The Greek terms that are translated into English as “preach” or “proclaim” are regularly rendered into Aari as “speaking the word of salvation.” (Source: Loren Bliese)
Other languages (back-) translate it in the following manner:
Tzeltal: “he explains, they hear” (“the goal of all preachers”)
Copainalá Zoque: “a preacher is ‘one who speaks-scatters'” (a figure based on the scattering of seed in the process of sowing) (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
Shilluk: “declare the word of of God” (source: Nida 1964, p. 237)
In Luang it is translated with different shades of meaning:
For Acts 9:20, 10:42: nakotnohora: “talk about” (“The generic term for preaching.”)
For Acts 8:4, 8:5, 8:25: rodkiota-ralde’etnohora — “bring words, give news about.” (“This term is used when the preacher is moving from place to place to preach.”)
Source: Kathy Taber in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 9-16.
Yakan: “the lonely place” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “a land where no people lived” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “the place with no inhabitants” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Note that in Luke 15:4, usually a term is used that denotes pastoral land, such as “eating/grazing-place” in Tagbanwa (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).
The name that is transliterated as “John (the Baptist)” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language and Mexican Sign Language as “baptize” (source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff.)
“John the Baptist” in Mexican Sign Language (source: BSLM )
In German Sign Language (Catholic) it is translated with the sign for the letter J and the sign signifying a Catholic baptism by sprinkling on the head.
In American Sign Language it is translated with the sign for the letter J and the sign signifying “shout,” referring to John 1:23. (Source: RuthAnna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“John” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
A question of cultural assumptions arose in Tuvan. The instinctive way to translate this name denotatively would be “John the Dipper,” but this would carry the highly misleading connotation that he drowned people. It was therefore decided that his label should focus on the other major aspect of his work, that is, proclaiming that the Messiah would soon succeed him. (Compare his title in Russian Orthodox translation “Иоанн Предтеча” — “John the Forerunner.”) So he became “John the Announcer,” which fortunately did not seem to give rise to any confusion with radio newsreaders! (Source: David Clark in The Bible Translator 2015, p. 117ff.)
In Noongar it is translated as John-Kakaloorniny or “John Washing” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
Following is a Syriac Orthodox icon of John the Baptist from the 18/19th century (found in the Cathedral of Saints Constantine and Helen, Yabrud, Syria).
The wings are often depicted in icons of John the Baptist because of his status as a messenger. The scroll that John the Baptist holds quotes John 1:29 and reads (translated into English): “I saw and witnessed concerning him, ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.’”
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 )
Now I am going to tell you the good news about Jesus, the Son of God. God chose Him to come from Heaven to us.
A long time ago there was a man called Isaiah. He was a prophet and had a relationship with God. Everything that God spoke to him, Isaiah wrote down. Isaiah said that in the future in a wilderness land God would choose a man and that man would be a messenger. That man will call all people to be ready to meet God. He would call all people to prepare their heart. That’s the way it was written down.
Many, many years have passed and it has definitely come true.
In Israel, in the wilderness, near the Jordan River, there walked a man, a messenger, named John. He dressed in a camel skin garment covered with fur and wore a leather belt. He would take locusts and honey and eat them. He went all over Judea. People came to him from different places, and many people from the city of Jerusalem came to him. John called to them and said to them many times:
— You are sinners! You are doing evil deeds! Change yourselves! Stop committing sins and evil deeds! Become one with God! Repent of your sins and evil deeds, dip yourself in this water, and then God will forgive your sins and bad deeds.
People listened, thinking:
— We are sinful, but God will forgive our sins.
And many people came to him, dipped in the water and repented.
John said to everyone:
— There is a man, he is coming very soon. He is much greater than I am and much more powerful. I am insignificant compared to him, I am lower than him. I am dipping you in water, but He is different. Only He will cleanse your hearts forever with the Holy Spirit.
Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):
Сейчас я расскажу хорошую новость об Иисусе, сыне Божьем. Бог избрал Его, чтобы Он пришел с небес к нам.
Давно-давно был один человек по имени Исайя. Он был пророк и имел связь с Богом. Все, что Бог говорил ему, Исайя записывал. Исайя говорил, что в будущем на земле пустынной Бог изберет человека и тот человек будет вестником. Этот человек будет призывать всех людей, чтобы они были готовы к встрече с Богом. Он будет призывать всех людей, чтобы они приготовили свое сердце. Так было записано.
Прошло много-много лет, и все точно сбылось.
В Израиле, в пустыне, рядом с рекой Иордан, ходил человек, вестник, по имени Иоанн. Он одевался в одежду из кожи верблюда, покрытой шерстью, и надевал кожаный пояс. Он брал саранчу и мед и ел их. Он ходил по всей Иудее. Из разных мест приходили к нему люди, и множество людей из города Иерусалима приходили к нему. Иоанн призывал их и много раз говорил им:
— Вы грешники! Вы совершаете злые дела! Изменитесь! Перестаньте совершать грехи и злые дела! Соединитесь с Богом! Покайтесь в грехах и злых делах, погрузитесь в эту воду, и тогда Бог простит вам ваши грехи и плохие дела.
Люди слушали, думали:
— Мы грешные, но Бог простит наши грехи.
И многие люди приходили к нему, окунались в воду и каялись.
Иоанн всем говорил:
— Есть человек, он очень скоро придет. Он гораздо выше меня и гораздо могущественнее. Я незначителен по сравнению с ним, я ниже Его. Я окунаю вас в воду, но Он совсем другой. Только Он Святым Духом навсегда очистит ваши сердца.
There was a man who had leprosy. His whole face and body was disfigured. He was not allowed to go out with people because the disease was very contagious. The man was wandering alone. Then Jesus passed by. The man began to beg Jesus with weeping, went up to him, fell on his knees and said to him:
— You heal people, make them healthy. Please heal me and make me well! I beg you! You can heal me!
Jesus looked at him and said:
— I want to give you health.
Jesus stretched out his hand. The leper tearfully touched his outstretched hand and, miraculously, his body and face began to change. Hooray! He was well!
Jesus said to him:
— I warn you sternly! Don’t tell anyone about this healing. Only go to Jerusalem, to the Temple, where the priests are. Go to the priest and show yourself to him. The priest will examine you and confirm that you are well. You must fulfill Moses’ instructions exactly, go there.
Leper:
— Yes, yes, of course!
He stood up out of joy that he was well. And he went around saying to everyone he met:
— I am well, I am clean. Jesus has healed me.
And so Jesus couldn’t go into the city. He began to look for deserted places. But people from all over Galilee came to Jesus, gathered around him in crowds and followed him.
Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):
Один человек был болен проказой. Все лицо и тело у него было обезображено. Ему нельзя было встречаться с людьми, потому что болезнь была очень заразная. Этот человек бродил один. И вот мимо проходил Иисус. Этот человек с плачем стал умолять Иисуса, подошел к нему, упал на колени и сказал ему:
— Ты исцеляешь людей, делаешь здоровыми. Прошу тебя излечить меня и сделать здоровым! Умоляю! Ты можешь меня исцелить!
Иисус посмотрел на него и сказал:
— Я хочу дать тебе здоровье.
Иисус протянул ему руку. Прокаженный со слезами притронулся к протянутой руке — и о чудо! его тело, лицо стали изменяться! Ура! Он здоров!
Иисус сказал ему:
— Строго тебя предупреждаю! О том, что я тебя исцелил, никому не говори! Молчи! Только иди в Иерусалим, в Храм, там священники. Ты приди священнику и покажи ему себя. Священник тебя осмотрит и подтвердит, что ты здоров. Ты должен в точности исполнить предписания Моисея, прийти туда.
Прокаженный:
— Да, да, конечно!
Он встал вне себя от радости, что он здоров. И он ходил и всем встречным говорил:
— Я здоров, я чист. Иисус исцелил меня.
И вот Иисус не мог зайти в город. Он стал искать безлюдные места. Но люди со всей Галилеи приходили к Иисусу, собирались вокруг него толпами и шли за ним.
The Greek and Hebrew that is often translated as “repent” or “repentance” is (back-) translated in various ways (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):
Embu: “change heart” (“2 Cor. 7:10 says ‘For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death.’ In ordinary speech the terms ‘repent’ and ‘regret’ are used interchangeably in Embu, so that this verse comes out as: ‘godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no repentance,’ which is contradictory. The problem was solved by using ‘changing heart’ in the first, and ‘sadness’ in the second.”) (source: Jan Sterk)
Muna: dofetompa’ao dhosa bhe dodoli ne Lahata’ala: “radically-end sin and to turn to God” (source: René van den Berg)
Bacama: por-njiya: “fetch sand” (“Before the coming of Christianity 100 years ago, when the elders went to pray to the gods, they would take sand and throw it over each shoulder and down their backs while confessing their sins. Covering themselves with sand was a ritual to show that they were sorry for what they had done wrong, sort of like covering oneself with sackcloth and ashes. Now idol worship for the most part is abandoned in Bacama culture, but the Christian church has retained the phrase por-njiya to mean ‘repent, doing something to show sorrow for one’s sins’” — source: David Frank in this blog post .)
“In Tzotzil two reflexive verbs to communicate the biblical concept of repentance are used. Xca’i jba means to know or to reflect inwardly on one’s self. This self inquiry or self examination is similar to the attitude of the prodigal son where Luke 15:17 records that ‘he came to his senses.’ Broke, starving, and slopping hogs, the prodigal admitted to himself that he was in the wrong place. The second reflexive verb ‘jsutes jba’ means turning away from what one is and turning to something else. In a sense, it is deciding against one’s self and toward someone else. It is similar to the attitude of the prodigal son when he said, ‘I will get up and go to my father’ (v. 18).” (source: Aeilts, p. 118)
Enlhet “exchange innermosts.” “Innermost” or valhoc is a term that is frequently used in Enlhet to describe a large variety of emotions or states of mind (for other examples see here). (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
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)
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