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.

Translation commentary on Numbers 19:9

And a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place: The priest and the man who burned the cow were ritually unclean until the evening, so only someone else, a person who was ritually clean, could bring its ashes to a ritually clean place. It may be necessary to render a man as “another man” or “a different person.” By handling the ashes, this third person also became ritually unclean (verse 10). For the Hebrew word rendered clean, see 5.28.

And they shall be kept for the congregation of the people of Israel … is literally “and it [the ashes] shall be for the community of the people of Israel into something kept….” This clause refers to a ritual preservation of the cow’s ashes, not the water. In many languages it will be necessary to begin a new sentence here for naturalness; for example, New International Readers Version has “The ashes will be kept [there] by the community of Israel….” The Hebrew word for congregation (ʿedah) is better rendered “community” (see 1.2). The Hebrew word for “something kept” is mishmeret (see 3.25). Here it refers to “preserving” the ashes.

For the water of impurity: The Hebrew word for impurity (niddah) literally means “separation,” “exclusion,” “casting off” or “riddance,” so this phrase refers to the water for removing ritual impurity. Good News Translation renders it accurately by saying “to use in preparing the water for removing ritual uncleanness.” The ashes mixed with water were used to rid the community of ritual contamination, which is discussed in verses 11-22.

For the removal of sin renders a short independent sentence in Hebrew, which is literally “She is a sin offering” (similarly Alter with “it is an offense offering”). For “sin offering,” see 6.11. As mentioned there, the sin offering restored a person to a state of ritual purity when a taboo had been broken unintentionally. So a more accurate rendering for “sin offering” is “purification-offering” (Revised English Bible), which focuses on the outcome rather than the cause of this offering. The feminine Hebrew pronoun for “She” most likely refers to the cow, which Revised English Bible makes clear by rendering this sentence as “for the cow is a purification-offering.” (For Ashley [page 367] this pronoun refers to the ashes of the cow, which would be available for future purification rituals.) In some languages it will be more natural at this point in the ritual to employ a different tense, for example, “The cow was a purification offering” (similarly Nije Fryske Bibeloersetting, Willibrordvertaling).

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .