Following are a number of back-translations of Ruth 4:13:
Noongar: “So, Boaz took Ruth and Ruth became his wife. They lay together and God blessed Ruth. She became pregnant and bore their son.” (Source: Bardip Ruth-Ang 2020)
Eastern Bru: “Then Boaz took Ruth to be his wife. They lived together. And God gave Ruth a son.” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “So Boaz married Ruth, and the LORD willed that Ruth became-pregnant. Some time-later Ruth gave-birth to a son.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “So Boaz took Ruth home, and she became his wife. He slept with/had sexual relations with her and Yahweh enabled her to become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The Greek, Latin, and Hebrew that is typically translated as “prostitute” in English (in some, mostly earlier translation also as “harlot” or “whore”) is translated in the 2024 revision of the inter-confessional LatvianJauna Pārstrādāta latviešu Bībele as netikle or “hussy.” This replaced the previous translation mauka or “whore.” Nikita Andrejevs, editor of the Bible explains the previous and current translations: “The translators at the time felt that this strong word best described the thought contained in the main text. Many had objections, as it seemed that this word would not be the most appropriate for public reading in church.” (Source: Updated Bible published in Latvia ).
Other translations include:
Bariai: “a woman of the road” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “a woman who sells her body” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Uma: “a woman whose behavior is not appropriate” or “a loose woman” (source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “a bad woman” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “a woman who make money through their reputation” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “a woman who makes money with her body” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “a woman whose womanhood is repeatedly-bought” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
The Greek and Hebrew that is typically translated as “covenant” or “testimony” in English and refers to the stone tablets that Moses brought down from Mount Sinai are translated in Kupsabiny as “two stones (that are flat-and-thin) on which the law is written,” in Hiligaynon as “the wide stone on which is-written the Law.” (Source: Kupsabiny and Hiligaynon Back-Translations), and in the interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) as miyala iŵiri ija yolembedwapo mau a chipangano or “those two stones on which are written the words of the agreement” (Source: Wendland 1998, p. 110).
In the EnglishTranslation for Translators it is translated as stone slabs and in the New English Bible as Tokens (source: Elizabeth Lewis).
EnglishTranslation for Translators: “show that I am innocent/have not done what is wrong” / Easy English Bible: “show that I am not guilty of wrong things”
Following are a number of back-translations of John 1:1:
Huehuetla Tepehua: “The Word was living when there was still nothing at all. And that Word lived in the same place God did. And that Word was God himself.”
Yatzachi Zapotec: “When the world began, the person who is the Word was already present. He was with God and the person who is the Word was God.”
Chol: “In the beginning of the world there already was the Word. This Word already was with God. This Word was (and still is) God.” (Source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Long ago before anything was created, the one who is titled the Word of God already was. This Word of God, he already was with God and he is God.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Before the world and heavens/sky was laid-down/spread-out (i.e. existed), there was already Jesus who is called Word/Speech of God. This one referred to as Word, he was already there in the presence of God. Not just in the presence of God but on the contrary, this Word who is Jesus, he indeed is the one who is this God.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “The Son of God makes it known how God is. When the world was made, already he was living. He was in fellowship with God. He also is God.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “When before still in the past, there already was the one being — called the Word. The Word is/was now with God, and the Word is/was God himself.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Mairasi: “In the very beginning The Message lived. This Message lived together with Great Above One. And This Message Himself was actually Great Above One.” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)
Bariai: “Prior to the coming forth of everything, Talk was existing. This Talk was existing together with God, and this Talk was God.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
Kupsabiny: “In the beginning, there was Word. That Word was together with God. That word was God.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Anindilyakwa: “Right at the beginning, long, long ago, Jesus Christ was there, the one who revealed God who was hidden from us. Before God made the heavens and the earth, right at that time the same one was already there with God. And those two, the same one and God, they were the same/shared the same characteristics.” (Source: Julie Waddy in The Bible Translator 2004, p. 452ff.)
Classical Quechua: “In the dawn which had no beginning the Son of God was, and the Son of God was God, the Son of God was with God.” (for more information, click or tap here)
This translation by Juan Roxo Mexía y Ocón from 1648 is explained by him in the following way: “When the inherent meaning of the Quechua word changes ‘the customary catholic meaning of the Gospel,’ it must be avoided. Instead a phrase should be used which conforms to the meaning of the Gospel. For example, [in] John 1:1 In principio should not be rendered by the word in the language which corresponds to principio, that is, callarij. Its proper meaning is ‘beginning of time,’ and the Evangelist is speaking of ‘the beginningless beginning of eternity.’ Nor should the word verbum be rendered by simi, which is the corresponding term. Its proper meaning is ‘a spoken word,’ whereas the Evangelist speaks of the ‘Eternal Word of the Father,’ that is, his only begotten Son.” (Source William Mitchell in The Bible Translator 1996, p. 301ff. ).
The musical instrument that is most often translated as “harp” or “large lyre” in English is translated in the following ways:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016: “two stringed instrument” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “instruments which have strings to praise you,” “beautiful to-be-listened-to instruments,” or kudyapi (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Description: The exact identification of the nevel is very problematic. Some take it to be a kind of harp. The harp consisted of a neck projecting out of a soundbox. Strings were stretched from the extremity of the neck down its length and into the sound box. The body of the harp was made of wood and its strings of animal intestines (perhaps from sheep). The number of strings varied.
Others place the nevel in the category of lyres, where the strings are stretched over top of and parallel to the soundbox. While this is the interpretation preferred here, we will discuss the harp-type of instrument, since the identification is problematic and many translations have preferred “harp” for nevel.
Usage: The strings were plucked either with the fingers or with a thin piece of ivory or metal to give a resonating sound, probably in a lower register than that made by the kinor.
Translation: In several Psalms (33.2; 92.3; 144.9), the nevel is linked to the Hebrew word ‘asor, which could indicate it was “ten-stringed.”
Some degree of cultural adaptation must be made in the translation of these stringed instruments since cultures differ from each other in the shape, the number of strings, and the function of their instruments. Translators will have to select an equivalent instrument in the receptor language. In most passages the most accurate translation for nevel will be “guitar” or some equivalent medium-sized stringed instrument on which the strings are stretched over a sound box and are plucked.
In those passages where nevel and kinor appear together it is recommended that the translator use an instrument that can vary in size and then render the two words as “large and small X,” for example, “large and small guitars.” Alternately, it may be possible to select two stringed instruments that are similar in construction but different in size, for example, “guitar and lute.” It is also possible to say “large and small stringed instruments” or to combine the two, saying “stringed instruments.”
Psalms 33:2: “Praise the LORD with the lyre” (NRSVue) contains two major translation problems. The first problem is that in many languages, the phrase “with the lyre” must be changed into a verb phrase or clause; for example, the whole line may be rendered “Praise the LORD by playing music on the lyre” or “Make music with the lyre, and praise the LORD.” The second problem, which applies also to the second line of this verse, is the terms to be used for the musical instruments here. In languages in which there are several stringed instruments, translators may use one of the smaller ones for kinor (“lyre”) and a larger one for nevel (“harp” in NRSVue). In languages where there is little or no choice, they should use the known local stringed instrument for the kinor, and a more generic expression for the nevel. Where there are no known stringed instruments, it will often be necessary to say “small instruments with strings” for kinor and “large instruments with strings” for nevel.
Harp (source: Knowles, revised by Bass (c) British and Foreign Bible Society 1994)
The musical instrument that is most often translated as “flute” or “pipe” in English is more or less universally used, so it’s typically translated directly with the applicable term.
Since its cultural significance is sometimes different it might be translated with a different instruments is some cases (see also below). When in Matthew 11:17 and Luke 7:32 the flute is mentioned as an instrument played at a wedding, the Chichewa (interconfessional translation, 1999) translates it as “we played the wedding drum for you” (source: Wendland 1987, p. 74), the Yakan and Kankanaey translations use “gongs” (source: Yakan and Kankanaey Back Translations), in Western Bukidnon Manobo “drumming” is used (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation), and in Tagbanwa “stringed-instruments” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).
Or in Jeremiah 48:36 where the flute is used for mourning, Bassa uses “funeral drum” (source: Newman / Stine) or Hiligaynon, while using “flute,” makes the meaning explicit: “like a lonely music of a flute for the dead” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation).
Description: The flute was a wind instrument consisting of a tube with a series of finger holes used to alter the tone. Some flutes were made of reed and could take several forms: the tube could be a cylinder or it could be more in the shape of a cone. There were instruments made of a single tube, while others had two tubes side by side. Often ancient double flutes or double pipes were arranged in a V-shape, with two separate reeds. One of these pipes had several holes while the other had only one hole and acted as a kind of drone, providing an unchanging tone to accompany the varying tones coming from the first pipe. Some pipes or flutes were made of other materials, such as wood, ivory, bone, or metal.
Usage: Sound was produced with the flute by blowing across an opening leading into a hole running inside the length of the instrument; in some cases the opening hole was in the end of the instrument while in others this hole was in the side of the instrument toward one end. With the reed pipe, on the other hand, a column of air was set in motion by blowing over a reed device, causing it to vibrate.
Translation: If there is no wind instrument available to translate “flute,” a different kind of wind instrument may be used.
The Hebrew word ‘ugav is usually understood to refer to a wind instrument. It is possible, however, that it is a generic term for “instrument” or even refers to a particular stringed instrument. In Job 21:12 and Job 30:31 it is identified as an instrument that expressed joy and contentment.
Psalms 5:1: The Hebrew word nchiloth appears only here in the Old Testament, and its meaning is uncertain. It may mean “wind instruments” in general or “flutes” in particular. Extra-biblical evidence indicates that it may have been an instrument played for funeral laments.
Matthew 9:23: Here NRSVue has “flute players”: According to Jewish tradition, even the poorest people were expected to have two flute players and a wailing woman for a funeral. In order to clarify the role of the flute players Good News Translation adds “for the funeral.” This information was immediately evident to a Jewish reader who was familiar with the funeral customs, but it will not be clear to other readers. Many cultures are familiar with the flute or other instruments that are played by blowing through a wooden tube. If no such instrument exists, then translators can say “those who played musical instruments for a funeral” or, as in Good News Translation, “musicians for the funeral.” See also flute players.
Men playing flutes (source: Louise Bass (c) British and Foreign Bible Society 1994)
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 19:28:
Noongar: “After Jesus said this, he went to Jerusalem ahead of them.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “When Yesus finished saying all that, he walked ahead of his companions going to Yerusalem.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “When Isa had finished saying this he went ahead of them to Awrusalam.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when Jesus finished telling that parable, they continued walking on their way to Jerusalem.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “When Jesus had finished parabling that to them, he went on going-uphill to Jerusalem going-ahead of them.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Jesus and company set out again to continue on to Jerusalem. Jesus was going in front of his companions.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Bariai: “Iesus made this talk and it was done and then he walked and went ahead and went to Ierusalem.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
Kupsabiny: “The following day, Jesus continued with his journey. Jesus was at the front throughout the journey towards Jerusalem.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Mairasi: “Yesus had already said all that then He Himself went in front of them to Yerusalem.” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)
Hiligaynon: “After he said that, Jesus and company continued to travel going to Jerusalem.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
