complete verse (1 John 3:7)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 John 3:7:

  • Uma: “My children, don’t you allow any of those who want to deceive you [to do so]. People who do God’s will, they are upright people, like Yesus is upright.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “My children-grandchildren, be careful so that you will not be led astray from the true teaching. Whoever does the straight/righteous, is straight as Almasi (is).” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “My children, it’s necessary that you do not listen to any lying person who would like to teach you. What is true is this: if there is a person who behaves properly, he is the righteous person just like Christ is righteous.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “My children whom I esteem, be careful so you are not deceived. Whoever continually does what is good, that is a righteous (lit. straight) person as is Cristo just the same.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “My like children, don’t let yourselves be misled by anyone. As for the one who does righteousness, he is righteous in the sight of God, like Jesu-Cristo who is really righteous.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Listen, my children, don’t let anyone deceive you into committing sin. The one who lives good is good like Jesus Christ is good.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “My little children, we must not permit anyone to deceive us. If we do what we ought to do we walk straight as Christ walks straight (is righteous).”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “My dear children, don’t let ourselves be deceived. He who habitually does good, it is known that his heart is good, like Christ.”
  • Tzotzil: “My children, don’t let anyone deceive you. If what we do is good, it is because our hearts are straight like Christ’s heart is straight.” (Source for this and two above: John Beekman in Notes on Translation 12, November 1964, p. 1ff.)

righteous, righteousness

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The Greek, Hebrew, and Latin terms that are translated in English mostly as “righteous” as an adjective or personified noun or “righteousness” (also as “upright(ness)” and “just(ice)”) are most commonly expressed with concept of “straightness,” though this may be expressed in a number of ways. (Click or tap here to see the details)

Following is a list of (back-) translations of various languages:

  • Bambara, Southern Bobo Madaré, Chokwe (ululi), Amganad Ifugao, Chol, Eastern Maninkakan, Toraja-Sa’dan, Pamona, Batak Toba, Bilua, Tiv: “be straight”
  • Laka: “follow the straight way” or “to straight-straight” (a reduplicated form for emphasis)
  • Sayula Popoluca: “walk straight”
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl, Kekchí, Muna: “have a straight heart”
  • Kipsigis: “do the truth”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “do according to the truth”
  • Huautla Mazatec: “have truth”
  • Yine: “fulfill what one should do”
  • Indonesian: “be true”
  • Navajo (Dinė): “do just so”
  • Anuak: “do as it should be”
  • Mossi: “have a white stomach” (see also happiness / joy)
  • Paasaal: “white heart” (source: Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
  • (San Mateo del Mar Huave: “completely good” (the translation does not imply sinless perfection)
  • Nuer: “way of right” (“there is a complex concept of “right” vs. ‘left’ in Nuer where ‘right’ indicates that which is masculine, strong, good, and moral, and ‘left’ denotes what is feminine, weak, and sinful (a strictly masculine viewpoint!) The ‘way of right’ is therefore righteousness, but of course women may also attain this way, for the opposition is more classificatory than descriptive.”) (This and all above from Bratcher / Nida except for Bilua: Carl Gross; Tiv: Rob Koops; Muna: René van den Berg)
  • Central Subanen: “wise-good” (source: Robert Brichoux in OPTAT 1988/2, p. 80ff. )
  • Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “live well”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “goodness before the face of God” (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl: “the result of heart-straightening” (source: Nida 1947, p. 224)
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “entirely good” (when referred to God), “do good” or “not be a debtor as God sees one” (when referred to people)
  • Carib: “level”
  • Tzotzil: “straight-hearted”
  • Ojitlán Chinantec: “right and straight”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “walk straight” (source for this and four previous: John Beekman in Notes on Translation November 1964, p. 1-22)
  • Makonde: “doing what God wants” (in a context of us doing) and “be good in God’s eyes” (in the context of being made righteous by God) (note that justify / justification is translated as “to be made good in the eyes of God.” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Aari: The Pauline word for “righteous” is generally rendered by “makes one without sin” in the Aari, sometimes “before God” is added for clarity. (Source: Loren Bliese)
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun: “having sin taken away” (Source: Nida 1952, p. 144)
  • Nyamwezi: wa lole: “just” or “someone who follows the law of God” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Venda: “nothing wrong, OK” (Source: J.A. van Roy in The Bible Translator 1972, p. 418ff. )
  • Ekari: maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (the same word that is also used for “truth“; 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. ).
  • Guhu-Samane: pobi or “right” (also: “right (side),” “(legal) right,” “straightness,” “correction,” “south,” “possession,” “pertinence,” “kingdom,” “fame,” “information,” or “speech” — “According to [Guhu-Samane] thinking there is a common core of meaning among all these glosses. Even from an English point of view the first five can be seen to be closely related, simply because of their similarity in English. However, from that point the nuances of meaning are not so apparent. They relate in some such a fashion as this: As one faces the morning sun, south lies to the right hand (as north lies to the left); then at one’s right hand are his possessions and whatever pertains to him; thus, a rich man’s many possessions and scope of power and influence is his kingdom; so, the rich and other important people encounter fame; and all of this spreads as information and forms most of the framework of the people’s speech.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in Notes on Translation 1964, p. 11ff.)
  • German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): Gerechtheit, a neologism to differentiate it from the commonly-used Gerechtigkeit which can mean “righteousness” but is more often used in modern German as “fairness” (Berger / Nord especially use Gerechtheit in Letter to the Romans) or Gerechtestun, also a neologism, meaning “righteous deeds” (especially in Letter to the Ephesians)
  • “did what he should” (Eastern Highland Otomi)
  • “a clear man, good [man]” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004)

See also respectable, righteous, righteous (person), devout, and She is more in the right(eous) than I.

Translation commentary on 1 John 3:7

For Little children (also in 3.18), see comments on 2.1.

Let no one deceive you expresses a warning against the false teachers. The form may be rendered ‘do not be deceived by any one,’ ‘take care that people do not deceive you,’ ‘do not follow those who try (or want) to lead you astray.’ For the verb deceive see comments on 1.8, where the reflexive form is used.

He who does right is righteous, or ‘if a person does what is right he (actually) is right,’ comes from the saying that a person’s activity is decisive for his quality; one is what one does. Probably this sentence is also aimed at a doctrine of the false teachers, who held that their acts did not matter, once they had reached the state of righteousness. For “to do right” (here and in verse 10) see comments on 2.29; for righteous (here and in verse 12) see comments on “just” in 1.9.

As he is righteous: except for the adjective this clause is identical with the similar as clause in 1 John 3.3, which see. The pronoun he, literally “that-one,” refers to Christ; compare comments on 2.6.

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 3:7

Paragraph 3:7–10

Read 3:7–10 in both Berean Standard Bible and Good News Translation. Compare the two versions.

Paragraph Theme: John explains that our behavior shows whether we belong to God or to Satan.

3:7a

deceive you: (Logical Relationship) This is not a general warning about being deceived. John is specifically warning his readers not to be deceived about the question (in the next part of the verse) of who is really righteous. The two parts of the verse may therefore need to be linked together.

3:7b

The one who practices righteousness is righteous: (Emphasis) John is contradicting the false teachers who claimed that anyone could become righteous just by accepting their teaching. They claimed that it did not matter if a person continued to live an evil life. It is therefore important in translation to keep the emphasis on the fact that the only people who are righteous in God’s sight are those who do right (and no one else). See New English Bible.

righteous: (Meaning) This means that God accepts him as being good and right, and God approves of what he does.

3:7c

just as Christ is righteous: (Alternative Interpretations) In Greek, this phrase is literally “just as he is righteous.” There are different views about who this refers to:

(1) It refers to Christ. (Berean Standard Bible, Good News Translation, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

(2) Some think it refers to God. (New English Bible)

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