lamb

The term that is translated as “lamb” in English is typically translated as “offspring of a sheep” in Ixcatlán Mazatec since there is no specific word for “lamb.” Since this could distract readers with thoughts of God being the sheep when the “lamb” refers to Jesus the translation into Ixcatlán Mazatec chose “little (individual) sheep” for those cases. (Source: Robert Bascom)

In Dëne Súline the native term for “lamb” directly translated as “the young one of an evil little caribou.” To avoid the negative connotation, a loan word from the neighboring South Slavey was used. (Source: NCAM, p. 70)

For the Kasua translation, it took a long process to find the right term. Rachel Greco (in The PNG Experience) tells this story:

“To the Kasua people of Western Province, every four-legged animal is a pig. They call a horse a pig-horse, a cow, a pig-cow, and a sheep, a pig-sheep, because all of these animals have four legs, which is kopolo, or pig, in their language.

“When the translation team would translate the word, ‘sheep’ in the New Testament, they would translate it as ‘pig-sheep’. So when Jesus is referred to as the ‘Lamb,’ (John 1:29; Rev. 12:11; Rev. 17:14), they translated as ‘pig-sheep’ so that in John 1:29 it would read: ‘Behold, the pig-sheep of God.’

“When some members of the translation team attended the Translators Training Course, they had the opportunity to observe and study sheep for the first time. As they watched and learned more about the animals’ behavior, their understanding of these creatures—and God’s Word—rotated on its axis.

“Once during the course, Logan and Konni — the translation team’s helpers — were driving with the team to a Bible dedication when Amos, one of the team members, said passionately, ‘We can’t use the word kopolo in front of the word, ‘sheep’! Pigs know when they’re about to die and squeal and scream.’ The team had often watched villagers tie up pigs so they wouldn’t escape.

“’But,’ Amos said, ‘Jesus didn’t do that.’ The team had learned that sheep are quiet and still when death walks toward them. They had observed, as they translated the New Testament, the words of Isaiah 53 fulfilled: ‘Like a lamb led to the slaughter, he did not open his mouth.’ And now they understood what it meant. For this reason, the team decided not to put pig-sheep in the New Testament for the word ‘sheep,’ but used sheep-animal or, in their language, a:pele sipi.

“The Kasua translation team also chose to discard the word ‘pig’ before sheep because pigs are unclean animals to the Jews. The team knew that Jesus was called the ‘Lamb of God’ in the New Testament to show that he is unblemished and clean. Hopefully the Lord will open up the Kasua villagers’ eyes to these same truths about Jesus as they read of Him in their own language.”

See also sheep.

worship

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The Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek terms that are often translated as “worship” (also, “kneel down” or “bow down”) are likewise translated in other languages in certain categories, including those based on physical activity, those which incorporate some element of “speaking” or “declaring,” and those which specify some type of mental activity.

Following is a list of (back-) translations (click or tap for details):

  • Javanese: “prostrate oneself before”
  • Malay: “kneel and bow the head”
  • Kaqchikel: “kneel before”
  • Loma (Liberia): “drop oneself beneath God’s foot”
  • Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “wag the tail before God” (using a verb which with an animal subject means “to wag the tail,” but with a human subject)
  • Tzotzil: “join to”
  • Kpelle: “raise up a blessing to God”
  • Kekchí: “praise as your God”
  • Cashibo-Cacataibo: “say one is important”
  • San Blas Kuna: “think of God with the heart”
  • Rincón Zapotec: “have one’s heart go out to God”
  • Tabasco Chontal: “holy-remember” (source of this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Q’anjob’al: “humble oneself before” (source: Newberry and Kittie Cox in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. )
  • Alur: rwo: “complete submission, adoration, consecration” (source: F. G. Lasse in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 22ff. )
  • Obolo: itọtọbọ ebum: “express reverence and devotion” (source: Enene Enene)
  • Ngäbere: “cut oneself down before” (“This figure of speech comes from the picture of towering mahoganies in the forest which, under the woodman’s ax, quiver, waver, and then in solemn, thunderous crashing bury their lofty heads in the upstretched arms of the surrounding forest. This is the experience of every true worshiper who sees ‘the Lord, high and lifted up.’ Our own unworthiness brings us low. As the Valientes say, ‘we cut ourselves down before’ His presence. Our heads, which have been carried high in self-confidence, sink lower and lower in worship.)
  • Tzeltal: “end oneself before God.” (“Only by coming to the end of oneself can one truly worship. The animist worships his deities in the hope of receiving corresponding benefits, and some pagans in Christendom think that church attendance is a guarantee of success in this life and good luck in the future. But God has never set a price on worship except the price that we must pay, namely, ‘coming to the end of ourselves.'”) (Source of this and the one above: Nida 1952, p. 163)
  • Folopa: “die under God” (“an idiom that roughly back-translates “dying under God” which means lifting up his name and praising him and to acknowledge by everything one does and thanks that God is superior.”) (Source: Anderson / Moore, p. 202)
  • Chokwe: kuivayila — “rub something on” (“When anyone goes into the presence of a king or other superior, according to native law and custom the inferior gets down on the ground, takes a little earth in the fingers of his right hand, rubs it on his own body, and then claps his hands in homage and the greeting of friendship. It is a token of veneration, of homage, of extreme gratitude for some favor received. It is also a recognition of kingship, lordship, and a prostrating of oneself in its presence. Yet it simply is the applicative form of ‘to rub something on oneself’, this form of the verb giving the value of ‘because of.’ Thus in God’s presence as king and Lord we metaphorically rub dirt on ourselves, thus acknowledging Him for what He really is and what He has done for us.”) (Source: D. B. Long in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 87ff. )

In Luang it is translated with different shades of meaning:

Source: Kathy Taber in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 9-16.

complete verse (Revelation 13:8)

Following are a number of back-translations of Revelation 13:8:

  • Uma: “All the people who lived on the earth worshipped him. The only ones who did not worship him were the people who already had their names written in the Book of Life before the world was created. That Book of Life is the book of the Lamb who was slain, in that book are written the names of the people who receive good life until forever.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “This creature was worshiped by all people on earth, by those whose names are not written in the book that belongs to the one called the Sheep, the one who had been killed. When the world was not yet created, beforehand already the names of the people who have life forever were written in this book.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “All people here on the earth are worshipping that beast, those who long ago before the world was founded, their names were not written in the book where those people who are given life are listed. This is the book of the sacrificed young sheep whose allowing himself to be killed was ordained long ago before the world was created.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “So all people on this earth, they praised/worshipped that fearsome animal with the exception of those whose names were written in the book in-which-were-written the names of those who have life that has no end. Before the world was created, their names were already-written in that book which belongs to the Sheep that was killed to be sacrificed/offered.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Therefore he would be worshipped by all people here under the heavens, except those people whose names are written, before the world was created, in that in which are written the names of as many as would be given life which is without ending. As for this writing, it is in the custody/care of the one referred to as Young Sheep who was killed in the past.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The terrible animal was worshiped by the people who live all over the earth. These are the people whose names are not written in the book which the Lamb has, he who was killed. Concerning this book, before the world was made, already it had written in it the names of all who will meet up with the new life.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Revelation 13:8

All who dwell on earth: the same expression is used in 3.10; 6.10; 8.13; 11.10.

Every one whose name has not been written: it may be better to imitate Good News Translation and refer to those whose names had been written: “All the people in the world will worship him, except those whose names had been written….” Or it may be better to have two complete sentences: “Almost everyone will worship the beast. But some will not worship him; those who have their names written … will not worship him.”

Not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain: for the book of life see 3.5; for the Lamb that was slain, see 5.6, 9.

In Greek the phrase “from the foundation of the earth” comes at the end of the verse, immediately following the Lamb that was slain. Most translations, relying in part on 17.8, connect “from the foundation of the earth” with the verbal phrase been written. See Good News Translation “except those whose names were written before the creation of the world in the book of the living.” Some, however, connect it with “the Lamb that was slain”: Phillips, New International Version, and Revised English Bible (a change from New English Bible); and this understanding of the verse is supported by some commentators (for example, Sweet, Caird) who point out that such a statement is not without parallel in other New Testament passages (see especially 1 Peter 1.19-20). A translator must decide which interpretation to follow; it may be possible to have one in the text and the other one in a footnote. All in all, it seems preferable to go along with Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and others.

The various items of information should be properly related to one another in terms of the development of the narrative. Something like the following may serve as a model for this verse:

• Everyone on earth will worship him, except those whose names were written in the book of the living before the world was created. That book belongs to the Lamb who was killed.

Or:

• … whose names were recorded in the book in which God has written down before the world was created the names of those who really have life. That book belongs to the Lamb whom people killed.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Revelation to John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .