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.”

save

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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.”

Other translations include:

  • San Blas Kuna: “help the heart”
  • Laka: “take by the hand” in the meaning of “rescue” or “deliver”
  • Huautla Mazatec: “lift out on behalf of”
  • Anuak: “have life because of”
  • Central Mazahua: “be healed in the heart”
  • Baoulé: “save one’s head”
  • Guerrero Amuzgo: “come out well”
  • Northwestern Dinka: “be helped as to his breath” (or “life”) (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida),
  • Matumbi: “rescue (from danger)” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Noongar: barrang-ngandabat or “hold life” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • South Bolivian Quechua: “make to escape”
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl: “cause people to come out with the aid of the hand” (source for this and one above: Nida 1947, p. 222)
  • Bariai: “retrieve one back” (source: Bariai Back Translation)

See also salvation and save (Japanese honorifics).

complete verse (2 Thessalonians 2:10)

Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Thessalonians 2:10:

  • Uma: “All his evil schemes he will use to deceive people who it is already certain will receive disaster. They will receive disaster because they refuse to receive the true message and they won’t submit to God so that he lift them from the punishment of their sins.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “He will be able to deceive the people who belong to/whose portion is hell, because they did/do not want to follow the true teaching about Isa Almasi so that they would be saved.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “He will tell lies by all kinds of evil ways to those people who cannot avoid punishment. The reason they will not be able to avoid punishment is because they have not accepted the true doctrine which can give them life forever.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “and everything moreover which is evil which deceives those who will be separated from God to be punished. The reason they will be punished is, they were refusing to value and believe the truth regarding the Lord Jesus so that they would be saved koma.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Really all kinds of evil are what he will come out with in his deception of people who are heading for death which is unending punishment. They will fall into this punishment because they didn’t receive and want/like this truth which is what could have saved them.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “It is evil in all that he will do. He will do various things searching how he will deceive the people who must be lost. They will be lost because they have not wanted to know the word which is true. This word which they did not look favorably on is the word which could have saved the lives of the people.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 2 Thessalonians 2:10

And use every kind of wicked deceit is literally “and with all deceit of wickedness.” As with all kinds of false miracles in verse 9, two questions arise: (1) Does “all” mean every kind of or “the highest degree of”? Most translators prefer the first solution, but Moffatt has “full deceitfulness of evil,” Phillips “evil’s undiluted power to deceive,” and New English Bible “all the deception that sinfulness can impose….” (2) Such expressions as “deceit of wickedness” are a common way of saying wicked deceit in Hebrew and biblical Greek, but a few translations take the expression to mean “deceit which comes from wickedness” (cf. Knox “his wickedness will deceive,” also New English Bible). Deceit is by definition wicked, so the second solution tends to give a stronger translation. Wicked translates a word close in meaning to “lawlessness” in verse 3 and 7, so Good News Translation is right, especially in a common language translation, to use wicked for both of them.

Use every kind of … deceit must be expressed in some languages as “will deceive in every way.” In some languages wicked deceit might be misleading since it could suggest that certain kinds of deceit are not wicked. The attributive wicked simply reinforces the meaning of deceit but does not restrict it in the sense of a particular kind of deceit. It may therefore be necessary in some languages to say “in a wicked way he will deceive people in every manner,” or even “he will be wicked and deceive people in every way.”

On “those who are perishing,” see the notes on 2.1-12. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible‘s “those who are losing themselves” is too weak. In some contexts the Greek verb may be translated “lose,” but the meaning always includes the element of something being destroyed, rather than that of someone losing his way or something being mislaid. (Compare in English “we lost fifty men in the battle.”) The idea of a continuous process of perishing is rather difficult to express in some languages, even in English. Many translations use expressions such as “doomed to perish” to link the present and the future (Moffatt Barclay cf. Knox Jerusalem Bible Translator’s New Testament). [They] will perish is not repeated in the original; Good News Translation repeats it in order to break a long sentence into smaller parts. Something of the inevitability and certainty of perishing may be expressed in some languages as “those who will surely perish,” or “those who will certainly be destroyed.” In some instances perish may be rendered as “end up as nothing,” but this should not be used as a means of suggesting a doctrine of ultimate annihilation.

Welcome is the word which Paul used in 1 Thess. 1.6 and 2.13 to describe the way in which the Thessalonians had responded to the preaching of the Christian message. The present verse must be understood in a similar way, not as referring to “the love of truth” in any general philosophical sense. The truth (note the definite article) is the Christian message, which is related to salvation. The exact relation may be either (1) one of purpose (“they welcomed the truth in order to be saved”), or (2) one of result (“they welcomed the truth, and thus were saved”). Most translations choose (2), for example, Revised Standard Version “because they refused to love the truth and so be saved,” Jerusalem Bible “they would not grasp the love of the truth which could have saved them.” New English Bible Biblia Dios Habla Hoy agree with Good News Translation in choosing (1). New English Bible has “they did not open their minds to love of the truth, so as to find salvation.” A similar problem was discussed in the notes on 1 Thess. 2.16, and another will arise in verse 11 of the chapter now under discussion. Paul’s main emphasis is probably on the effect of the truth, rather than on the motives for which people do or do not welcome it.

In this type of context did not welcome may often be translated as “were not happy to hear,” “did not listen with glad hearts,” or “did not accept the words into their hearts.”

Love the truth must often be translated by a term which is quite different from one that would express love for a person. For example, love the truth may be rendered as “value highly the truth,” or “regard the truth as very important.” In some languages one may express this idea idiomatically by saying “put the truth in their hearts.” It may, however, be very difficult in some languages to speak of truth as an object. One may speak of “a true message” or “a true words,” but even then it may be necessary to indicate the content of the true words. In such a case one may need to say, for example, “the true words about our Lord,” or “the true message about the Lord Jesus.”

Though so as to be saved may be interpreted by some people as implying only purpose, it is often understood by English speakers as suggesting result as well. It may even be linked with welcome and love the truth as means, for example, “and in this way be saved.” If the passive expression to be saved must be made active with the agent expressed, it may be important to restructure the final clause as “so that God could save them” or “… would save them.”

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Thessalonians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .