11Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
The Greek, Latin and Hebrew that is translated in English as “painful” or “sorrow” is translated in Huba as “cut the insides.” David Frank explains: “Huba has just one expression that covers both ‘angry’ and ‘sad.’ They don’t make a distinction in their language. I suppose you could say that the term they use means more generically, ‘strong emotional reaction’ (source: David Frank in this blog post ). Similarly, in Bariai it is “the interior is severed/cut” (source: Bariai Back Translation).
In Noongar it is translated as koort-warra or “heart bad.” (Source: Bardip Ruth-Ang 2020)
In Enlhet it is translated as “going aside of the innermost.” “Innermost” or valhoc is a term that is frequently used in Enlhet to describe a large variety of emotions or states of mind (for other examples see here). (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
Following are a number of back-translations of Hebrews 12:11:
Uma: “While we are being advised and beaten, we aren’t happy, we feel it hurt. Afterwards, when we have become clear [i.e., aware, mature] because of that advice, our lives become good [i.e., happy, at peace] and our deeds become upright.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “When we (dual) are punished we (dual) are not happy because we (dual) have difficulties. But when God punishes us (incl.) and we (dual) endure and believe, the final outcome (will be that) our (dual) works/doings are straight and our (dual) thinking is peaceful/we have peace in our minds.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when God trains us, we do not like it because what we have to go through is difficult. But when His training of us is finished and by means of this we are already trained by God, then our behavior is already righteous and then our situation is very peaceful.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “It is admittedly true that advice and spankings do not make-us-happy upon their arrival, because they hurt, but when we are taught/trained by them, the outcome is good, because it leads to a peaceful mind and righteous behavior.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Really as long as it’s the time when he is correcting us, we are not happy, for it’s hard for us. But when it has now passed, provided we submitted-meekly/patiently, our life will become all the more righteous/straight, that being what will lead us to a mind/inner-being which is much more peaceful.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “When God whips us, we suffer, we don’t like the whipping he gives us. But when our hearts understand that it does us good, they are at peace and more do we endeavor to walk good.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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)
This verse contains another contrast. The first part of it was a common saying, almost a proverb, in popular moral teaching of New Testament times.
The structure of this verse emphasizes the contrast between at the time and Later. Later may also mean “Last of all” or “In the end,” as in Matthew 21.37. This sense is suggested by references to the “last times” at the end of this verse and in the wider context.
The phrase rendered sad, not glad sounds a little heavy in the original as well as in translation. The writer is thinking back to the joy mentioned in verse 2 and uses the same Greek word here.
As Revised Standard Version shows, the verse is a contrast between the effect of discipline at the time and Later. Good News Translation expands the first part of the contrast, expressing “all discipline” (Revised Standard Version) as When we are punished. “Whenever we are punished” would have been closer to the meaning of the Greek. If Good News Bible is taken as the base for renderings in other languages, there may be some repetition in the reference to time. If so, the first sentence may be translated as “Whenever we are punished it seems to us to be something to make us sad, not glad,” deleting at the time.
Since the expression it seems to us involves some kind of reasoning or thought, it may be better to restructure the statement as “Whenever we are punished, we regard it as making us sad and certainly not glad” or “… happy.”
The second half of this verse (from Later, however) is written in a particularly impressive Greek literary style. This suggests that it is intended as a summary and conclusion of the section. This is confirmed by “Therefore” in verse 12 (Revised Standard Version) and by the change from argument to direct imperatives. common language translations (but not the UBS Greek New Testament or Traduction œcuménique de la Bible) therefore begin a new section at verse 12 rather than at verse 14.
Disciplined in 5.14 was translated through practice are able (see the comments). The idea of athletic training may be carried over from the beginning of the chapter; several translations have “trained.”
Those who have been disciplined by such punishment may be expressed as “those whom God has punished in order to show them what they have done wrong” or “those who have been corrected by the way in which God has punished them.” It may be essential to indicate that this is punishment which comes from God, especially in view of the explicit reference to God in verse 10.
Revised Standard Version suggests some confusion in this verse between the metaphors of athletic training and harvesting. The Greek for reap is in fact a dead metaphor meaning “to receive something in return” and may be translated in a nonfigurative way.
Peaceful reward is a rather strange expression. Several translations separate “peace” from reward and link it with a righteous life, literally “righteousness,” as in 1.9: Bijbel in Gewone Taal “the peace which comes from a righteous life,” Bible en français courant “peace associated with a just life,” and Translator’s New Testament “lives of peace and goodness.” These translations present a rather static view of the “good life” as one in which relationships with God and other people are what they should be. It is true that “peace” in the Bible implies total well-being (see 7.2; 13.21). However, in biblical thought, “peace,” like “righteousness,” involves action, and this aspect is brought out by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch: “But later it appears, to all who have been brought up by this punishment, that it was good, and that they have become people who do what is right, and spread peace (around them).”
Reward is literally “fruit” (Revised Standard Version), meaning “the effect it produces” (Bible en français courant). It is not the word used for reward in 11.26, but the meaning is the same, that is, the fulfillment in men of God’s purposes (compare 11.40).
The expression a righteous life (in Greek literally “righteousness”) is in apposition to the peaceful reward. In other words this peaceful reward consists of a righteous life. But peaceful is actually a qualification of the life more than it is of the reward itself. Accordingly, one may render reap the peaceful reward of a righteous life as “obtain a reward which is a peaceful and righteous life” or “obtain the reward of living peacefully and righteously.” Righteous may be rendered as “in accordance with what God wants a person to do.”
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Letter of the Hebrews. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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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