virgin

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The Hebrew and Greek that is mostly translated as “virgin” in English can be translated as “woman that is untouched” in Batak Toba or “a woman with a whole (i.e. unopened) body” in Uab Meto.

“Similar words for ‘girl,’unmarried young woman,’ suggesting virginity without explicitly stating it, are found in Marathi, Apache, or Kituba. Cultural features naturally influence connotations of possible renderings, for instance, the child marriage customs in some Tboli areas, where the boy and girl are made to sleep together at the initial marriage, but after that do not live together and may not see each other again for years. Hence, the closest attainable equivalent, ‘female adolescent,’ does not imply that a young girl is not living with her husband, and that she never had a child, but leaves uncertain whether she has ever slept with a male person or not. Accordingly, in Luke one has to depend on Luke 1:34 to make clear that Mary and Joseph had not had sexual intercourse. A different problem is encountered in Pampanga, where birhen (an adaptation of Spanish virgen — ‘virgin’), when standing alone, is a name of the ‘Virgin Mary.’ To exclude this meaning the version uses “marriageable birhen,” thus at the same time indicating that Mary was relatively young.” (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel, see here)

In Navajo (Dinė), the term that is used is “no husband yet” (Source: Wallis, p. 106) and in Gola the expression “trouser girl.” “In the distant past young women who were virgins wore trousers. Those who were not virgins wore dresses. That doesn’t hold true anymore, but the expression is still there in the language.” (Source: Don Slager)

The term in Djimini Senoufo is katogo jo — “village-dance-woman” (women who have been promised but who are still allowed to go to dances with unmarried women). (Source: Übersetzung heute 3/1995)

In Igbo translations, typically a newly-created, multi-word phrase is used that very explicitly states that there has not been any sexual relations and that translates as “a woman (or: maiden) who does not know a man.” This is in spite of the fact that there is a term (agb͕ọghọ) that means “young woman” and has the connotation of her not having had sexual relations (this is for instance used by the Standard Igbo Bible of the Bible Society of Nigeria for Isaiah 7:14). Incidentally, the euphemistic expression “know” (ma in Igbo) for “having sex” has become a well-known euphemism outside of Bible translation. (Source: Uchenna Oyali in Sociolinguistic Studies Vol. 17 No. 1-3 (2023): Special Issue: Gender and sexuality in African discourses )

In Chichewa, it is translated as namwali which is used to refer to a girl who has reached puberty stage and is ready to get married. Apart from the physical aspect, the word also has social implications in the sense that it is used to recognize the fact that the girl has become responsible enough to make informed decisions and take care of herself and others. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

See also virgins (Revelation 14:4) and complete verse (Matthew 1:23).

sin

The Hebrew and Greek that is typically translated as “sin” in English has a wide variety of translations.

The Greek ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō) carries the original verbatim meaning of “miss the mark” and likewise, many translations contain the “connotation of moral responsibility.”

  • Loma: “leaving the road” (which “implies a definite standard, the transgression of which is sin”)
  • Navajo (Dinė): “that which is off to the side” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: kasalan, originally meaning “transgression of a religious or moral rule” and in the context of the Bible “transgression of God’s commandments” (source: H. van der Veen in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 21ff. )
  • Kaingang: “break God’s word”
  • Bariai: “bad behavior” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Sandawe: “miss the mark” (like the original meaning of the Greek term) (source for this and above: Ursula Wiesemann in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 36ff., 43)

In Shipibo-Conibo the term is hocha. Nida (1952, p. 149) tells the story of its choosing: “In some instances a native expression for sin includes many connotations, and its full meaning must be completely understood before one ever attempts to use it. This was true, for example, of the term hocha first proposed by Shipibo-Conibo natives as an equivalent for ‘sin.’ The term seemed quite all right until one day the translator heard a girl say after having broken a little pottery jar that she was guilty of ‘hocha.’ Breaking such a little jar scarcely seemed to be sin. However, the Shipibos insisted that hocha was really sin, and they explained more fully the meaning of the word. It could be used of breaking a jar, but only if the jar belonged to someone else. Hocha was nothing more nor less than destroying the possessions of another, but the meaning did not stop with purely material possessions. In their belief God owns the world and all that is in it. Anyone who destroys the work and plan of God is guilty of hocha. Hence the murderer is of all men most guilty of hocha, for he has destroyed God’s most important possession in the world, namely, man. Any destructive and malevolent spirit is hocha, for it is antagonistic and harmful to God’s creation. Rather than being a feeble word for some accidental event, this word for sin turned out to be exceedingly rich in meaning and laid a foundation for the full presentation of the redemptive act of God.”

In Warao it is translated as “bad obojona.” Obojona is a term that “includes the concepts of consciousness, will, attitude, attention and a few other miscellaneous notions.” (Source: Henry Osborn in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 74ff. ). See other occurrences of Obojona in the Warao New Testament.

Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the Danish Bibelen 2020, comments on the translation of this term: “We would explain terms, such that e.g. sin often became ‘doing what God does not want’ or ‘breaking God’s law’, ‘letting God down’, ‘disrespecting God’, ‘doing evil’, ‘acting stupidly’, ‘becoming guilty’. Now why couldn’t we just use the word sin? Well, sin in contemporary Danish, outside of the church, is mostly used about things such as delicious but unhealthy foods. Exquisite cakes and chocolates are what a sin is today.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )

See also sinner.

complete verse (1 Corinthians 7:28)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 7:28:

  • Uma: “But if an unmarried-man wants to get married [lit., be-wived], it isn’t a sin for him. And if an unmarried-woman wants to get married [be-husbanded], it isn’t a sin for her. But just this: people who are married [coupled] will certainly have troubles in this world. And my desire is that you not be hit by those troubles.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But if you take a wife you don’t sin. And the young unmarried women also if they take a husband they don’t sin. This is the reason why I say that it is better if you don’t take a wife or a husband because I would like you not to experience the difficulties/troubles that the people have who have a wife or a husband.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And if a man gets married, that’s not a sin; and if a woman gets married, the same way also that’s not a sin. The reason that I tell you that it’s better if you don’t get married is because when you get married what happens to you here on the earth is very hard, and I am anxious that you don’t have to go through things like that.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But if you (sing.) get-married, it’s certainly not a sin. It’s the same with you (sing.) who are a young-lady, it’s not a sin for you (sing.) to get-married. But I say nonetheless that it’s still better if you don’t get-married, because I want you not to be hardshipped by the hardship that a married-couple experiences in this life.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “However if you do marry, you have not sinned. Like that also with the woman you are-arranged-to-marry, if she lets herself be married by you that is not her sin. But more are the difficulties and worries/concerns of those who are married. If only you weren’t married, your concerns and hardships in your life wouldn’t increase.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But if one should marry, it is not then a sinful thing he does. The girl who gets married, likewise does not do a sinful thing. The thing is, the people who marry do not lack for troubles which unmarried people do not have. I tell you this word because I do not want that you meet up with the troubles which married people have.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on 1 Corinthians 7:28

In these verses Paul returns to the style of verse 21. He addresses rhetorical questions to a single reader. This would be a typical married (verse 27a) or unmarried (verses 27b-28a) reader. It is possible in many languages to translate these rhetorical questions as conditional sentences; for example, “If you are married….”

Do not seek to be free: the Greek verb means literally “loosen, untie,” and can refer figuratively to loosening the marriage bond. Each language has special words referring to the act of terminating or dissolving a marriage relationship.

Are you free from a wife? means “Are you in a state of freedom from the (marriage) bond?” It does not mean “Have you been divorced?”

Do not seek marriage may be translated as “Do not try to get married,” “Do not attempt to find a mate,” or “You should remain single.”

The verbs you do not sin and does not sin are past tenses in the Greek. Some translators can translate these past tenses by a present tense, or a future perfect tense “you will not have sinned.” Some, however, can combine the two parts of the verse: “If, however, you do marry, it is no sin, either for you or the young woman.”

Girl: the context suggests that Paul is more concerned with her unmarried state than her lack of sexual experience (virginity) or her age. Therefore Good News Bible‘s rendering “unmarried woman” is the better translation here, but see verses 36, 37, where Good News Bible has “young woman.”

The future tense will have and the phrase “from now on” in verse 29 suggest that the end is coming soon and the signs of its coming can already be seen (verse 26). However, the end has not come yet (compare 2 Thes 2.2). Therefore verse 28b should not be translated as a general statement that marriage brings trouble.

The Greek word for troubles is often used in describing the last days. Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente expands the phrase worldly troubles to “because of family life”; New English Bible has more generally “in this bodily life”; Translator’s New Testament “in the world.” Revised English Bible undertranslates: “those who marry will have hardships to endure.”

Spare may be expressed as “protect from” or “keep from.”

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .