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 John 1:10)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 John 1:10:

  • Uma: “If we say we have not sinned, God we-call-a-liar, and we don’t take-to-heart his words.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “If we (dual) say that we (dual) have not done any sin, it is as if we (dual) say that God is lying/a liar and we (dual) don’t store his teachings in our (dual) livers.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “However, if we say that we have not sinned, it’s as if we are saying that God is a liar, and we have not obeyed His Word.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But if however we say that we have not sinned, we turn-God -into a liar, and his words have not been stored in our minds.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “If we are saying that we are not doing sin, it’s like we are saying God is lying. If it’s like that, we haven’t yet comprehended his word.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But if we say that we have committed no sins, then we are calling God a liar. Then we are not at all believing God’s word.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “If we say we have not done evil, we treat God like a liar and we do not walk with (obey) his word.”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “If we falsely say that we haven’t sinned, but God said we are all sinners. So if we say we haven’t done sin, (it is) as though we are looking on God as a liar. And his Word hasn’t even a little entered our hearts then.”
  • Tzotzil: “If we say, ‘I have never sinned,’ it is because we think wrongly that God lies. God’s word is not in our hearts for sure.” (Source for this and two above: John Beekman in Notes on Translation 12, November 1964, p. 1ff.)

pronoun for "God"

God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).

Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.

In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.

While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”

In Kouya, Godié, Northern Grebo, Eastern Krahn, Western Krahn, and Guiberoua Béte, all languages of the Kru family in Western Africa, a different kind of systems of pronouns is used (click or tap here to read more):

In that system one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and one for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.

Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains in the following way: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”

In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)

Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”

In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )

In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)

The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.

Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In both languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).

See also first person pronoun referring to God.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Gender of God .

Translation: Chinese

在现代汉语中，第三人称单数代词的读音都是一样的（tā），但是写法并不一样，取决于性别以及是否有生命，即男性为“他”，女性为“她”，动物、植物和无生命事物为“它”（在香港和台湾的汉语使用，动物则为“牠”）。这些字的部首偏旁表明了性别（男人、女人、动物、无生命事物），而另一偏旁通常旁提示发音。

到1930年为止，基督教新教《圣经》经过整整一百年的翻译已经拥有了十几个译本，当时的一位圣经翻译者王元德新造了一个“神圣的”代词“祂”，偏旁“礻”表示神明。一般汉语读者会立即知道这字的发音是tā，而这个偏旁表示属灵的事物，因此他们明白这个字指出，三位一体的所有位格都没有性别之分，而单单是上帝。

然而，最重要的新教圣经译本（1919年的《和合本》）和天主教圣经译本（1968年的《思高圣经》）都没有采用“祂”；虽然如此，许多其他的圣经译本采用了这个字，另外还广泛出现在赞美诗和其他基督信仰的书刊中。（资料来源：Zetzsche）

《吕振中译本》的几个早期版本也使用“祂”来指称“上帝”；这个译本的《新约》于1946年译成，整部《圣经》于1970年完成。克拉默斯（Kramers）指出：“‘他’的这种新写法（即‘祂’）产生了一个小问题，就是在指称耶稣的时候，是否一律使用这个敬语代词？《吕振中译本》遵循的原则是，在称呼耶稣这个人的时候，用一般的‘他’，而在称呼耶稣神性的时候，特别是升天之后的耶稣，则用尊称‘祂’。”

Translator: Simon Wong

Translation commentary on 1 John 1:10

The perfect tense of we have not sinned shows that the reference is to the result of an act in the past. The clause states that “we” have never actually done anything sinful, and consequently are free from the resulting guilt. As such it differs from verse 8a, which refers to the quality of sinlessness. For this verb compare the noun in 1 John 1.7.

In many receptor languages the noun ‘sin’ and the verb ‘to sin’ are related forms, as they are in Greek and in English, but in some cases such forms, though existing, have different connotations. Thus one American Indian language has a specific noun for ‘sin’ but cannot use the related verb, which refers only to sexual misbehavior; hence ‘to sin’ has to be rendered by ‘to do bad.’

We make him a liar (compare also 5.10) is more forceful than the two preceding refutations, “we lie” (verse 6), “we deceive ourselves” (verse 8). “Him” again refers to God, who has said that men are sinners and need forgiveness, and who has acted and still acts accordingly. Consequently men who deny that they have sinned state as a fact what is not a fact according to God’s own words and deeds.

The clause has been rendered ‘we declare him to be a liar,’ ‘we are looking on God as one who habitually lies,’ ‘it is the same as saying that he lies,’ ‘God is lying according to us.’ Simply to use a causative derivation of ‘to lie’ is not satisfactory, as a rule.

His word is not in us. The rendering of “to be in” should parallel the one used in verse 8c as closely as idiom allows.

His word, or ‘what he has said,’ ‘what he has told (us),’ refers to God’s revelation, which culminates in Jesus’ life and preaching as told in the Gospel. The Johannine writings often stress the influence and character of God’s word, stating that it cleanses man (John 15.3), and that it is closely related to “life” (John 5.24), or to the victory over the evil one (1 John 2.14b), or to “truth” (John 17.17). The latter is also the case here, in the parallel verses 8c and 10c. Taken together they serve to bring out that God’s word reveals God’s truth, showing who God really is and how he behaves towards mankind. For the rendering of word see also 1 John 1.1c.

Quoted with permission from Haas, C., de Jonge, M. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on The First Letter of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 1:10

1:10a

If we say: (Expression) See the note on 1:6.

have not sinned: (Meaning) This is different from the beginning of 1:8. Here John is dealing with those who claim that although other Christians sometimes sin, they themselves have not done anything that needs to be confessed.

1:10b

make Him out to be a liar: (Logical Relationship) Perhaps it is not clear why John says that claiming not to have sinned is making God out to be a liar. The reason is that God has said that all people have sinned. Therefore anyone who says that we have not sinned is thereby saying that God has lied. You may need to state this reasoning explicitly in your translation.

1:10c

His word is not in us: (Meaning) If we call God a liar, it shows that we have not accepted what he has said or allowed it to affect our lives.

(1) In this sentence it probably means that everything Jesus does is good and right in God’s sight. (This is the sense in which John usually uses this word.)

(2) The Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible and Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English translate it as “just,” meaning that Jesus treats everyone fairly in his dealings and judgments.

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