The Greek that is translated as “firstborn” in English is translated in a number of ways:
“he/she that opens the gown” in Batak Toba (because formerly a woman stopped wearing a gown and started using a bodice after the birth of her first child)
“he/she that damages the stalk (i.e. the body)” in Uab Meto (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
“oldest child” in Isthmus Zapotec (source for this and one above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
“firstborn child, who was a boy” in Elhomwe (to make clear, without ambiguity, that Mary did not have daughters before) (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
In Bawm Chin, the term can imply the existence of younger siblings, so a translation is needed that brings out the fact that Jesus is superior to all else, not just the first of a series. (Source: David Clark)
The Greek in Romans 2:14 that is often translated into English as “they are a law to themselves” is translated these ways:
Bilua: “they follow their own law” (source: Carl Gross)
Huehuetla Tepehua: “it is just as if they had a law in their hearts”
Highland Totonac: “on their own they think of the law they should do”
Yatzachi Zapotec: “what their head-hearts tell them to do is like the law for them”
Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “their very hearts is a law which issues orders to them”
Tzeltal: “it is because there are commandments in their hearts”
Sierra de Juárez Zapotec: “show that they themselves know what they ought to do” (source for this and five above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
Uma: “their own hearts become like the Lord’s Law to them” (source: Uma Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “they have a Law there in their breath” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “their minds are like their law which directs them” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
The Greek in Romans 12:2 that is translated in English as some form of “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” is translated into Bilua as “you must not follow this generation’s behavior, but you must allow God in your heart that he make you new in your life and thinking.”
The first part of this phrase (“(don’t be) conformed to this world”) is translated as “live doing as other people do who live here in the world” in Central Tarahumara, as “do like mankind does, people who are here on the earth” in Yatzachi Zapotec, aw “do like people in this sinful world” in Chicahuaxtla Triqui, and “the life of those who walk in sin” in Mezquital Otomi.
The second part (“be transformed by the renewal of your mind”) is translated as “let the way you think become new and changed” in Chicahuaxtla Triqui, as “change so that what you think may become new” in Sayula Popoluca, as “let God change your head-hearts in order that your thoughts will he changed” in Yatzachi Zapotec, as “be different since the Holy Spirit has made your mind new” in Huehuetla Tepehua, and as “in a different way think well” in Central Tarahumara. (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
The Greek in Romans 1:26 that is translated as “dishonorable passions” or “shameful acts” in English is translated in Manikion as “actions that make people spit.” (Source: Daud Soesilo)
In Sierra de Juárez Zapotec it is translated as “their own filthy cravings” and in Yatzachi Zapotec as “doing shameful things and unclean things as their head-hearts desired.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
The Greek that is often translated as “desires of the flesh” in English is translated in Ixcatlán Mazatec as “human desires” (source: Robert Bascom), in Mezquital Otomi as “the desires of our old life,” in Tzeltal as “doing what your bodies want,” and in Huehuetla Tepehua as “doing the things that your thoughts like (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.).
In Enlhet it is translated as “wantings of the innermost.” “Innermost” or valhoc is a term that is frequently used in Enlhet to describe a large variety of emotions or states of mind (for other examples see here). (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
In Highland Puebla Nahuatl there is no immediate equivalent for the Greek that is translated with the English term “heir.” So here an expression is used that means “someone who will receive the property (or: things).” (Source: Nida 1947, p. 200f.) Likewise, in Chimborazo Highland Quichua the translation is “those who receive what belongs to their father” (source: Julia Woodward in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 140ff. ) and in Sayula Popoluca “will receive all that God has for us” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.).
Yatzachi Zapotec: “poor people who have nothing” (source for this and three above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.).
Low German: “those who don’t account to anything in other people’s eyes” (source: translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006)
The Greek, Latin and Hebrew that is translated as “envy” or “envious” in most English translations is, according to Nida (1952, p. 134), translated into Tzeltal and Tabasco Chontal in the following manner:
“Envy is bred of covetousness and self-centeredness. The Tzeltals, who recognize a covetous man as having a ‘small heart,’ say that an envious person has ‘a greedy heart.’ ‘Small hearts’ and ‘greedy hearts’ go together, and the soul shrinks in direct proportion to its greediness. The envious person is never satisfied, for he can never keep step with his own insatiable ego.
“The Chontal Indians, living in the low, swampy delta land of Tabasco in southern Mexico, regard envy in a more subtle way. They say of the man who is envious of his neighbor, ‘He did not want to see his neighbor.’ This describes the end result of envy. People cannot bear to see others enjoying the privileges which they insist should be their own. The envious man has acquired such a self-directed stare that he cannot take his eyes off self to see another’s enjoyment.”
In Central Mazahua is is translated as “jealous of each other, their fellow people,” in Sayula Popoluca as “hate those who have something” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), in Matumbi as sukya, which means “envy” but also “hate” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext), and in Kupsabiny as “blackstomached” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation).
