sin

The Hebrew and Greek that is typically translated as “sin” in English has a wide variety of translations.

The Greek ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō) carries the original verbatim meaning of “miss the mark” and likewise, many translations contain the “connotation of moral responsibility.”

  • Loma: “leaving the road” (which “implies a definite standard, the transgression of which is sin”)
  • Navajo (Dinė): “that which is off to the side” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: kasalan, originally meaning “transgression of a religious or moral rule” and in the context of the Bible “transgression of God’s commandments” (source: H. van der Veen in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 21ff. )
  • Kaingang: “break God’s word”
  • Bariai: “bad behavior” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Sandawe: “miss the mark” (like the original meaning of the Greek term) (source for this and above: Ursula Wiesemann in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 36ff., 43)

In Shipibo-Conibo the term is hocha. Nida (1952, p. 149) tells the story of its choosing: “In some instances a native expression for sin includes many connotations, and its full meaning must be completely understood before one ever attempts to use it. This was true, for example, of the term hocha first proposed by Shipibo-Conibo natives as an equivalent for ‘sin.’ The term seemed quite all right until one day the translator heard a girl say after having broken a little pottery jar that she was guilty of ‘hocha.’ Breaking such a little jar scarcely seemed to be sin. However, the Shipibos insisted that hocha was really sin, and they explained more fully the meaning of the word. It could be used of breaking a jar, but only if the jar belonged to someone else. Hocha was nothing more nor less than destroying the possessions of another, but the meaning did not stop with purely material possessions. In their belief God owns the world and all that is in it. Anyone who destroys the work and plan of God is guilty of hocha. Hence the murderer is of all men most guilty of hocha, for he has destroyed God’s most important possession in the world, namely, man. Any destructive and malevolent spirit is hocha, for it is antagonistic and harmful to God’s creation. Rather than being a feeble word for some accidental event, this word for sin turned out to be exceedingly rich in meaning and laid a foundation for the full presentation of the redemptive act of God.”

In Warao it is translated as “bad obojona.” Obojona is a term that “includes the concepts of consciousness, will, attitude, attention and a few other miscellaneous notions.” (Source: Henry Osborn in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 74ff. ). See other occurrences of Obojona in the Warao New Testament.

Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the Danish Bibelen 2020, comments on the translation of this term: “We would explain terms, such that e.g. sin often became ‘doing what God does not want’ or ‘breaking God’s law’, ‘letting God down’, ‘disrespecting God’, ‘doing evil’, ‘acting stupidly’, ‘becoming guilty’. Now why couldn’t we just use the word sin? Well, sin in contemporary Danish, outside of the church, is mostly used about things such as delicious but unhealthy foods. Exquisite cakes and chocolates are what a sin is today.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )

See also sinner.

complete verse (Hebrews 12:4)

Following are a number of back-translations of Hebrews 12:4:

  • Uma: “No kidding the suffering that Yesus underwent facing evil people who rejected him, to the point that he was killed. As for you, relatives, there are indeed evil people who are opposing you too, but in your war opposing sin, none of you has yet been killed like Yesus. So, consider Yesus, so that you not become weak and your hearts discouraged [lit., lessened].” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “You know that none of you has as yet been killed for resisting sin that tempts you.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For you know that in your resisting evil behavior, not one of you has been killed because of His faith.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because in your trying to defeat sin, none of you has yet had his blood flow-out because of his faith.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For as-for-you, you have not yet experienced that your fighting against evil has-been-the-means-of- your life/breath -being-severed.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “So far the evil people haven’t been able to kill us while we are hunting for how to separate from the sin that is here on the earth.” (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 Hebrews 12:4

Struggle renders a verb related to race in verse 1, but here the meaning is wider; a real battle, rather than an athletic competition, is probably now in the writer’s mind.

Against sin does not simply mean “against evil impulses within your own hearts”; it means essentially the same as “sinful men” in verse 3. Sin is now almost personified. This could be brought out by some such translation as “your struggle against the forces of sin” or even “… forces of evil.” However, it may not always be possible to speak of sin as a force which can initiate action or carry out some campaign of opposition. For many languages such happenings can only be attributed directly to people who sin. The struggle which is involved here is primarily a defensive struggle, as suggested by the rendering resist. Therefore in your struggle against sin may be expressed in some languages as “in defending yourself against sinners” or “in defending yourself when sinners attack you.”

The word for resist is not used anywhere else in the New Testament; in secular writings it has the meaning of passive “holding out” rather than that of active aggression.

To the point of being killed gives the meaning of King James Version‘s literal “unto blood.” “Blood” in the Bible often has the meaning of violent death. In this verse there is no idea of sacrifice. In 2 Maccabees 13.14 New English Bible translates the same phrase “to the death.” You have not yet had to resist to the point of being killed may be rendered as “you have not yet had to endure to the point where people killed you.”

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 .