vipers

The Greek that is translated in English as “(brood of) vipers” is translated in North Tanna as “sea-snakes” (“This is the black and white sea snake which is thought of as very evil here.”) (Source Ross McKerras)

See also adder / serpent / asp / viper.

mustard seed

The Greek that is translated in English as “mustard seed” is translated in Muna as “wonolita seed.” René van den Berg explains: “The mustard plant rarely exceeds 50 cm in height. A wonolita is a big forest tree growing from a tiny seed.”

In the Bislama and Uripiv translations it is translated as “banyan.” “The banyan tree is one of the biggest in the islands, and it grows from a tiny seed. We (Uripiv) added a footnote to explain to more advanced readers what we had done: ‘Here Matthew compares the kingdom of God to a mustard seed, but since mustard doesn’t grow here, we put banyan, so that Matthew’s meaning will be clear.’” (source: Ross McKerras)

In Elhomwe it is translated as “tree seed.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

In Gbaya is is translated with the ideophone (a word that expresses what is perceived by the five senses) kɛ̧́ɛ̧́ which “denotes a very tiny and barely visible object. (…) The Gbaya team applied it to faith instead of referring to a mustard seed which is unknown to Gbaya readers.” (Source: Philip Noss in The Bible Translator 1985, p. 423ff. )

See also mustard.

salted with fire

The Greek in Mark 9:49 that is translated in English “(Everyone will be) salted with fire” is translated in Uripiv as “God will test all people with fire, like they test black stones [which are used in cooking]. If a stone is no good, it crumbles to ashes; if it’s good, the fire doesn’t affect it. So also they put salt with food to test its flavor, good or bad.” (Source: Ross McKerras)

In Elhomwe it is translated as “everyone will be cleansed by fire, like salt cleanses things.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

See also complete verse (Mark 9:49).

dual vs. plural (Matt. 9:28)

Many languages in the world distinguish between plural and dual (and sometimes trial) pronouns (for instance, “you” specifically addressing many, two, or three people).

In Matthew 8:30 (“Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them” in one English translation) it is left open whether “them” refers to the two demon-possessed men, to the men and Jesus or to the men, Jesus and the disciples?

The Bislama translators (in the Nyutesteman long Bislama of 1980) use a dual in Matthew 9:28, whereas the Uripiv uses a plural.

One of the translators explains: “I would argue, however, for a plural rather than a dual or trial, since we were told in Matt. 9:28 that the two men had ‘come to’ Jesus (who was probably accompanied by his disciples). ‘Come to’ renders the Greek word hypantao, otherwise used by Matthew only in 28:9. It is used also in the Markan parallel, in Mark 5:2; here we see from 5:7 that the man came right up to Jesus, so I interpret the them as referring at least to Jesus and the demoniacs.”

Source: Ross McKerras in Notes on Translation 2/1 1988, p. 53-56.

dual vs. plural (Matt. 9:32)

Many languages in the world distinguish between plural and dual (and sometimes trial) pronouns (for instance, “you” specifically addressing many, two, or three people).

In Matthew 9:32 (“As they were going out…” in one English translation) it is left open whether “them” refers to the two blind men or Jesus and the two blind men.

Both the Bislama translators (in the Nyutesteman long Bislama of 1980) and the Uripiv use a dual (indicating that this refers to just the two blind men).

One of the translators explains: “(1) Only Jesus is mentioned as going into the house (Matt. 9:28). The disciples no doubt entered with him, but it is a fair enough working assumption that if they were explicitly mentioned in one place (Matt. 9:32) they would have also been in the other. So we conclude that the ‘they’ in 9:32 is probably not referring to Jesus and the disciples. (2) A reasonably close parallel, as far as the Greek text is concerned, supporting this interpretation can be seen in Matt. 2:13. (First verb of new section repeats last verb of previous section, with same subject, in a genitive absolute construction, with de and followed by idou introducing new participants.)”

Source: Ross McKerras in Notes on Translation 2/1 1988, p. 53-56.

conscience seared

“It took us a while to find the right way to talk about ‘conscience’ in Uripiv in 1 Timothy 4:2. Here to say their ‘conscience are seared,’ we wrote: ‘They no longer feel anything sharp in their insides when they do bad.'” (Ross McKerras quoted on p. 118)

See also conscience.

wherever the corpse is there the vultures will gather

The Greek that is translated as “wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather” or similar in English is translated in Mairasi a lot more specific as “if you see the mother of flocks of corpse-eating birds, Long-tailed Buzzard, Grey-faced Buzzard, White-breasted sea Eagle, or Brahminy Kite, then there is something dead and rotting, a dead person’s body, or a dead wilderness animal is over there.” (Aij ner nenem naa, tuao, iamba, sende fut namba in netomwan andani, orom umburu joet tan, nere neavo, sas warenar joetnyaa fovar atat.)

In Tangoa, a cultural substitute is used: “When you see the flying foxes flying to one location, you know that there is a ripe mango tree there” (Vara ko hite na karai la lo avu vano hin te jara, o pa levosahia vara te pahai mo mena atu.). A footnote explains in that translation that “when the last days come close, and people see all these things happening, they can be sure that it won’t be long before the Son of Man appears on the earth.” (Source: Ross McKerras)

In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is translated as “wherever there is carrion, the vultures will gather in the blink of an eye (blitzschnell).”