The Greek, Latin and Hebrew that is translated in English as “painful” or “sorrow” is translated in Huba as “cut the insides.” David Frank explains: “Huba has just one expression that covers both ‘angry’ and ‘sad.’ They don’t make a distinction in their language. I suppose you could say that the term they use means more generically, ‘strong emotional reaction’ (source: David Frank in this blog post ). Similarly, in Bariai it is “the interior is severed/cut” (source: Bariai Back Translation).
In Noongar it is translated as koort-warra or “heart bad.” (Source: Bardip Ruth-Ang 2020)
In Enlhet it is translated as “going aside of the innermost.” “Innermost” or valhoc is a term that is frequently used in Enlhet to describe a large variety of emotions or states of mind (for other examples see here). (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
The Greek and Hebrew that is translated in English as “encourage” or “comfort” is translated in Enlhet as “become calm of the innermost.” “Innermost” or valhoc is a term that is frequently used in Enlhet to describe a large variety of emotions or states of mind (for other examples see here). (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
In Bacama it is translated as “(to) cool stomach” (source: David Frank in this blog post ), in Yatzachi Zapotec as “cause hearts to mature,” in Isthmus Zapotec “hearts may lie quiet” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.) and in Thai “give heart power to” (source: Bratcher / Hatton 2000).
Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “cover over” (a figure of speech which is also employed in Hebrew, but which in many languages is not acceptable, because it implies “hiding” or “concealment”)
Warao: “not being concerned with him clean your obonja.” Obonja 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.)
Martu Wangka: “throw out badness” (source: Carl Gross)
Kyaka: “burn the jaw bones” — This goes back to the pre-Christian custom of hanging the jaw bones of murdered relatives on ones door frame until the time of revenge. Christians symbolically burned those bones to show forgiveness which in turn became the word for “forgiveness” (source: Eugene Nida, according to this blog )
Koonzime: “remove the bad deed-counters” (“The Koonzime lay out the deeds symbolically — usually strips of banana leaf — and rehearse their grievances with the person addressed.”) (Source: Keith and Mary Beavon in Notes on Translation 3/1996, p. 16)
Ngbaka: ele: “forgive and forget” (Margaret Hill [in Holzhausen & Ridere 2010, p. 8f.] recalls that originally there were two different words used in Ngbaka, one for God (ɛlɛ) and one for people (mbɔkɔ — excuse something) since it was felt that people might well forgive but, unlike God, can’t forget. See also this lectionary in The Christian Century.
Amahuaca: “erase” / “smooth over” (“It was an expression the people used for smoothing over dirt when marks or drawings had been made in it. It meant wiping off dust in which marks had been made, or wiping off writing on the blackboard. To wipe off the slate, to erase, to take completely away — it has a very wide meaning and applies very well to God’s wiping away sins, removing them from the record, taking them away.”) (Source: Robert Russel, quoted in Walls / Bennett 1959, p. 193)
Gonja / Dangme: “lend / loan” (in the words of one Dangme scholar: “When you sin and you are forgiven, you forget that you have been forgiven, and continue to sin. But when you see the forgiveness as a debt/loan which you will pay for, you do not continue to sin, else you have more debts to pay” — quoted in Jonathan E.T. Kuwornu-Adjaottor in Ibadan Journal of Religious Studies 17/2 2010, p. 67ff. )
Kwere: kulekelela, meaning literally “to allow for.” Derived from the root leka which means “to leave.” In other words, forgiveness is leaving behind the offense in relationship to the person. It is also used in contexts of setting someone free. (Source: Megan Barton)
Merina Malagasy: mamela or “leave / let go (of sin / mistakes)” (source: Brigitte Rabarijaona)
Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Corinthians 2:7:
Uma: “Forgive him and comfort him. Lest [lit., don’t-don’t, like Indonesian ‘jangan-jangan’] he feel too sad, with the result that he loses heart [lit., his heart is lessened].” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Now you should forgive him and you should encourage his liver. Perhaps he would be exceedingly sad/troubled and be like a person drowning.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And now you must forgive him; advise him, because if not, his trust in God might be removed by his excess of grief.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “What you should do now is forgive him and strengthen his mind so that his sorrow is not added-to and that is his-cause-of-defeat.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Forgive him now and cheer him up, so that he will not be overwhelmed (lit. drowned) by the big-size of his grief which is too much now.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “It would be good for you to forgive the man now. Encourage his heart. Do not want that there continue the overflowing sadness not knowing what to do.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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).
So …: Revised Standard Version, following the original, continues the sentence begun in verse 6, but it will be much better in most languages to begin a new sentence here, as in Good News Translation.
The pronoun you is plural, referring to those who will read this letter and who have been involved in the case of the offending Christian.
The word rather suggests a contrast with the idea of punishment in verse 6. New Jerusalem Bible says “and now by way of contrast you should forgive and encourage him.” God’s New Covenant says “now you ought rather to take the opposite course, forgiving him and encouraging him”; and Revised English Bible says “Something very different is called for now.” New Revised Standard Version uses the word “instead.” A few manuscripts omit the word rather, but even if the word were not actually written in the Greek text, the context would still make the idea of contrast implicit.
The pronouns him and he refer to the person mentioned in verse 5. Revised English Bible says “forgive the offender.” Since Paul is referring to a specific situation, Contemporary English Version incorrectly generalizes: “When people sin, you should forgive and comfort them.”
Comfort: see 1.3. Either meaning of the Greek word fits well in this context: “to comfort” (Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible) or “to encourage” (Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Bible en français courant). Anchor Bible argues that in certain contexts the Greek word has the meaning of “seek reconciliation” (see 1 Cor 4.13, where Revised Standard Version translates this verb as “to conciliate,” and Good News Translation says “to answer back with kind words”), so Anchor Bible says “deal kindly with him.” All three translations, “to comfort,” “to encourage,” and “to deal kindly with” are possible meanings and each fits the context, so it is difficult to know which sense Paul intended here. Translators must simply choose one of these meanings, knowing that nothing really favors one interpretation over the others.
Or: meaning “otherwise,” but in some languages this will have to be made more explicit by beginning a new sentence saying something like “If you do not do this….”
Be overwhelmed: literally “be swallowed up.” The implicit thought is that the offender may “give up [the faith] completely.” The passive form may have to be avoided by saying something like “if you don’t forgive him, he might be so sad that he quits in despair.”
The excessive sorrow is that of the offender and not the community.
Knox restructures the last sentence of this verse, using the negative: “You must not let him be overwhelmed by excess of grief.”
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. 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®).
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.