patience / patient

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The Hebrew and Greek terms that are translated as “patient” or “patience” are translated in a variety of ways.

Eugene Nida (1952, p. 130) gives some examples:

“Peace is the quality of the soul; patience is the behavior of the soul. The Aymara of Bolivia have described patience well by the phrase ‘a waiting heart.’

“The Ngäbere of Panama describe patience in more vivid terms. They say that it is ‘chasing down your temper.’ The impatient person lets his temper run away with him. Patience requires one to “chase down his temper” and get it under control [see also Mairasi down below].

“The Yucateco describe patience as ‘strength not to fall.’ This seems to include almost more than patience, but it is important to note that this Yucateco translation recognizes that impatience means ‘falling.’ For some of us, who tend to take a certain secret pride in our impatience—describing it as energetic drive—it might be well to recognize that impatience is failure, while patience is strength.

“The San Blas Kuna in Panama use a rather strange phrase to depict patience. They say ‘not caring what happens.’ But this is not meant as condoning foolhardy indifference to life and danger. It reflects a kind of reckless confidence in God, a confidence not bred of desperation but of utter reliance. The patient person is not concerned about what happens; he is willing to wait in confidence.”

In Mairasi, the phrase that is employed is “stop (our) anger” (source: Enggavoter 2004) and in Suki “slow careful thinking way” is used (source L. and E. Twyman in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 91ff. )

In Kwang an expression is used that directly translates as “carry one’s head” (source: Mark Vanderkooi right here ), and in Q’anjob’al it is translated with the phrase “large stomach” (source: Newberry and Kittie Cox in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. ).

In Akan, it is typically translated as abodwokyɛre, lit. “chest cool longer.” (Source: Kofi Agyekum in International Journal of Language and Communication 2015, p. 35ff. )

See also Seat of the Mind / Seat of Emotions.

complete verse (Hebrews 6:15)

Following are a number of back-translations of Hebrews 6:15:

  • Uma: “Abraham, he faithfully [lit., remained] believed in God, until he got what he had promised him.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Ibrahim did not become tired/fed-up waiting for God’s covenant/promise therefore he received what God had promised to him.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And as for Abraham, he was very faithful to trust God until God fulfilled His promise to him.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Since Abraham waited patiently, what God promised was fulfilled to him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Abraham really did not get fed up with waiting. He eagerly awaited until what was promised to him arrived.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “When people say that it is true what they are saying, they call upon God to be their witness. When a person has called on God to be his witness, then his friend with whom he is talking cannot say that it is not true in what he said. But God promised a word to Abraham and since no one is greater than God, therefore he used his own name, telling Abraham it is God’s own word that which was said. He said to him: ‘It is true what I say to you, overflowingly I will bless you. I will cause that very much will increase your children,’ he said. But Abraham did not get anxious concerning the word God spoke. Rather he waited, waited until there came the day when it happened according to the word God promised would happen.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Abraham

The name that is transliterated as “Abraham” in English is translated in the vast majority of sign languages, including American Sign Language with the sign signifying “hold back arm” (referring to Genesis 22:12).


“Abraham” in American Sign Language (source )

In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with a sign for that demonstrates his new destiny. Previously, he had been called to wander from his home, and the name “Abram” reflected this movement (see here). The new sign name is in one location and stays there, showing Abraham will be given a land to call his own. At this time, Abraham was in the southern part of Canaan, which is shown on the base arm by the location near the elbow. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)


“Abraham” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

In Tira it is transliterated as Abaram. The choice of this, rather than the widely-known “Ibrahim,” as used in the Tira translation of the Qu’ran, was to offset it against the Muslim transliteration which originates from Arabic. (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )

Click or tap here to see two short video clips about Abraham (source: Bible Lands 2012)

See also our ancestor Abraham and Abram.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Abraham .

Translation commentary on Hebrews 6:15

This verse is linked to its context by the words and so (Revised Standard Version “And thus”). They suggest, not merely the manner in which Abraham received the promises, but the means by which he received them. Most translations agree with Good News Translation in taking the sentence to mean “It was because he was patient (or, endured [see verse 12]) that Abraham received what God had promised.” Jerusalem Bible, however, translates “because of that,” implying the opposite: “It was because of God’s promise [see verses 13-14] that Abraham was patient and saw the promise fulfilled.” This is grammatically possible, but verses 12 and 15 have so much in common that it is natural to take verse 12 as a general principle which verse 15 applies to the particular case of Abraham. Abraham’s patience was not just a stage in time (New American Bible “after patient waiting”); it played an essential part in his finally receiving what God had promised.

Abraham was patient may be expressed as “Abraham was willing to wait.” It may in some cases be necessary to say “Abraham kept on trusting God for a long time.”

The Greek term for received is a more common equivalent of the word translated receive in verse 12. As usual, the writer varies his choice of words. A strictly literal rendering of received may be misleading, since it might wrongly suggest that the promise was an object which God handed to Abraham. A better equivalent may be “what God had promised Abraham happened to him.”

What God had promised (literally “the promise”), here as in verse 12, refers not to the act of promising but to the content of what was promised. The reference is either to Isaac’s birth or to his rescue from death (Gen 22). The word translated received therefore refers to a single past event, unlike the same expression in 11.13, 39, which refers to receiving forever what God had promised.

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Hebrews 6:15

6:15a

And so: The phrase And so means “So,” or “Because of that.”

Abraham, after waiting patiently: In this context the phrase after waiting patiently indicates when Abraham received what God promised him. He received it after he waited patiently. Abraham had to wait many years for God’s promises to be fulfilled. He was seventy-five years old when God first spoke to him (Genesis 12:3–4), and he was one hundred years old when Isaac was born (Genesis 21:5).

Some other ways to translate the phrase are:

Abraham was patient, and so (Good News Translation)
-or-
And so by persevering, Abraham (NET Bible)

6:15b

obtained the promise: The phrase obtained the promise indicates that Abraham received what God promised to give him. The birth of Isaac was a fulfillment of God’s promise. Here is another way to translate this:

And so by persevering, Abraham was given the promise. (NET Bible)

The phrase obtained the promise implies that Abraham received the promise from God, as 6:13 says. In some languages it is more natural to repeat “God” here. For example:

obtained what God promised him
-or-
received the ⌊child whom⌋ God promised to give him

General Comment on 6:15a–b

In some languages it may be natural to translate this verse as a reason and result. For example:

Abraham was patient, and so he received what God had promised. (Good News Translation)
-or-
Abraham waited patiently for this to happen, and he received what God promised. (New Century Version)

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