The Greek that is typically translated as “eternity,” “forever,” or “forever and ever” in English are translated in Mairasi as “mashed out infinitely.” Lloyd Peckham explains: “Bark cloth required pounding. It got longer and wider as it got pounded. Similarly, life gets pounded or mashed to lengthen it into infinity. Tubers also get mashed into the standard way of serving the staple food, like the fufu of Uganda, or like poi of Hawaii. It spreads out into infinity.” (Source: Lloyd Peckham)
In Lisu the phrase “forever and ever” is translated as ꓕꓲꓽ ꓞꓲꓼ ꓕꓲ ꓑ — thi tsi thi pa, verbatim translated as “one – lifetime – one – world.” This construction follows a traditional four-couplet construct in oral Lisu poetry that is usually in the form ABAC or ABCB. (Source: Arrington 2020, p. 57f.)
In Makonde it is often translated as navyaka or “years and years.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
Following are a number of back-translations of Hebrews 7:17:
Uma: “For in the Holy Book it is written like this: ‘You are a priest forever, like the work of Melkisedek long ago.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “It is written hep in the holy-book, it says, ‘You will be priest taking-the-place-of Malkisadik and your priesthood will have no end.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For there is a written word of God where God is talking to him saying, ‘You are a priest whose priesthood is forever because it’s like the priesthood of Melchizedek.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Because that which God caused-to-be-written concerning him says, ‘You (sing.) are a priest forever like the priesthood of Melkizedek.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Because this is what the writing testifies concerning him, ‘As for you, you will be priest without ending like the high/important priesthood of Melquisedec.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Because God himself said that he would be priest when he said: ‘You are priest forever. You will take up the work at which the priest Melchizedek worked,’ he said to him.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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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 third person singular and plural pronoun (“he,” “she,” “it” and their various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. While it’s not uncommon to avoid pronouns altogether in Japanese, there are is a range of third person pronouns that can be used.
In these verses a number of them are used that pay particularly much respect to the referred person (or, in fact, God, as in Exodus 15:2), including kono kata (この方), sono kata (その方), and ano kata (あの方), meaning “this person,” “that person,” and “that person over there.” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
The key text is quoted again, this time as a whole and in the right order (unlike 6.20). Revised Standard Version‘s literal “it is witnessed” means “Scripture witnesses” as in verse 8, rather than “God witnesses” as in King James Version and Knox, though the two ideas are closely linked. Compare 10.15 , where the verb is used in the same sense (though in the active voice) of the Holy Spirit’s witness in Scripture.
For the scripture says may be rendered as “For in the holy writings one may read.”
You will be a priest forever, in the priestly order of Melchizedek may be expressed as “You will always be a priest of the kind that Melchizedek was” or “… like Melchizedek was.”
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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