The Greek that is translated in English as “breastplate” or similar is translated in Copainalá Zoque as “metal over your chest.” (Source: William Wonderly in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 14ff. )
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.”
complete verse (Ephesians 6:14)
Following are a number of back-translations of Ephesians 6:14:
- Uma: “So, [let’s] strengthen our standing with the fighting gear that is from God. Strengthen our following to the true teaching, consider it a belt that you draw tight on our waist so we will not be lax. Make-straight our behavior, consider it a iron shirt that protects our body/self from trial/temptation.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “Therefore you should always be ready/equipped to stand-up-against/fight these your enemies like soldiers. Your figurative belt is the truth, that means you should really not lie. The figure for the protection of your chest is your straight/righteous doings.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Therefore, be on your guard. You must always say and think what is true and this is your belt. Your behavior must be righteous and this is your breastplate.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “These then are like the weapons and clothes of a soldier that you need in order to be prepared to join-in-fighting. What you use-as-a-belt is your telling the truth. What you put-on also to protect your chest, it is your righteous manner-of-life.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “Therefore always be prepared. Your like-a-belt is, complete truth in all you’re doing and saying. A righteous life, that’s like the protective-covering for your chest, to which is also attached your belt.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “When a soldier has prepared to go to war, he now has been belted with a belt, he carries a shield to protect himself, and he wears covering made of metal. You do like this in that you be protected with the true word. Everything that is good is what you must do.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
righteous, righteousness
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:
- Bambara, Southern Bobo Madaré, Chokwe (ululi), Amganad Ifugao, Chol, Eastern Maninkakan, Toraja-Sa’dan, Pamona, Batak Toba, Bilua, Tiv: “be straight”
- Laka: “follow the straight way” or “to straight-straight” (a reduplicated form for emphasis)
- Sayula Popoluca: “walk straight”
- Highland Puebla Nahuatl, Kekchí, Muna: “have a straight heart”
- Kipsigis: “do the truth”
- Mezquital Otomi: “do according to the truth”
- Huautla Mazatec: “have truth”
- Yine: “fulfill what one should do”
- Indonesian: “be true”
- Navajo (Dinė): “do just so”
- Anuak: “do as it should be”
- Mossi: “have a white stomach” (see also happiness / joy)
- 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)
- Central Subanen: “wise-good” (source: Robert Brichoux in OPTAT 1988/2, p. 80ff. )
- Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “live well”
- Mezquital Otomi: “goodness before the face of God” (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
- Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl: “the result of heart-straightening” (source: Nida 1947, p. 224)
- Eastern Highland Otomi: “entirely good” (when referred to God), “do good” or “not be a debtor as God sees one” (when referred to people)
- Carib: “level”
- Tzotzil: “straight-hearted”
- Ojitlán Chinantec: “right and straight”
- 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)
- North Alaskan Inupiatun: “having sin taken away” (Source: Nida 1952, p. 144)
- Nyamwezi: wa lole: “just” or “someone who follows the law of God” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
- Venda: “nothing wrong, OK” (Source: J.A. van Roy in The Bible Translator 1972, p. 418ff. )
- 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)
- “did what he should” (Eastern Highland Otomi)
- “a clear man, good [man]” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
See also respectable, righteous, righteous (person), devout, and She is more in the right(eous) than I.
Translation commentary on Ephesians 6:14 – 6:15
In verses 14-17 the writer mentions the various different items in the Christian’s armor. Again he exhorts his readers So stand ready; compare New English Bible “Stand firm, I say.”
Truth translates the Greek alētheia, and righteousness the Greek dikaiosunē, and these are the meanings that the two words normally have in the Greek New Testament. But in this passage there seems to be an allusion to (or dependence on) Isaiah 11.5, which describes the rule of the future Davidic king: “Righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist, and faithfulness the girdle of his loins” (Revised Standard Version), which the Septuagint translates by the same two nouns used here, dikaiosunē and alētheia. The two lines in Hebrew are parallel, and it would seem that no great difference in meaning is intended between the Hebrew “righteousness” and “faithfulness”; the two are synonymous. So it may be that here the Greek alētheia reflects the meaning of the Hebrew noun “faithfulness, loyalty,” that is, the Christian soldier’s faithful devotion to the cause for which he is fighting, his loyalty to his commanding officer.
But some commentators, pointing to the use of the two nouns in 5.9, take the word here to mean truth or truthfulness as a Christian virtue (Murray “sincerity”). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “the truth of God.”
A belt tight around your waist: the loose clothes had to be held tight with a belt (or girdle) to permit rapid movement; see the same metaphorical figure of “girding the loins” (Revised Standard Version) in Luke 12.35; 1 Peter 1.13.
The phrase with truth as a belt tight around your waist may be translated as “your faithfulness to God will be like a belt tied around your waist” or “the truth about God will be like a belt fastened around your waist” or “the true message about God will be….”
Righteousness may be regarded as “integrity, character.” Abbott defines it as uprightness of character. In Isaiah 59.17 it is said of Yahweh, “He put on righteousness as a breastplate” (Revised Standard Version); there Yahweh’s righteousness is his faithfulness to his covenant promises.
In a number of languages one cannot speak of righteousness as an abstract quality. Rather, one must employ some type of personal reference, for example, “your doing what is right” or “your being a just person” or “your being an upright person.” It may be possible to translate with righteousness as your breastplate as “your always doing what is right is like a protection for your chest.”
The breastplate was made of tough leather or metal, and it covered the soldier’s breast and sometimes the back, to protect him from the enemy’s attack. (It should be noticed that in 1 Thes 5.8 Paul defines the breastplate as “faith and love.”)
The writer speaks of the readiness to announce the Good News of peace as the shoes the Christian warrior is to wear. The Greek noun “preparation, readiness” occurs only here in the New Testament. It is difficult to know for sure in what sense the word is used here. The following are possible meanings:
(1) Abbott takes it to mean “readiness of mind,” the attitude that is required of a soldier as he advances into battle; so this would be equivalent to courage or determination or readiness to fight. The Good News of peace, in Abbott’s view, is what equips the Christian soldier with this attitude, this readiness of mind (also Goodspeed “the readiness the good news of peace brings”; see also Ellicott).
(2) Revised Standard Version translates “(having shod your feet) with the equipment of the gospel of peace,” which is not very clear.
(3) Others take the Greek word to mean firmness, stability, sure footing. So Barth “steadfast because the gospel of peace is strapped under your feet”; New English Bible “to give you firm footing”; Moffatt “stability.”
(4) Others, like Good News Translation, take the phrase to mean “the readiness to proclaim the gospel of peace”: Westcott, Robinson (who regards Isa 52.7 as a source of the figure), Beare; Translator’s New Testament, New International Version, Jerusalem Bible, and others.
It is impossible to be dogmatic; the translator will choose the interpretation that seems best to fit the context, and it would seem that either (3) or (4) would be the best choice.
In verse 15 it may be better to preserve the parallelism with the two preceding statements about protection and armor by translating “the fact that you are ready to announce the Good News of peace is like your shoes” or “… like the shoes that a soldier wears.”
Readiness to announce the Good News may also be expressed as “the fact that you always want to tell others about the Good News.”
In general one may best translate the Good News of peace as “the Good News about the peace that God provides” or “… causes” or “… makes possible.” Here peace is practically synonymous with “salvation” or “reconciliation” (see verse 23 below). It is the restoration of spiritual health or wholeness that the Good News proclaims and effects.
In some instances it may be better to use similes (or comparisons): “Take truth as if it were the belt you put on, righteousness as if it were the breastplate that protects you, and your readiness to announce the Good News of peace will be like the shoes you wear.”
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 .
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