tongue

The Greek that is translated as “tongue” in English is translated in Binumarien as “lips and teeth” because those are the body parts that are associated with speech. (Source: Oates 1995, p. 269)

truth

The Greek, Latin and Hebrew that is usually translated in English as “truth” is translated in Luchazi with vusunga: “the quality of being straight” (source: E. Pearson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 160ff. ), in Obolo as atikọ or “good/correct talk” (source: Enene Enene), and in Ekari as maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (esp. in John 14:6 and 17; bokouto — “enormous” — is being used as an attribute for abstract nouns to denote that they are of God [see also here]; source: Marion Doble in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 37ff. ).

The translation committee of the Malay “Good News Bible” (Alkitab Berita Baik, see here ) wrestled with the translation of “truth” in the Gospel of John (for more information click or tap here):

“Our Malay Committee also concluded that ‘truth’ as used in the Gospel of John was used either of God himself, or of God’s revelation of himself, or in an extended sense as a reference to those who had responded to God’s self-disclosure. In John 8:32 the New Malay translation reads ‘You will know the truth about God, and the truth about God will make you free.’ In John 8:44 this meaning is brought out by translating, ‘He has never been on the side of God, because there is no truth in him.’ Accordingly Jesus ‘tells the truth about God’ in 8:45, 46 (see also 16:7 and 8:37a). Then, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’ becomes ‘I am the one who leads men to God, the one who reveals who and what God is, and the one who gives men life.” At 3:21 the translation reads ” … whoever obeys the truth, that is God himself, comes to the light …’; 16:13a appears as ‘he will lead you into the full truth about God’; and in 18:37 Jesus affirms ‘I came into the world to reveal the truth about God, and whoever obeys God listens to me.’ On this basis also 1:14 was translated ‘we saw his glory, the glory which he had as the Father’s only Son. Through him God has completely revealed himself (truth) and his love for us (grace)’; and 1:17 appears as ‘God gave the law through Moses; but through Jesus Christ he has completely revealed himself (truth) and his love for us (grace).'” (Source: Barclay Newman in The Bible Translator 1974, p. 432ff. )

Helen Evans (in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) tells of the translation into Kui which usually is “true-thing.” In some instances however, such as in the second part of John 17:17 (“your word is truth” in English), the use of “true-thing” indicated that there might be other occasions when it’s not true, so here the translation was a a form of “pure, holy.”

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (1John 3:18)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, translators typically select the inclusive form (including the addressee).

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

complete verse (1 John 3:18)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 John 3:18:

  • Uma: “My children, let’s not be loving in lips only, let’s not say that we love our relatives and we not do anything to help them. We [should be] loving with our behavior, for that is really true love.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “My children-grandchildren, don’t let us (incl.) just love with words/speech. But if we (dual) say we (dual) love our (dual) fellow-man, we (dual) should make our (dual) words true/confirm/verify them and cause good deeds to accompany (the words) toward them (the fellow-men).” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “My dear children, it’s necessary that our love for our companions is not just mere words, but rather it is necessary that we show our love for them by means of our actions.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “You who are my children, our manner-of-loving our companions, it should not be merely in our words only, but rather it should be from-the-heart and it should be shown in what we are doing.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “You who are like my children, what is good is, we are not just saying that we value one other, but rather we are showing through what we are doing that this valuing of ours is true.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Listen, my children, only let it not come from your mouths that we love our fellowmen, rather let it be apparent that we truly love, let us help our fellowmen.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “My little children, we must not love our fellows just with words. We should not just say we love our fellows, but we must love them wholeheartedly and help our fellows.”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “My dear children, let us not just talk about love, but let us really do it.”
  • Tzotzil: “My children, don’t let it be in vain we say that we love each other, don’t let’s lie. Let our work appear that we love each other really and truly.”
  • Garifuna: “My children. Let us love each other, not just that which is speaking nor just that which we say. Let us love one another genuinely, that which we show by means of what we do.” (Source for this and two above: John Beekman in Notes on Translation 12, November 1964, p. 1ff.)

Translation commentary on 1 John 3:18

This verse summarizes what precedes. Its last words, in truth, serve moreover to make the transition to verse 19. What is said here about love may be compared with what is said in James 2.14-16 about faith.

Let us not love, or ‘we should not love’: the clause is a warning not to love in the wrong way. The verb has reciprocal force, that is, ‘love one another.’

In word or speech contrasts with the following “in deed and truth.” In some languages it is preferable to change the clause structure, as in ‘it is not word and speech that will express our love,’ ‘let not only what we say with our mouth show that we love (people),’ ‘we should not merely say that we love, and speak about it.’

Word and speech are synonymous and reinforce each other. To have the two in one phrase may be impossible or undesirable in the receptor language. Then one of them may be used together with an expression of emphasis; compare such renderings of the clause as ‘we must not love only with words,’ ‘let us not merely talk about love.’

The term rendered speech is in the Greek literally “tongue,” the instrument standing for the process. In some languages another instrument has to be used; for example, ‘lips,’ ‘mouth.’

But in deed and in truth is dependent on the preceding verb form but not on the negative particle. The phrase implies an exhortation to love in the right way. The verb may have to be repeated; for example, ‘let us love in deed and in truth,’ ‘let deeds and truth express our love (or show that we love one another)’

In this phrase the two nouns are not synonymous but complementary, the one qualifying the other. This is brought out in renderings like ‘but in what we really do’ or, with further shifts, ‘but that we truly love must be shown in what we do,’ ‘but let us really do so,’ and ‘it must be true love and show itself in action (or in what we do)’ (compare Good News Translation, New English Bible).

Truth means reality here, as opposed to mere appearance. It may, however, also have a more fully developed meaning, as discussed in the Introduction, page 2.

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 3:18

3:18 (Logical Relationship)

Since this verse gives the main point of John’s argument, based on 3:16–17, it may be necessary in translation to make this clear.

3:18a

let us love not in: (Meaning) In translation it is important to avoid implying here that we should never say we love someone. John certainly assumes that we say we love people, but he is here warning that we should not only say we love people, we should also do things to help them.

love: (Lexical Problem) John is referring to loving our brothers or each other, and this can be made explicit in translation if it is necessary for the verb love to have an object.

speech: (Metaphor) The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as speech is more literally “tongue.” This is a metaphorical way of referring to speech.

3:18b

and truth: (Meaning) If we actually help one another our love will be true love in accordance with God’s truth.

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