justice

The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and Latin that is translated as “justice” in English is translated in American Sign Language with a sign that describes the quality or principle of fairness, righteousness, and impartiality in treating other people. A literal back-translation of the signs are “FOLLOW(God is implied) ACTIONS, DECISIONS JUST-RIGHT”. A more idiomatic back-translation would be: “actions and decisions are right/fitting/just in accordance to God’s will.” The movement in the signs itself helps to indicate that this is a noun, not a verb. (Source: RuthAnna Spooner, Ron Lawer)


“Justice” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor

witness

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “witness” in English is translated as “truly have seen” in Highland Popoluca, as “telling the truth regarding something” (Eastern Highland Otomi), as “know something” in Lalana Chinantec, as “verily know something to be the truth” in San Mateo del Mar Huave, as “we ourselves saw this,” in Desano, as “tell the truth about something” in Eastern Highland Otomi, as “know something is true because of seeing it” in Teutila Cuicatec. (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

Translation commentary on Proverbs 19:28

“A worthless witness mocks at justice”: For “worthless” see 6.12 and 16.27. “Witness” is as in 6.19. For “mocks” see 1.26. The “worthless witness” in a trial makes fun or scorns justice, that is, “mocks” the rights of others to a fair trial. He does this by not telling the truth as a witness. We may translate, for example, “A worthless witness lies and mocks the rights of others.”

“And the mouth of the wicked devours iniquity”: The figurative language of this line appears to represent the wicked person as enjoying or getting pleasure from being evil. See Good News Translation “Wicked people love the taste of evil.” Here Good News Translation has kept the figurative expression through “taste of evil.” Contemporary English Version has “and criminals think crime is really delicious.” In some languages it is necessary to adjust the figure into a simile by saying, for example, “and bad people swallow evil like they swallow their food.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .