgiven by God, because I am very precious in her breath. If there’s a person whose evil deeds which are forgiven by God are only very few, he does not have very much breath for God.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “I tell you (sing.) then that the large love she has shown me, that is what shows that her many sins have been forgiven. But as for the person who has few sins that were forgiven, little also is the love that he will show.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Therefore what I will tell you is true, that from the big-size of this loving which she has shown, it testifies that she has been forgiven of all her sin, even though it was really big. But the love is little of the person who has had little forgiven.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
hou charin, legō soi, apheōntai hai hamartiai autēs ‘therefore, I tell you, her sins have been forgiven,’ or, punctuating with Nestle hou charin legō soi, ‘therefore I tell you.’ The former suggests a somewhat stronger connexion between the woman’s behaviour and the forgiving of her sins, but it should be born in mind that the parable of vv. 41ff says that the measure of love shows the measure of forgiveness, instead of determining it. For legō soi cf. on 3.8. For apheōntai cf. on 5.20.
hai hamartiai autēs hai pollai lit. ‘her sins, the many.’ hai pollai is emphatic by position, cf. “her sins, her many sins” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation).
hoti ēgapēsen polu ‘because she loved much.’ The clause refers to the evidence, or proof, of the fact that the woman’s sins had been forgiven, as brought about by a rendering like ‘her great love proves, or, shows it’ (cf. Translator’s New Testament), i.e. that her many sins have been forgiven.
hō de oligon aphietai, oligon agapa ‘he who is forgiven little, loves little,’ i.e. shows little love. The present tense conveys the idea of a general principle and tends to soften the obvious inference for Simon.
Translation:
Some other renderings in line with the interpretation given in Exegesis are, ‘her sins, which are many, are forgiven; the proof of it is that she loves much, or, that-is-why her love is great’ (cf. Batak Toba), “the great love she has shown proves that her many sins have been forgiven” (Good News Translation), ‘if she shows much love, it is because she has been forgiven her many sins’ (Bible de Jérusalem, note), ‘this woman here has loved me greatly, that’s how you can recognize that God has forgiven (lit. that no more at all God is following/noticing/making-her-accountable-for) her many sins’ (Tboli).
Her sins … are forgiven, or, to avoid a passive, ‘she received forgiveness for her sins’ (Sranan Tongo), ‘God has forgiven her sins’ (cf. Tae’ 1933, and Tboli).
She loved. If an object is required it should be ‘me,’ cf. Tboli, An American Translation.
He who is forgiven little, or, ‘whoever the forgiveness of his-sins is small’ (Toraja-Sa’dan), ‘whoever receives small forgiveness’ (Pohnpeian), ‘if God has forgiven a person only a few sins.’
Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.
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