The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė)) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).
Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).
In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations of 3 John 1:7:
Uma: “For those relatives of ours go to carry the name of the Lord Yesus. And they did/do not get anything from people who don’t believe in the Lord.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Because they are journeying proclaiming the teaching of Almasi and they did not accept any help from those who don’t trust in Isa Almasi.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For they have gone out so they might spread the teaching of Christ, however they do not ask for help from those who are not believers.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Because in their going to preach concerning the Lord Jesus, they are not taking what they need from people who don’t believe.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Because their journey is to go teaching concerning Jesu-Cristo, and they don’t accept any help at all in the way of gifts from people who don’t believe this which they teach.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Because they travel to do the work of Jesus Christ. They don’t wait for help from people who do not believe God.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Yatzachi Zapotec: “They did not take anything from the people who do not trust in Jesus Christ while they were traveling like that when they went to proclaim the word of Jesus Christ.”
Eastern Highland Otomi: “Because they are sent to speak in regard to Jesus Christ. And they don’t receive anything from those who don’t believe.”
Isthmus Zapotec: “They went out because they love Jesus Christ, and they didn’t take anything from people who don’t believe in Him.” (Source for this and two above: John Beekman in Notes on Translation 12, November 1964, p. 1ff.)
The Greek Christos (Χρηστός) is typically transliterated when it appears together with Iésous (Ἰησοῦς) (Jesus). In English the transliteration is the Anglicized “Christ,” whereas in many other languages it is based on the Greek or Latin as “Kristus,” “Cristo,” or similar.
When used as a descriptive term in the New Testament — as it’s typically done in the gospels (with the possible exceptions of for instance John 1:17 and 17:3) — Christos is seen as the Greek translation of the Hebrew mashiaḥ (המשיח) (“anointed”). Accordingly, a transliteration of mashiaḥ is used, either as “Messiah” or based on the Greek or Latin as a form of “Messias.”
This transliteration is also used in the two instances where the Greek term Μεσσίας (Messias) is used in John 1:41 and 4:25.
In some languages and some translations, the term “Messiah” is supplemented with an explanation. Such as in the GermanGute Nachricht with “the Messiah, the promised savior” (Wir haben den Messias gefunden, den versprochenen Retter) or in Muna with “Messiah, the Saving King” (Mesias, Omputo Fosalamatino) (source: René van den Berg).
In predominantly Muslim areas or for Bible translations for a Muslim target group, Christos is usually transliterated from the Arabic al-Masih (ٱلْمَسِيحِ) — “Messiah.” In most cases, this practice corresponds with languages that also use a form of the Arabic Isa (عيسى) for Jesus (see Jesus). There are some exceptions, though, including modern translations in Arabic which use Yasua (يَسُوعَ) (coming from the Aramaic Yēšūa’) alongside a transliteration of al-Masih, Hausa which uses Yesu but Almahisu, and some Fula languages (Adamawa Fulfulde, Nigerian Fulfulde, and Central-Eastern Niger Fulfulde) which also use a form of Iésous (Yeesu) but Almasiihu (or Almasiifu) for Christos.
In Indonesian, while most Bible translations had already used Yesus Kristus rather than Isa al Masih, three public holidays used to be described using the term Isa Al Masih. From 2024 on, the government is using Yesus Kristus in those holiday names instead (see this article in Christianity Today ).
Other solutions that are used by a number of languages include these:
Dobel: “The important one that God had appointed to come” (source: Jock Hughes)
Noongar: Keny Mammarap or “The One Man” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Mairasi: “King of not dying for life all mashed out infinitely” (for “mashed out,” see salvation; source: Lloyd Peckham)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “One chosen by God to rule mankind” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Bacama: Ma Pwa a Ngɨltən: “The one God has chosen” (source: David Frank in this blog post )
Binumarien: Anutuna: originally a term that was used for a man that was blessed by elders for a task by the laying on of hands (source: Desmond Oatridges, Holzhausen 1991, p. 49f.)
Noongar: Keny Boolanga-Yira Waangki-Koorliny: “One God is Sending” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uab Meto: Neno Anan: “Son of heaven” P. Middelkoop explains: “The idea of heavenly power bestowed on a Timorese king is rendered in the title Neno Anan. It is based on the historical fact that chiefs in general came from overseas and they who come thence are believed to have come down from heaven, from the land beyond the sea, that means the sphere of God and the ghosts of the dead. The symbolical act of anointing has been made subservient to the revelation of an eternal truth and when the term Neno Anan is used as a translation thereof, it also is made subservient to a new revelation of God in Jesus Christ. The very fact that Jesus came from heaven makes this translation hit the mark.” (Source: P. Middelkoop in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 183ff. )
In Finnish Sign Language both “Christ” and “Messiah” are translated with a sign signifying “king.” (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
“Christ / Messiah” in Finnish Sign Language (source )
Law (2013, p. 97) writes about how the Ancient GreekSeptuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew mashiah was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments (click or tap here to read more):
“Another important word in the New Testament that comes from the Septuagint is christos, ‘Christ.’ Christ is not part of the name of the man from Nazareth, as if ‘the Christs’ were written above the door of his family home. Rather, ‘Christ’ is an explicitly messianic title used by the writers of the New Testament who have learned this word from the Septuagint’s translation of the Hebrew mashiach, ‘anointed,’ which itself is often rendered in English as ‘Messiah.’ To be sure, one detects a messianic intent on the part of the Septuagint translator in some places. Amos 4:13 may have been one of these. In the Hebrew Bible, God ‘reveals his thoughts to mortals,’ but the Septuagint has ‘announcing his anointed to humans.’ A fine distinction must be made, however, between theology that was intended by the Septuagint translators and that developed by later Christian writers. In Amos 4:13 it is merely possible we have a messianic reading, but it is unquestionably the case that the New Testament writers exploit the Septuagint’s use of christos, in Amos and elsewhere, to messianic ends.”
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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) can be used, as in mi-na (御名) or “name (of God)” in the referenced verses.
They have set out, or ‘they started on their trip,’ ‘they left their homes.’ The Greek verb is in the aorist. This tense may serve here either to emphasize the particular case, or to state the general rule, of preachers being sent out.
For his sake, literally “for-the-sake-of the name.” “The name” may stand for the person of Christ (see comments on 1 John 3.23); hence ‘for the sake of Christ,’ or ‘in the service (or as servants) of Christ,’ ‘in order to do the work of Christ.’ But one may also emphasize a special aspect of the activity of the preachers, namely, to confess and proclaim the name of Christ (as Lord, compare for example Rom 10.9; 1 Cor 12.3; Phil 2.9-11), which is the essence of any Christian activity. Therefore the phrase may also be rendered ‘to make known the name of Christ,’ ‘to proclaim the words of Jesus Christ.’
Have accepted nothing is in the present tense in the Greek, indicating habitual practice. The clause refers to their not accepting money, food, or other help.
The heathen: compare comments on “Gentiles” in A Translator’s Handbook on the Gospel of Luke, on 2.32. The usual rendering of heathen may refer exclusively or primarily to foreign people, or to non-Jews, or it may have an insulting connotation. In languages in which it may be insulting, it is better to render the term as ‘the non-Christians,’ or ‘those who do not believe in Christ.’
Quoted with permission from Haas, C., de Jonge, M. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on The Third Letter of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
For:(Logical Connection) This verse is giving the reason why John requests Gaius to help the brothers.
they went out:(Lexical Problem) This refers to their making a journey to preach the gospel in different places. It does not refer to leaving any specific place.
the Name:(Special Biblical Term) This is a way of referring to Jesus Christ. This phrase is used a few times in the New Testament. See Good News Translation, New English Bible.
7b
accepting nothing:(Meaning) As Christian preachers they did not ask for help from unbelievers. John is showing that they were different from teachers of other religions who traveled around at that time. The teachers of other religions used to require payment from the people they instructed and converted.
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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.
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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