The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as a form of “save” in English is translated in Shipibo-Conibo with a phrase that means literally “make to live,” which combines the meaning of “to rescue” and “to deliver from danger,” but also the concept of “to heal” or “restore to health.”
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Peter 4:18:
Uma: “In the Holy Book it is written like this: ‘Even people whose character is straight must undergo/suffer suffering first, and only then receive goodness/salvation. Even more so evil people and those who do not submit to God!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “The holy-book says hep, ‘The people who follow/obey God almost are not saved. Na, how can the people who don’t follow/obey God and the sinners be saved?'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For there is a written Word of God which says, ‘If the righteous people are saved with difficulty, do you think those people who resist God and whose behavior is wicked will be saved?'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “This also is what God caused-to-be-written which says, ‘If the salvation of righteous people is difficult, is it indeed-the-case (RQ implying of course not) that the person who has no thoughts for God and the characteristically-sinful will be saved?'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “For it’s like what is contained in the writing which says, ‘Even those who are righteous/straight in God’s sight, to whom he will give salvation, they indeed have hardships now which they are experiencing. Therefore the big-size really can’t be told of the hardship which will be experienced by sinners, those for whom the will of God is really far from their mind/inner-being.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “This is what was written about in the Holy Book which says: ‘If it is that it is hard to save the good person, what will happen to the person who has sin and doesn’t respect God then?'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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:
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)
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)
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)
This verse is a quotation from Proverbs 11.31 (Septuagint) and supports the idea of the preceding verse. The Greek simply starts with “and if,” but since this is an Old Testament quotation, the Good News Translation has made this information explicit. In its Old Testament context, this saying has to do primarily with life on earth, but in this letter, it is used in an eschatological sense.
As in so many instances, it is not possible in a number of languages to say As the scripture says, since the Scriptures do not “speak.” Therefore one may translate As the scripture says as “as one may read in the Scriptures.”
Good people translates “the righteous” (singular), but which the Good News Translation has taken as a general designation for all good people and therefore has rendered it plural. It is also possible to understand “righteous” in this context to refer to those who obey God’s will (compare Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “he who takes God’s will seriously”), or in a more technical way, God’s own people, but no translation reflects this last alternative.
Difficult … to be saved (Revised Standard Version “scarcely saved”) refers to the trials and persecutions that the good man, that is, the Christian, has to undergo before he is saved. Saved should probably be interpreted eschatologically, not simply referring to being rescued from suffering in the present, but referring to the final salvation at the end of the age (compare 1.5). The implicit agent of saved is most probably God.
A strictly literal translation of It is difficult for good people to be saved may involve certain complications in meaning, since the implication might be that it is difficult for God to save people. A more satisfactory solution may be found in the expression “there will be difficulties for good people in being saved” or “there will be difficulties for good people before they are saved” or “good people will encounter troubles before they are saved” or “… in being saved.”
The last part of the quotation is again a rhetorical question, with the clear meaning that it is doubly difficult, perhaps almost impossible, for godless sinners to be saved. Godless sinners translates two singular words connected by “and” (literally “the godless and the sinner”), but the Good News Translation takes these two words to refer generally to all those who do not obey God, hence godless sinners. Godless describes someone who acts contemptuously against God, hence “impious” (Revised Standard Version). Sinner is found only here in the whole letter, but the noun form “sin” (hamartia) occurs several times (for example, 2.22-24; 3.18; 4.1, 8).
What, then, will become of godless sinners? may be expressed as “what then is going to happen to sinners who disobey God?” or “… have no use for God.” In languages which employ emphatic statements rather than rhetorical questions, the final clause of verse 18 may be translated as “there will be great difficulties indeed for godless sinners.”
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The First Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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