forgive, forgiveness

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The concept of “forgiveness” is expressed in varied ways through translations. Following is a list of (back-) translations from some languages:

  • Tswa, North Alaskan Inupiatun, Panao Huánuco Quechua: “forget about”
  • Navajo: “give back” (based on the idea that sin produces an indebtedness, which only the one who has been sinned against can restore)
  • Huichol, Shipibo-Conibo, Eastern Highland Otomi, Uduk, Tepo Krumen: “erase,” “wipe out,” “blot out”
  • Highland Totonac, Huautla Mazatec: “lose,” “make lacking”
  • Tzeltal: “lose another’s sin out of one’s heart”
  • Lahu, Burmese: “be released,” “be freed”
  • Ayacucho Quechua: “level off”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “cast away”
  • Chol: “pass by”
  • Wayuu: “make pass”
  • Kpelle: “turn one’s back on”
  • 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”)
  • Tabasco Chontal, Huichol: “take away sins”
  • Toraja-Sa’dan, Javanese: “do away with sins”
  • San Blas Kuna: “erase the evil heart” (this and all above: Bratcher / Nida, except Tepo Krumen: Peter Thalmann in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 25f.)
  • Eggon: “withdraw the hand”
  • Mískito: “take a man’s fault out of your heart” (source of this and the one above: Kilgour, p. 80)
  • Western Parbate Kham: “unstring someone” (“hold a grudge” — “have someone strung up in your heart”) (source: Watters, p. 171)
  • Hawai’i Creole English: “let someone go” (source: Jost Zetzsche)
  • Cebuano: “go beyond” (based on saylo)
  • Iloko: “none” or “no more” (based on awan) (source for this and above: G. Henry Waterman in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 24ff. )
  • Tzotzil: ch’aybilxa: “it has been lost” (source: Aeilts, p. 118)
  • Suki: biaek eisaemauwa: “make heart soft” (Source L. and E. Twyman in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 91ff. )
  • 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)
  • Mairasi: “dismantle wrongs” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Nyulnyul: “have good heart” (source
  • 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)

See also this devotion on YouVersion .

sin

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)

In Warao it is translated as “bad obojona.” Obojona 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.

Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the Danish Bibelen 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. )

See also sinner.

complete verse (Matthew 12:31)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 12:31:

  • Uma: “So, so that you know: All of mankind’s sins and words of rejection may be forgiven. If there is a person who rejects me, that I am the Child of Mankind, his wrong may still be forgiven. But if he rejects the Holy Spirit, there is no forgiveness, whether at this time or in the future.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Therefore I tell you,’ said Isa, ‘God will forgive all sins of the people and their bad talk/blasphemy to God. But when they speak bad to/blaspheme the Holy Spirit, they will surely not be forgiven.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Therefore I say to you that a person can be forgiven of any sin and any bad thing which he says. However he who speaks-in-rejection of the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Therefore I say to you that whatever a person’s sin and whatever he says to speak-evil-of another, it is possible for God to forgive excepting the one-who-speaks-evil-of the Holy Spirit.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Therefore this is really true which I will say to you, that people will be forgiven for whatever kind of sin and insult if they repent and drop/give it up. But their insulting/belittling the Espiritu Santo certainly will not be forgiven them.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “You must know that concerning all the sins done by people, and also all the bad words spoken by the people, all can be forgiven. But the person who speaks evil of the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven by God.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

formal pronoun: Jesus addressing religious leaders

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 religious leaders with the formal pronoun, showing respect. Compare that with the typical address with the informal pronoun of the religious leaders.

The only two exceptions to this are Luke 7:40/43 and 10:26 where Jesus uses the informal pronoun as a response to the sycophantic use of the formal pronoun by the religious leaders (see formal pronoun: religious leaders addressing Jesus).

In most Dutch translations, the same distinctions are made, with the exception of Luke 10:26 where Jesus is using the formal pronoun. In Afrikaans and Western Frisian the informal pronoun is used throughout.

Translation commentary on Matthew 12:31

Therefore (literally “Because of this,” see verse 27) I tell you is translated “And so I tell you this” by New English Bible and “And so I tell you” by New Jerusalem Bible. Normally the phrase implies a conclusion based upon something previously said. However, the context is less than clear regarding what Jesus refers to by “this.” One of the problems is the presence of verse 30, which apparently disrupts the connection between verse 31 and the Beelzebul controversy of verses 24-29. New English Bible gives some help to the reader by making verse 30 a separate paragraph. Some have changed the meaning slightly with a phrase such as “In conclusion I tell you.”

Every sin and blasphemy: some languages will expect the nouns sin and blasphemy to be reformulated as verbs or verb phrases. Good News Translation renders blasphemy as a noun phrase (“any evil thing they say”), though retaining the noun sin. In the Septuagint the noun blasphemy is used primarily of the evil things that are said against God, and so Good News Translation gives the alternative restructuring “evil things they say against God.” Even here, this is perhaps the more satisfactory interpretation; Barclay and Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition, for example, have “insult to God” as a rendering of the noun. The only other major English translations that avoid the technical term blasphemy are New English Bible (“slander”) and An American Translation (“abusive speech”). The word occurs also in 15.19; 26.65.

For more on blasphemy, see 9.3. Here it can be “insulting God,” “spoiling God’s name,” “saying evil about God,” or “speaking against God.”

Sin can be “evil” or “evil things,” or, since it contrasts with blasphemy, “wrong things against others.” The text says every sin and blasphemy. Depending on the type of sentence constructed, it may be rendered “all the evil things and every insult of God” or “any of the evil things and any of the things they say against God.”

Will be forgiven men: two observations are important: men is here equivalent to people in general, and the assumed agent of the passive will be forgiven is God. The following translation may then result: “God will forgive the evil things that people do to one another, and he will even forgive the evil things that they say against him.” Will be forgiven is often rendered “can be forgiven” (so Good News Translation) because the forgiveness is not automatic. It means God will forgive if the conditions are met.

But the blasphemy against the Spirit is literally “but the blasphemy of the Spirit.” However, it is evident that “of” here means against. As the use of the capitalized Spirit indicates, Revised Standard Version understands the reference to be to the “Holy Spirit” (Good News Translation) or “Spirit of God.”

Blasphemy in this second occurrence in the verse should be translated as the first time, except it now refers to speaking evil about or insulting God’s Spirit.

For Spirit see 1.18, where “Holy Spirit” is discussed. Here “God’s Spirit” will probably be best.

Will not be forgiven may need to be transformed into an active construction: “God will not forgive.” The second half of this verse may then be translated “but God will not forgive those people who say evil things about the Holy Spirit” or “but God will not forgive you when you say evil things against the Holy Spirit.”

What Jesus meant by the blasphemy against the Spirit must be decided upon the basis of the context alone. Immediately before making this pronouncement Jesus had healed a man who was born blind and who could not talk. He had not done this on his own power. The healing was the work of God’s Spirit, a conclusion which should have been obvious (and probably was obvious) to the Pharisees. However, they refused to believe and willfully ascribed this work of God’s Spirit to Satan. The reason that they could not be forgiven was because they were unwilling to open their eyes to the truth and acknowledge the presence of God active in the ministry of Jesus.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .