The Hebrew in Hosea 10:11 that is translated in English translations as “a trained heifer that loved to thresh” is translated into Afar as “As a camel that goes by its nose follows a person” (no threshing in Afar culture, but a camel with a rope around its mouth obediently follows the person leading it.)
Language-specific Insights
uncircumcised in heart and ears
The phrase that is translated into English as “uncircumcised in heart and ears” is translated into Afar as “You are people who have hearts that refuse God, and ears closed saying we didn’t hear God’s message.” (Source: Loren Bliese)
Other translations for “uncircumcised in heart and ears” include:
- Rincón Zapotec: “it doesn’t enter your hearts or your ears. You are like those who don’t even believe”
- Eastern Highland Otomi: “hard are your hearts and not a little bit open are your ears”
- Morelos Nahuatl: “you have your heart as unbelievers, you do not want to hear God’s word”
- Highland Popoluca: “you never wanted to do God’s will, never truly believed”
- Teutila Cuicatec: “you are just the same as those who do not believe God’s word because you do not obey”
- Huichol: “you have not been marked with God’s sign in your hearts or in your ears” (or: “you are unruly and unsubmissive like an untamed, unbranded bronco”)
- Ojitlán Chinantec: “you do not have the word-sign in your hearts. Your ears are clogged”
- Copainalá Zoque: “you just don’t understand”
- Isthmus Mixe: “your hearts and minds are not open” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
- Kaqchikel: “with your hearts unprepared” (source: Nida 1964, p. 220)
- Elhomwe: “like people who do not know God” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
- Chichewa (interconfessional translation) “hard-headed.” (Source: Wendland 1987, p. 130)
- Bariai: “You aren’t able to receive knowledge, certainly not. You shut your ears always to Deo’s talk.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
- Low German 1975 translation by Rudolf Muuß: “Your hearts and ears are no better than those of the heathen”
- Uma: “No kidding your stubbornness! No kidding your making yourselves deaf to hearing the Word of the Lord God!” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “Your livers are livers not obeying/following God. And how deaf are your ears. You do not listen-to/heed God’s word/message.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
See also uncircumcised and stiff-necked.
hearts burning
The Greek in Luke 24:32 that is often translated as “Were not our hearts burning within us?” is translated as
- “a boiling comes to our hearts inside” in Marathi (an idiom for joy and enthusiasm)
- “drawn, as it were, our mind” in Balinese
- “hurt (i.e. longing) our hearts” in Ekari
- “something was-consuming in our-heart” in Tae’ (an idiom for “we were profoundly moved”) (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
- “O, how sweet coolness did our hearts feel” in an early version of the Bible in Sranan Tongo. “The translator “did this to avoid misunderstanding. In Sranan Tongo, when one says ‘my heart is burning’ he means ‘I am angry.'” (Source: Janini 2015, p. 33)
- “Wasn’t it as rain coming down on us?” in Afar. “Heat is bad, rain is good in the desert.” (Source: Loren Bliese)
- “our interiors bubbled up” in Bariai (source: Bariai Back Translation)
In the 2008 Moba Yendu Kadapaaonn translation it is translated as “were not our hearts encouraged (literally: made strong)?” While Moba has a rich metaphorical library using the concept of “heart” (pal) it follows very different paradigms compared to Greek, Hebrew and English concepts. (Source: Bedouma Joseph Kobaike in Le Sycomore 17/1, 2024, p. 3ff. .) (See also I hold you in my heart)
tingle
The Hebrew in Jeremiah 19:3 that is rendered in English versions as “the ears of everyone who hears of it (disaster) will tingle” is translated into Afar as “(disaster) that will make the bodies of the people who hear it perspire.” (A different bodily reaction associated with frightening news in Afar idiom.)
heifer, stallion
In Afar “you frisk about like a heifer on the grass, and neigh like stallions” is translated as Qaysok cayya iyyeh xobbaaqa gaalih innah xobbaqten. Canak cayye mooyuh innah kaqitten.: “You frisk like camels satisfied with grass, and jump like goat kids satisfied with milk.” (Horses don’t survive in the Afar desert, but camels thrive.)
Haman hurried to his house mourning and with his head covered
The Hebrew and Greek that is rendered in English translations as “Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered” was translated into Afar as Haaman wacarriyih namma gaba amol luk isi buxah arduk yuduure.: “Haman, having both hands on his head in shame, returned to his home running.” (Shame is shown by placing both hands on top of one’s head.)
In Newari it is translated as “Haman, however, being ashamed, with bursting heart, hurried back to his own house” (source: Newari Back Translation).
See also shake the head.
stall
The phrase in Malachi 4:2 that is rendered as “go out from the stall” in some English translations is translated into Afar as ogok yifdigen rugaageh: “calves released from a tether” (nomads use tethers rather than stalls for animals).
pledge loyalty
The Hebrew in 2 Samuel 15:33 that is translated in English versions as “pledged their loyalty to Absalom,” or “the hearts have gone after Absalom” was translated into Afar as ‘Ku kabut gacennooh ko’lih rabenno’ ‘yaanam axcuk yenen.: “They were saying, ‘We will go with you and we will die with you.’ (Direct speech is used instead of general descriptions of speech acts. The pledge to even die with one’s leader in battle is a typical expression of loyalty.)