mercy

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin terms that are typically translated as “mercy” (or “compassion” or “kindness”) in English are translated in various ways. Bratcher / Nida classify them in (1) those based on the quality of heart, or other psychological center, (2) those which introduce the concept of weeping or extreme sorrow, (3) those which involve willingness to look upon and recognize the condition of others, or (4) those which involve a variety of intense feelings.

While the English mercy originates from the Latin merces, originally “price paid,” Romance languages (Italian, Spanish, Corsican, Catalan) and other Germanic languages (German, Swedish, Danish — Barmherzigkeit, barmhärtighet and barmhjertighed, respectively) tend to follow the Latin misericordia, lit. “misery-heart.”

Here are some other (back-) translations:

See also steadfast love.

anoint

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated in English as “anoint” is translated in Lakota with azilyA: “to smudge.”

Steve Berneking (in Beerle-Moor / Voinov, p. 121) tells the story of that translation:

“During one visit with the Lakota team, we were reading texts and discussing key biblical terms and how they are best rendered into Lakota. Reference was made to the ritual we label ‘anointing.’ When the Lakota word that had been glossed as ‘anoint’ was read aloud, I heard giggling among the reviewers. Knowing that this reaction called for some explanation, I asked.

“The people there told me that the Lakota verb that was used to translate ‘anoint’ was funny in that context. It is not that the verb is an uncommon one; quite the contrary. Lakota uses that verb frequently, but almost exclusively as a verb of food preparation; the verb belongs to the culinary domain. In other words, the Lakota verb used for ‘anoint’ actually referred to rubbing oil on something that was to be cooked or grilled, in this case, the apostles. The Lakota verb ipáṫaŋṫtaŋ ‘to apply oil on something’ was used quite innocently by the missionaries. The linguistic transfer was understandable: the missionaries needed a verb to translate ‘putting oil on something’; Lakota has a verb; they used that verb. The result was comical. So, during that conversation with the Lakota community, I encouraged the translators to come up with a Lakota verb that is used not simply in ‘the application of oil,’ but more pointedly in the consecration of something or somebody for a special task, or in the appointment of someone for a special purpose. Their response was almost immediate: azilyA or wazílyA ‘to smudge.’ That is how, they told me, warriors and messengers and tribal leaders have always been consecrated (or blessed) before being sent out on a special mission. Sage grass was burned, and the smoke was waved over the person or object. The trans-cultural process of using the traditional Lakota verb azilyA for the biblical notion of ‘anoint’ became, at that moment, part of the Lakota Bible.”

In Bashkir, it is translated as masekhlay (мәсехләү), when used in a ritual context. Masekhlay has the same root than masikh (мәсих), which is used both for “anointed one” in the Old Testament and in its capitalized form (Мәсих) for Μεσσίας (engl. “Messiah”) and Χριστός (engl. “Christ”) in the New Testament. For more information about this, see anointed one.

In Vidunda it is translated as “smear oil.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing how anointing was done in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)

See also anoint (chrió) and anointing of David (image).

untranslatable verses

The Swedish Bibel 2000 declared the 69 Old Testament verses referenced herein as “untranslatable.” Typically, other Bible translations translate those verses and mention in footnotes that the translation is uncertain or give alternate readings. Christer Åsberg, the Translation Secretary with the Swedish Bible Society at that time, explains why the Swedish Bible Society decided to not translate these verses at all (in The Bible Translator 2007, p. 1ff.):

“In the new Swedish translation (SB) of 2000, [some verses are] not translated at all; [they are] indicated with three hyphens inside square brackets [- - -] [with a] reference to the appendix, where in the article ‘Text’ one will find a paragraph with roughly the following content:

In some cases the text is unintelligible and the variant readings differing to such an extent, that it is quite impossible to attain a reasonable certainty of what is meant, although some isolated word may occur, whose meaning it is possible to understand.

“If Bible translators find the Hebrew text untranslatable, what kind of text is it that they have produced in the translation into their own language? When a footnote says ‘The Hebrew is not understandable,’ what then is the printed text a translation of? And if the translators prefer to do without footnotes, are they then really released from the responsibility of informing their readers that the text they read is just mere guesswork?

“To leave a blank space in a Bible text seems to be an offensive act for many. (. . . ) To admit that a piece of Holy Scripture makes no sense at all may have been unimaginable in times past. In our enlightened era, an overprotective concern for the readers’ trust in the word of God is apparently a decisive factor when a translator tries to translate against all odds. The verdict ‘untranslatable’ is much more frequent in scholarly commentaries on different Bible books written by and for experts than in the translations or footnotes of the same books designed for common readers.

“Another reason (. . .) is a professional, and very human, reluctance to admit a failure. Also, many Bible translators lack translational experience of other literary genres and other classical texts where this kind of capitulation is a part of the daily run of things. They may have an innate or subconscious feeling that the Bible has unique qualities not only as a religious document but also as a linguistic and literary artifact. Completeness is felt to be proof of perfection. Some translators, and not so few of their clients, are unfamiliar with a scholarly approach to philological and exegetical matters. In some cases their background have made them immune to a kind of interpretative approximation common in older translations, confessional commentaries, and sermons. Therefore, their tolerance towards lexical, grammatical, and syntactical anomalies tends to be comparatively great.

“It is very hard to discern and to define the boundary between something that is extremely difficult and something that is quite impossible. I am convinced that all Bible translators in their heart of hearts will admit that there actually are some definitely untranslatable passages in the Bible, but are there a dozen of them or a score? Are there fifty or a hundred? Not even a group of recognized experts would probably pick out the same ten most obvious cases. (. . .)

“Conclusions:

  1. There are untranslatable passages in the Bible.
  2. How many they are is impossible to say—except for the translation team that decides which passages are untranslatable.
  3. An untranslatable passage cannot and should therefore not be translated.
  4. The lacuna should be marked in a consistent way.
  5. The translating team should stipulate their criteria for untranslatability as early as possible.
  6. It is an ethical imperative that the readers be comprehensively informed.
  7. Untranslatability has been and can be displayed in many different ways.
  8. An explanatory note should not confuse linguistic untranslatability with other kinds of textual or translational difficulties.
  9. The information given should make it clear that the translators’ recognition of untranslatability is a token of respect for the Bible, not a proof of depreciation.
  10. You shall not fear the void, but the fear of the void.”

With thanks to Mikael Winninge, Director of Translation, Swedish Bible Society

complete verse (Psalm 141:5)

Following is a back-translations of Psalm 141:5 in Kutu:

“It is better a righteous man to rebuke me with punishment,
that matter is a kindness,
let him he rebuke me,
that matter is oil on my head,
my head will not reject it.
But my prayer always is against the evil deeds of evil people.”

(Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

fat, oil

The different Hebrew and Greek terms that are translated as “(olive) oil” and “(animal) fat” in English are translated in Kwere with only one term: mavuta. (Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

righteous, righteousness

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The Greek, Hebrew, and Latin terms that are translated in English mostly as “righteous” as an adjective or personified noun or “righteousness” (also as “justice”) are most commonly expressed with concept of “straightness,” though this may be expressed in a number of ways. (Click or tap here to see the details)

Following is a list of (back-) translations of various languages:

  • Bambara, Southern Bobo Madaré, Chokwe (ululi), Amganad Ifugao, Chol, Eastern Maninkakan, Toraja-Sa’dan, Pamona, Batak Toba, Bilua, Tiv: “be straight”
  • Laka: “follow the straight way” or “to straight-straight” (a reduplicated form for emphasis)
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl, Kekchí, Muna: “have a straight heart”
  • Kipsigis: “do the truth”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “do according to the truth”
  • Huautla Mazatec: “have truth”
  • Yine: “fulfill what one should do”
  • Indonesian: “be true”
  • Navajo: “do just so”
  • Anuak: “do as it should be”
  • Mossi: “have a white stomach” (see also happiness / joy)
  • Paasaal: “white heart” (source: Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
  • Nuer: “way of right” (“there is a complex concept of “right” vs. ‘left’ in Nuer where ‘right’ indicates that which is masculine, strong, good, and moral, and ‘left’ denotes what is feminine, weak, and sinful (a strictly masculine viewpoint!) The ‘way of right’ is therefore righteousness, but of course women may also attain this way, for the opposition is more classificatory than descriptive.”) (This and all above from Bratcher / Nida except for Bilua: Carl Gross; Tiv: Rob Koops; Muna: René van den Berg)
  • Central Subanen: “wise-good” (source: Robert Brichoux in OPTAT 1988/2, p. 80ff. )
  • Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “live well”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “goodness before the face of God” (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl: “the result of heart-straightening” (source: Nida 1947, p. 224)
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “entirely good” (when referred to God), “do good” or “not be a debtor as God sees one” (when referred to people)
  • Carib: “level”
  • Tzotzil: “straight-hearted”
  • Ojitlán Chinantec: “right and straight”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “walk straight” (source for this and four previous: John Beekman in Notes on Translation November 1964, p. 1-22)
  • Aari: The Pauline word for “righteous” is generally rendered by “makes one without sin” in the Aari, sometimes “before God” is added for clarity. (Source: Loren Bliese)
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun: “having sin taken away” (Source: Nida 1952, p. 144)
  • Nyamwezi: wa lole: “just” or “someone who follows the law of God” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Venda: “nothing wrong, OK” (Source: J.A. van Roy in The Bible Translator 1972, p. 418ff. )
  • Ekari: maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (the same word that is also used for “truth“; bokouto — “enormous” — is being used as an attribute for abstract nouns to denote that they are of God [see also here]; source: Marion Doble in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 37ff. ).
  • Guhu-Samane: pobi or “right” (also: “right (side),” “(legal) right,” “straightness,” “correction,” “south,” “possession,” “pertinence,” “kingdom,” “fame,” “information,” or “speech” — “According to [Guhu-Samane] thinking there is a common core of meaning among all these glosses. Even from an English point of view the first five can be seen to be closely related, simply because of their similarity in English. However, from that point the nuances of meaning are not so apparent. They relate in some such a fashion as this: As one faces the morning sun, south lies to the right hand (as north lies to the left); then at one’s right hand are his possessions and whatever pertains to him; thus, a rich man’s many possessions and scope of power and influence is his kingdom; so, the rich and other important people encounter fame; and all of this spreads as information and forms most of the framework of the people’s speech.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in Notes on Translation 1964, p. 11ff.)

See also respectable, righteous, righteous (person), and She is more in the right(eous) than I.

Translation commentary on Psalm 141:5 - 141:7

These verses are understood and translated in the most diverse ways possible. The Hebrew text as it now stands is quite obscure; there are many textual problems (Hebrew Old Testament Text Project deals with four in verse 5 and two in verse 7). Weiser does not translate verses 6-7, and Oesterley, though he offers a tentative translation, regards them as hopelessly corrupt. The first three editions of Bible de Jérusalem (1950, 1955, 1964) have three different translations of these verses.

Verse 5a in Hebrew seems to say “Will strike me a good man (in) constant love and rebuke me.” This is taken as a possibility by Good News Translation and implicitly so by Revised Standard Version. New Jerusalem Bible translates “Let the righteous man strike me out of loyalty, let him reprove me.” A good man translates tsadiq “righteous,” and in kindness translates chesed “constant love, loyalty.” Dahood takes the two terms to refer to Yahweh: “the Just One … the Kind One.” The expression rebuke me in kindness may have to be recast to say, for example, “be kind to me when he scolds me” or “with a good heart show me my faults.”

Verse 5b in Hebrew is “oil of the head my head will not refuse.” New Jerusalem Bible takes this to refer to the rebukes by the righteous man in the preceding line, and translates “let my head not refuse such choice oil.” The rebukes by a righteous man are considered an honor which the psalmist will not refuse. The Hebrew word “head” means also “important, best,” and so “oil of the head” may mean “the finest oil” (so Hebrew Old Testament Text Project; New Jerusalem Bible “choice oil”). Good News Translation has here followed the Septuagint “the oil of a sinner is not to be spread on my head”; this implies that the verb form, instead of being associated with the root meaning “to refuse,” is associated with the root meaning “to adorn”; and instead of the word for “head,” the Hebrew word for “evil man” is read.

The choice seems to be between “With fine oil never let my head glisten” (Dahood; also Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), or “My head will not be anointed with the oil of wicked men” (New English Bible; similarly Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible). Another interpretation is preferred by An American Translation: “If the righteous smite me–it is a kindness. And if he rebuke me–it is the finest oil; Let not my head refuse it!” See also New American Bible, New International Version, Bible en français courant, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project. For “anoint the head” see 23.5.

Verse 5c in Hebrew is “for always my prayer (is) against (or, about) their evil deeds,” which, though strange, is not too difficult: “for I am always praying against their evil deeds” (so the sense of most translations and Hebrew Old Testament Text Project; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy has “Despite their blows I will continue to pray”). Verse 5c may have to be restructured as a concessive clause; for example, “even though they do evil deeds to me, I will go on praying.”

In verse 6a it is difficult to decide whether “their rulers” (literally “those who judge them”; so New Jerusalem Bible “their judges”) is the subject of the verb (so New Jerusalem Bible, Good News Translation) or the indirect object (so Revised Standard Version to those who shall condemn them). The verb can mean to be dropped, thrown, or hurled. Another problem is the meaning of the Hebrew phrase, which seems to be “in the hands (or, at the sides) of the rock.” New Jerusalem Bible translates the line “May their judges slip on the rock,” and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible “Their rulers have been hurled on the rock.” The sense of Good News Translation is the same as given by Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, New American Bible. Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible, and Dahood take “rock” to be a title for Yahweh (so Bible de Jérusalem “they are delivered to the power of the Rock, their judge”). This may well be the meaning intended. It is recommended that the meaning expressed by Good News Translation and others be followed. New English Bible, a little more distant from the Hebrew, has “They shall founder on the rock of justice.”

Verse 6b in Hebrew is “and they will hear my words that (or, for) they are pleasant.” What this means in the context is impossible to determine. Revised Standard Version, instead of reading the Hebrew as “my words,” takes it to be “the word of the LORD” (the final y of the Hebrew form being taken as a shortened form of Yah; see 68.4). Perhaps the nearest one can get to making sense out of this line is achieved by New Jerusalem Bible, which translates “but let my words be heard, for they are sweet,” or New English Bible “and shall learn how acceptable my words are.” Cohen’s explanation can only be regarded as a desperate suggestion: “When the evil judges … meet with the doom of being hurled to destruction from a high rock…, they will admit before they die that the words he had spoken were pleasant and regret they had taken no notice of them.” But, it must be admitted, Good News Translation‘s (and, to a lesser degree, Revised Standard Version‘s) text is only slightly better.

The first part of verse 7 goes, in Hebrew, “like cleaving and splitting (something) on earth.” What is split is not specified in the Hebrew, but this can be either rock (Revised Standard Version), “millstone” (New Jerusalem Bible), or “wood” (Good News Translation); or else, “as the ground is plowed and broken” (so New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New American Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). Dahood takes “earth” in line a to be the world of the dead, parallel with Sheol in line b. In line b the Hebrew text is “our bones”; Syriac and some manuscripts of the Septuagint have “their bones”; the Qumran manuscript has “my bones.” The Hebrew text is hard to understand; Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, and New Jerusalem Bible try to make sense of it by taking verse 7 to be the words of the psalmist referred to in verse 6. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project translates the verse exactly as Bible de Jérusalem has it: “as a millstone broken on the floor/earth, our bones are strewn at the mouth of the Sheol.” For Sheol see 6.5. If, in spite of these cautions, the translator follows Good News Translation, for some languages there will be adaptations to be made, particularly in regard to the passives. Since it will not be possible to say who split the wood nor who scattered the bones, it may be necessary to say, for example, “their broken bones lie near the grave like pieces of wood.”

Bible en français courant translates verses 5-7 as follows:

5 I am willing for a man of goodwill to chastise me,
or for a faithful (friend) to correct me;
it is a gesture of friendship
that I will not refuse.
But the evil done by evildoers
will not stop my prayer.
6 I said without malice:
my enemies will understand it
when their judges are thrown upon a rock.
7 As a rift opens in the earth
the world of the dead will open its mouth
to swallow their scattered bones.

It seems imperative, regardless of the translation which is finally adopted, that a note indicate that verses 5-7 in Hebrew are extremely obscure, not to say unintelligible.

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 .