truth

The Greek, Latin and Hebrew that is usually translated in English as “truth” is translated in Luchazi with vusunga: “the quality of being straight” (source: E. Pearson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 160ff. ), in Obolo as atikọ or “good/correct talk” (source: Enene Enene), and in Ekari as maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (esp. in John 14:6 and 17; bokouto — “enormous” — is being used as an attribute for abstract nouns to denote that they are of God [see also here]; source: Marion Doble in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 37ff. ).

The translation committee of the Malay “Good News Bible” (Alkitab Berita Baik, see here ) wrestled with the translation of “truth” in the Gospel of John (for more information click or tap here):

“Our Malay Committee also concluded that ‘truth’ as used in the Gospel of John was used either of God himself, or of God’s revelation of himself, or in an extended sense as a reference to those who had responded to God’s self-disclosure. In John 8:32 the New Malay translation reads ‘You will know the truth about God, and the truth about God will make you free.’ In John 8:44 this meaning is brought out by translating, ‘He has never been on the side of God, because there is no truth in him.’ Accordingly Jesus ‘tells the truth about God’ in 8:45, 46 (see also 16:7 and 8:37a). Then, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’ becomes ‘I am the one who leads men to God, the one who reveals who and what God is, and the one who gives men life.” At 3:21 the translation reads ” … whoever obeys the truth, that is God himself, comes to the light …’; 16:13a appears as ‘he will lead you into the full truth about God’; and in 18:37 Jesus affirms ‘I came into the world to reveal the truth about God, and whoever obeys God listens to me.’ On this basis also 1:14 was translated ‘we saw his glory, the glory which he had as the Father’s only Son. Through him God has completely revealed himself (truth) and his love for us (grace)’; and 1:17 appears as ‘God gave the law through Moses; but through Jesus Christ he has completely revealed himself (truth) and his love for us (grace).'” (Source: Barclay Newman in The Bible Translator 1974, p. 432ff. )

Helen Evans (in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) tells of the translation into Kui which usually is “true-thing.” In some instances however, such as in the second part of John 17:17 (“your word is truth” in English), the use of “true-thing” indicated that there might be other occasions when it’s not true, so here the translation was a a form of “pure, holy.”

complete verse (Mark 5:33)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 5:33:

  • Uma: “The woman knew what had happened to herself [lit., her body]. She shivered from fear and came and knelt in front of Yesus admitting everything.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then, because she knew that her sickness had been healed, the woman went close to Isa, shaking because she was afraid. She prostrated at the feet of Isa and told the truth.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “That woman was very frightened, for she knew what had happened to her when she took hold of the shirt of Jesus. And she came near to Jesus trembling and she knelt down before him, and she explained to him everything about her disease.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Since the woman knew what was done to her, she approached Jesus trembling from her fear and knelt face-down before him. Then she told/confessed to him all that had happened.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For the reason that that woman was well-aware of what had happened to her, she now trembled with fear coming close to Jesus. She bowed down and told the truth.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 5:32 – 5:33

Exegesis:

perieblepeto (cf. 3.5) ‘he looked around him.’

idein ‘to see’: the infinitive indicates purpose; here the verb is practically equivalent to ‘to discover,’ ‘to find.’

tēn touto poiēsasan ‘the one who had done this’: literally, ‘the (woman) who did this.’ This, of course, is from the author’s viewpoint, not from the point of view of Jesus, who did not know whether man or woman had touched him. It is fanciful to suppose that from the touch Jesus sensed it was a woman.

phobētheisa (cf. 4.41) ‘afraid,’ ‘fearful.’

tremousa (only here in Mark) ‘trembling.’

eiduia ‘knowing’: probably causal, ‘because she knew’ (cf. Translator’s New Testament).

prosepesen autō (cf. 3.11) ‘she prostrated herself before him.’

pasan tēn alētheian ‘the whole truth’: not only about her cure, but all the facts concerning her illness (narrated in vv. 25-28).

alētheia (12.14, 32) ‘truth.’

Translation:

Fear and trembling must in some languages be related subordinately, rather than coordinately, as in Greek (and English). For example, in Copainalá Zoque the equivalent expression is ‘for fear she was trembling.’ This type of arrangement with and makes possible an implication which is readily understood by English speakers, but not by certain others, namely, the specific connection between ‘fear’ and ‘trembling’ or the fact that ‘trembling’ designates a psychologically significant experience.

For problems in translating fall down, see 5.22.

Where languages may lack an abstract term truth, which can be used in this type of context, it may be possible to employ a phrase ‘she told him exactly what had happened.’

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .