complete verse (Romans 11:18)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 11:18:

  • Uma: “But your hearts must not be proud [high], relatives. Don’t disparage those Jews who were discarded. Remember! You are like a branch yourself, you get blessings from the root of the tended tree, it’s not the tree that get blessings from you.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “That’s why you (pl.), the not Yahudi, really don’t (imp) despise those branches which have been cut off, that means the Yahudi who do not believe. You cannot boast because you are figuratively the branch but they are figuratively the root and the root is not living because of the branch but the branch is living because of the root.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But it’s necessary that you not think that you are greater than the Jews for you are only branches also, and the nourishment of the branches come from the body of the tree, and the nourishment of the body does not come from the branches.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But be careful not to look-down-on the original branches, because remember this: it is not you who are causing-the root -to-grow but rather it’s the root that is causing-you -to-grow.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But you should not say that you are better than the Jews who separated from God. Remember that the branches live because they are connected with the trunk. It is not that the trunk is alive because of the branches.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “But even though that is who you are, don’t say that you are better, that the real branches aren’t as good. If you want to be proud, just remember that it isn’t you who is giving food to the root. Rather the root of the tree is feeding you.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

Translation commentary on Romans 11:18

The verb rendered despise literally means “boast over” (so Revised Standard Version), and may have the meaning of “think yourself superior to” (Jerusalem Bible). The Greek text literally has “do not boast over the branches.” The branches referred to are those which have been broken off (see v. 17). The Good News Translation makes this information explicit and changes the metaphor into a simile, those who were … like branches.

If the agent of the process of “breaking off” must be stipulated, it can only be God—for example, “you must not, therefore, despise those whom God broke off like branches.”

The question how can you be proud? may be made into a statement: “you must not be proud” or “there is absolutely no reason for you to be proud.”

The last past of this verse is handled in a way similar to the first part. You are just a branch does not appear as such in the Greek text, though it is important that this information be made explicit for the English reader.

In translating the term support it is important not to suggest “hold up” but rather “nourish.” One may even translate literally “you do not supply sap to the root, but the root supplies sap to you” or “you do not cause the root to be strong; the root causes you to be strong.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .