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.”

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Eph. 4:25)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, translators typically select the inclusive form (including the addressee).

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

complete verse (Ephesians 4:25)

Following are a number of back-translations of Ephesians 4:25:

  • Uma: “So, relatives, really do stop your previous behavior: don’t any longer lie, rather say what is straight to others, because we are all parts from the Body of Kristus.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Therefore let us (incl.) no longer lie. We (incl.) ought to speak to our (incl.) fellow-(believers) only what is true, because we (incl.) all have been made one figuratively as Almasi’s body.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Therefore, brothers, abandon lying. It’s necessary that what you say to your companion is true, for we have been made one, all of us who are parts of the body of Christ.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “You ought not to tell-lies but rather the truth only is what you are to speak to your fellows, because we have all been joined to Cristo’s body.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Well, since it’s like that now, good if you now drop saying what has no truth. What’s necessary is that all that we say to our companions is wholly the truth. For is it not that we all are attached-together in one body-entity?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Now do not speak lies. Each of you must speak only truth in what you tell your fellowman. Because all of us are like we are just one person.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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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).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Ephesians 4:25

Then serves to connect what follows with what precedes. Since we are new beings we must act like it. This verse forbids lying, literally “putting off the lie, speak the truth.” The verb “put off” is the same one used in verse 22. Colossians 3.9 expresses the same command more directly: “Do not lie to one another.” The language here “but speak the truth each one with his neighbor” is derived from Zechariah 8.16; here “neighbor” has the meaning fellow Christian, fellow believer. The reason for the injunction is clear: “because we are members of one another” (see in 5.30 for we are members of his body); see Romans 12.5. The emphasis here is on the unity and interdependence of Christians; because they all belong to the body of Christ, the church, they must do all that is necessary for the good of the body; whatever hurts one member hurts the whole body.

Since the statement everyone must tell the truth to his fellow believer is in complete contrast to the negative statement which precedes, it must be marked as such in some languages. The transitional particle may be equivalent to something like “rather.” In reality, the two statements are supplementary in that one is negative and the other positive.

In some instances it is impossible to use a noun such as truth, and so in this particular context one may need to translate the first clause of the second sentence of verse 25 as “what you say to your fellow believer must be what really happened” or “what every one of you tells his fellow believer must agree with what happened.”

There may be some difficulty in speaking of all members … in the body of Christ, so that the last clause of verse 25 may be rendered as “because all of us are parts of the body of Christ.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1982. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .