Following are a number of back-translations of James 5:4:
- Uma: “The people who work in your gardens, you didn’t/don’t give them salary. Listen to their groaning/suffering! The workers who harvest in your gardens cry out requesting help, and their cry is heard by the Lord God, the Leader of the soldiers of heaven.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “You, the rich people, you did not pay wages to the people working in your field. Listen to their complaints. The people you told to harvest your fields really complain and they are heard by the Most Powerful God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The money which you did not use to pay those who worked in your fields will be evidence against you before God. The accusation of those who harvested on your land has been heard by the powerful Lord.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “And God who is all powerful, he has most-definitely seen the money you withheld that you should have paid-as-salary to those who worked-by-the-day harvesting in your fields. He has also heard their pleas-for-mercy.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “For look at this, as for the wages which you didn’t give to those you caused to harvest in your fields, it’s like they are noising-loudly. (They are) asking for help against you. It’s true that the pathetic-lamentings of these whom you caused to work can reach to God who is almighty (lit. of superior supernatural-power).” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “The workers who work in your fields, you haven’t given them their wages. They accuse you that you haven’t paid them. God who alone rules all things hears what the workers say as they accuse you.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
- Mezquital Otomi: “Hear the cries of your workers, those who harvested your fields. They are crying because you have deceived them and you haven’t paid them as they were deserving. But our Lord, indeed the King of all the many angels in heaven, has heard the cries of those your workers.”
- Yatzachi Zapotec: “Think how you did with your laborers, those poor men who harvested your harvest. You deceived them so they would work for you and you did not pay them their full wages. And in that you owe them it is apparent that you are evil-doers. God will hear the laborers, in their mourning, God who rules the angels in heaven.”
- Alekano: “After they had done sweaty work cutting the grass in the garden, and you had unfairly not given them pay, the workers cried, and God saw that sin . . .” (Source for this and two above: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.)
For the Old Testament quote, see Isaiah 5:9.
Following are a number of back-translations of James 3:13:
- Uma: “If there is in our midst a person whose thinking is good and whose heart is clear [i.e., aware, mature, wise], he must show his clearness of heart with his good behavior and with his character that appears from a humble [low] heart, like is fitting for people whose hearts are clear.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “If there is a person among you who has deep thoughts/wisdom and really understands, he should show his knowledge in his good works. And his liver should be lowly/humble for like that is a person whose thoughts/wisdom is truly deep.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Any of you who are wise and have large understanding, he must show it by means of his good works. He must not consider himself high as he shows his wisdom by means of his good workds.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “If there is someone among you who is thinking/reflective and understanding, he should show his kind-of-wisdom in his good behavior/character and in his humbling (lit. lowering) himself in his doing what is good.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “Well who of you is knowledgeable and perceptive/understanding? It’s necessary that you prove it through your good nature/ways, and through the good things you are doing with meekness/patience which accompanies true understanding/wisdom.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “When there arises one who is wise, who thinks on the words he hears, it will be seen who such a person is because he does good. He does what he knows and is not arrogant in what he does.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
- Central Mazahua: “When anyone of you knows what is good to do and knows how, he will be careful how he will live and he will not make himself great. In that way people will notice that truly that one knows.”
- Rincón Zapotec: “If there is among you a man who has great ability and he understands exceedingly, with complete humility he ought to show that he is thus by means of the good things he is doing.”
- Alekano: ” . . . if he remains humble and does good things, he will demonstrate the substance of his wisdom.” (Source for this and two above: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 11:1:
- Uma: “From there, the apostles of the Lord Yesus with the one-faith relatives in the land of Yudea heard that there were people who were not Yahudi people receiving the Word of God also.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “The commissioned ones and the disciples of Isa throughout Yahudiya heard that the people who were not Yahudi had believed-obeyed the message/word of God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The apostles there in the province of Judea and their companion Jewish believers, they heard that those who are not Jews had received the word of God which had been caused to be understood by them.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “When that was so, the apostles and their companions who believed in the many-towns in Judea, they heard-the-news that Gentiles had also received the word of God.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “The apostles and other believers in Judea heard news that there were people who weren’t Jews who had now believed the word of God. But there were some who heard that news who couldn’t accept it.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Alekano: “After that, after talk that those who were not Jews had joined on to God’s word had spread, the other apostles and their Jewish brethren who were in Judea land heard it.” (Source: Larson 1998, p. 91).
Following are a number of back-translations of John 5:40:
- Ojitlán Chinantec: “And you do not want to believe in me so that I might give you eternal life.”
- Alekano: “But though you should come to me and have eternal life, you confusedly reject me.”
- Lalana Chinantec: “Even though the word of God speaks about me, you are not willing to become my people. If you became my people, you would come to life.” (Source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
- Uma: “But even so, you still do not want to come to me, in order to receive that good life.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “But you do not want to follow me and-what’s-more I can give you life without end.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “I would that you would believe because you would be given eternal life.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “and you still refuse to be-joined-to me so that I would give you life.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “But well, you just don’t want to follow/obey me so that I might give you life which has no ending.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “And you do not want to believe in me to have the new life.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations of John 3:14:
- Huehuetla Tepehua: “Moses hung up the snake out where it was quiet. Well, also in the same way it is necessary that I should be hung up, I who am the friend of all men.”
- Alekano: “Just like Moses a long time ago in the wilderness lifted up the thing made to look like a snake, they will surely lift up me the true man.” (Source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
- Uma: “‘Long ago in the wilderness, the prophet Musa made an image of a snake from brass, and he put it on the end of a wooden pole and stuck it in the ground to stand it up. Whoever was bitten by a snake, if they looked up at that brass image of a snake, they would live. So, like that brass snake was made high long ago, so also I the Child of Mankind must be made high,” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “Musa in old times, at the time when he was there in the lonely place together with the tribe of Isra’il, he made (a thing) in the shape of a snake from brass and lifted it up and hung it onto a post so that when the people who had been bitten looked at that snake would get well. Likewise I, the Son of Mankind, I also have to be lifted up onto a post and be killed,” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then Jesus said again, ‘Long ago when Moses was still out in the land where nobody lives, he made a brass snake and he put it on wood and he raised it up. As for me, the older sibling of mankind, that is the same thing that is going to happen to me in the future because I also will be fastened to a wood and raised up.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “And what will happen to me, it is like what happened to the imitation/fake snake which Moses fastened-to and raised-up on a post when they were walking through the place with no inhabitants. Because I also who am Child of a Person, I must be fastened-to the cross and be-raised-up” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “And in the way in which Moises put-up-high what he’d made which was like a snake there in the wilderness, putting it on wood/tree which he set up, like that indeed is what will be done to me who am the One From Heaven Born of Man. They will nail me to a cross and then put-up-high like that snake which was made.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “There in the wilds, Moses made a metal snake and standing up a pole he raised it high. In like manner it will happen to the Man who came from heaven, it is necessary that the cross be stood up with him on it.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations of John 3:6:
- Umiray Dumaget Agta: “That which originates from the body of a person is the body of a person. That which originates from the Spirit of God is spirit.”
- Aguaruna: “Those born from people are people. Those born by God’s spirit, they have God’s spirit.”
- Ojitlán Chinantec: “All the children of human beings are human beings by birth. All who are born another time, this being the work of the Holy Spirit, these are new people.”
- Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “One who is a child of people, he has his flesh and bones. And one who has his new life by the power of the Holy Spirit, he has the Spirit of God.”
- Chol: “He who is born of a mother is given a body. He who is born of the spirit is given life in his heart.”
- Alekano: “One that people give birth to will surely have a person’s soul. One that the Spirit gives birth to, he will surely have the Spirit’s soul.”
- Tenango Otomi: “A child, when it is born, if his parents are only people, is also only a person. But in order for a person to live anew, only the Holy Spirit can cause it.”
- Lalana Chinantec: “People’s flesh and blood causes our flesh and blood to be alive when we are born. But the great Spirit of God causes our hearts to be alive.” (Source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
- Uma: “Man lives in this world, and is born from his parents. But the new life of his soul he receives from the Holy Spirit.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “What is born of mankind is mankind/human. But if a person is born again from the Spirit of God, he is made a child of God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “That which is born by means of a human is only human also, but that which is born by means of the power of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit lives in him.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “Because the one to whom a person gives-birth, he is humanlike (connotes limited, sinful humanity), but the one by-contrast to whom the Holy Spirit gives-birth, he is spiritual (loan naispiritoan).” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “Because the one given birth to by a human, he is indeed human, a slave yet to sin. But that one who has been given birth to again, for he has been given birth to by the Espiritu Santo, he is now free from that slavery.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “A child, when it is born and his parents are only people, is also only a person. But in order for a person to live anew, only the Holy Spirit is able to cause it.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations of John 3:4:
- Huehuetla Tepehua: “How can an old man get little and be born again? Can he get inside his mother and be born again?”
- Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “. . . How can a grown man have a new life? He cannot enter into the womb of his mother to be born again.”
- Alekano: “. . . One having become big, how will he appear new? How will he enter up into his mother’s stomach and she give birth? ” (Source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
- Uma: “Nikodemus said: ‘Can a person who is already old be born again? Can he put himself in the womb of his mother and be born a second time?'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “Nikodemus said, ‘How can a person be born again when he is already old? He cannot enter again the womb of his mother and be born again.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And this Nicodemus asked saying, ‘How can a man who is already old be born again? He can’t return back to the stomach of his mother so that he can be born again.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “And then Nicodemus inquired, ‘How perhaps can a grown-man be born again? Can-he-return do-you-suppose into the stomach of his mother in order to then be born a-second-time (lit. repeat to be born)?'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “Nicodemo asked, ‘How can a person be born again when he is now old/mature? Can he yet enter again into the womb of his mother and be born again?'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “Nicodemus asked, ‘But how can he? How can a man who is old again live anew? Can he again enter into the inside of his mother in order to again live anew?'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations of John 1:20:
- Yatzachi Zapotec: “He said to them clearly, ‘I am not the Christ, the person whom God is to send to help the nation of us Israelites.'”
- Ojitlán Chinantec: “He said, ‘I am not the Christ, the chosen of God for a particular task.’ John showed the truth. He did not speak lies.”
- Huehuetla Tepehua: “Well he admitted the truth. He immediately made it plain to them that he wasn’t Christ whom it was said God would send.”
- Mezquital Otomi: “. . . I am not the Christ, whom God chose.”
- Alekano: “Then not denying it, revealing it, he told them this: ‘I am not the Christ.'”
- Chol: “John did not keep it a secret . . . ” (Source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
- Uma: “Yohanes answered them plainly, he said to them: ‘I am not the Redeemer King.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “Yahiya did not hide (anything) instead really confessed/spoke the truth, he said, ‘I am not the Almasi.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And this is what John said because he did not hide it. He said, ‘As for me, I am not the one chosen by God to rule.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “Juan didn’t deny the truth of it but rather he admitted saying, ‘I am not the Messiah.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “He really didn’t make-claims for himself but on the contrary he told the truth, saying, ‘It’s not I who am the Cristo who is that promised Savior King.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “John straightly spoke. He said, ‘I am not the Christ whom God appointed to rule.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
