abomination

The Hebrew that is translated as “abomination” or similar in English is translated in Vidunda as “hated thing.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

in Ngambay it is nékɔb or “taboo.” (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

See also detestable in the sight of God and holy.

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 Proverbs 24:9

The two lines of this verse are further comments on the theme of verse 8.

“The devising of folly is sin”: The Hebrew word rendered “devising” is from the same root as “intrigue” in the idiom “master of intrigue” in the previous line. It means “scheme” or “plan,” and is almost always used with something bad as its object. For “folly” see 5.23. Instead of “folly” the Septuagint and some other ancient translations have “fools”; this may reflect a different Hebrew text, or it may be a translational restructuring. A number of English versions follow this approach; for example, “the scheme of a fool” (Scott), “the intrigues of the foolish” (Revised English Bible), and “any scheme a fool thinks up” (Good News Translation).

In Hebrew there is no verb in this line. It is a definition, and the word “is” has been added to give it this form in English. Most versions follow Revised Standard Version in taking the first word in Hebrew, “scheme” or “plan,” as the subject, which means that the term “sin” or “sinful” defines it. So New International Version has “The schemes of folly are sin” and Good News Translation “Any scheme a fool thinks up is sinful.” It is also possible, however, to take “sin” as the subject: “Sin is the scheme of a fool” (Scott) or “Now sin is folly’s scheme” (Moffatt). In translating the definition “is sin”, it may be necessary in some languages to use words that refer to action; one example of this is “The plans of a fool are to do only things that are no good.”

“And the scoffer is an abomination to men”: For “the scoffer” see 1.22 and 9.7. “An abomination”, as in 3.32, is something offensive, something that people hate or detest. The Hebrew rendered “men” is a collective noun meaning “people” rather than just males. It may be more natural in some languages to make “people” the subject of the sentence, as in Good News Translation “People hate a person who has nothing but scorn for others” and New International Version “and men detest a mocker.”

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 .