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 .

Translation commentary on Psalm 103:3 - 103:5

The psalmist gives a list of Yahweh’s acts of kindness toward him: forgiveness, healing, protection from death, and spiritual and material blessings. In Hebrew these verses follow without a break from verses 1-2 (see Revised Standard Version) as a lengthy description of the kind of God Yahweh is, in terms of what he does for the psalmist. Good News Translation has started a new sentence with verse 3 and changed the personal references to “me,” “my,” and “I,” in place of the second person form of address, “you” (that is, referring to “my soul” in verses 1-2). New English Bible does the same.

Forgives translates a verb found in the Psalms only here and in 25.11; the related adjective “forgiving” is used in 86.5. For translation suggestions on forgives all your iniquity, see 25.18.

In verse 4a the verb gaʾal “redeems” is used in the sense of rescue (see comments on the noun, 19.14, and the verb, 25.22; 69.18). Together with the Pit, a synonym for Sheol (see 6.5; 16.10), these terms are taken by most as a deliverance from death. Dahood understands the words to mean resurrection. In verse 4b Good News Translation “blesses” translates the verb crowns (see comments at 8.5), an expression which describes an unusual honor and favor. The two outstanding blessings are Yahweh’s steadfast love (see 5.7) and his mercy (see 40.11) for the psalmist. The Good News Translation expression “keeps me from the grave,” which makes clear the meaning of redeems … from the Pit, must often be recast as “who does not let me die.” The expression “blesses me with love and mercy” must often be recast as phrases showing manner; for example, “he gives me good things by loving me and being kind to me.”

In verse 5a, for Good News Translation “my life,” the Masoretic text has a word that seems to mean “your ornaments” (see 2 Sam 1.24), which makes no sense here (King James Version “your mouth” is wrong). Most emend to a word meaning “your lifetime” (see Briggs, Anderson; see 104.33; 146.2) or else translate the Masoretic text as “the prime of life” (New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). The Septuagint has “your desire” (so Weiser, “your longing”); New American Bible translates the Masoretic text “your lifetime”; Dahood translates it “your eternity,” as a reference to the blessed afterlife in heaven; Traduction œcuménique de la Bible has “your strength.”3-5 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says the meaning of the Hebrew expression is no longer known with certainty; the most probable interpretation is “your vitality.” If the translator follows the Good News Translation model, the expression “fills my life with…” may have to be recast to say “he gives me good things as long as I live.”

The eagle was famous for its strength (see Isa 40.31) and long life (see Fauna and Flora of the Bible, pages jmp 82-85|fig:ffb_Vulture(Eagle).htmjmp*). If the eagle is unknown, a local bird of prey which is known to live to old age should be used.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .