19You must not distort justice; you must not show partiality; and you must not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.
The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and Latin that is translated as “justice” in English is translated in American Sign Language with a sign that describes the quality or principle of fairness, righteousness, and impartiality in treating other people. A literal back-translation of the signs are “FOLLOW(God is implied) ACTIONS, DECISIONS JUST-RIGHT”. A more idiomatic back-translation would be: “actions and decisions are right/fitting/just in accordance to God’s will.” The movement in the signs itself helps to indicate that this is a noun, not a verb. (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Justice” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
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)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 16:19:
Kupsabiny: “A person must not distort justice. (He) must not be partial and not accept a bribe because that makes judges and leaders to become blind.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “They must not work by taking sides with anyone. They must not take [lit. eat] bribes. For if they take bribes, even wise men become blind and the promise of a good man is reversed.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “They must not twist the justice and they should not show-favoritism in judging. They are- not -to-accept bribe for the bribe can-cause-to-become-blind the wise and righteous, and can-influence their decision.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “They must not judge unjustly. They must not favor one person more than another. The judges must not accept bribes, because if a judge accepts a bribe, even if he is wise and honest, it will be very difficult for him to judge fairly ; he will do what the person who gave him the bribe wants him to do and declare that the righteous/innocent people must be punished.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
From the third person at the end of verse 18, referring to judges and officers, the narrative switches to the second person (singular), addressing the people as a whole. It may be better to keep in this verse the third person plural of verse 18b, as Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje does, since it deals with the duties of the judges and officers in particular. However, Contemporary English Version offers the alternative “Those of you that become judges.”
You shall not pervert justice: there are various ways to speak of the miscarriage of justice. This is a general rule that can be expressed in a positive way: “Justice is to be administered fairly and equitably”; or “Justice is to be administered without fear or favor”; or even “They must judge [or, rule] fairly.”
You shall not show partiality: this is one particular form of miscarriage of justice; it is not being impartial, but favoring one person over the other. See “righteous judgment” in the previous verse.
You shall not take a bribe: there are many vivid expressions for bribery; for example, Spanish mordida, “bite.”
A bribe blinds the eyes of the wise: this expression is used in a figurative sense; it has to do with moral judgment. “A bribe makes it difficult for a wise judge to hand down the right decision.” Another possible translation is “A bribe makes a wise judge close his eyes to what is right.”
Subverts the cause of the righteous: that is, the cause (or, case) of an innocent person on trial is subverted when judges accept bribes. Subverts means to undermine or weaken (the cause of justice). So Good News Translation has “and cause them to give wrong decisions.”
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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