The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and Latin that is translated as “justice” in English is translated in American Sign Language with a sign that describes the quality or principle of fairness, righteousness, and impartiality in treating other people. A literal back-translation of the signs are “FOLLOW(God is implied) ACTIONS, DECISIONS JUST-RIGHT”. A more idiomatic back-translation would be: “actions and decisions are right/fitting/just in accordance to God’s will.” The movement in the signs itself helps to indicate that this is a noun, not a verb. (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Justice” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
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. )
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.”
Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the DanishBibelen 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. )
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)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 29:21:
Kupsabiny: “God shall put an end to those people who falsely accuse others, those who protect/shield the people who have made mistakes and do not do justice to people who are righteous.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Any person who is giving blame to people by talking, and in court, catches the other party in a trap, and when making judgment on one who has no guilt, by giving false witness causes false verdict [lit. far from justice].” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “including all who accuses which is not true, the ones who scheme so-that the judges be-convinced, and the witnesses who lie so-that the innocents will- not -be-given justice.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Those who testify falsely in order to persuade judges to punish innocent people will vanish/disappear. Similar things will happen to those who by lying in court persuade judges to make unjust decisions.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The description of the evil people mentioned in the previous verse continues here. These people undermine truth and justice. The prophet often speaks about administering justice (see, for example, 1.23; 9.7; 11.3-4).
Who by a word make a man out to be an offender: These evil people give false testimony in court, so that innocent people are declared guilty. By a word refers to their false testimony. For this line New Revised Standard Version has “those who cause a person to lose a lawsuit,” and New International Version says “those who with a word make a man out to be guilty.” Good News Translation simply has “those who slander others,” but this rendering gives no hint that a judicial process is involved.
And lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate: The evil people also entrap those who administer justice. The figurative expression lay a snare means “deceive” in this context. Him who reproves in the gate refers to a judge. New Revised Standard Version says “the arbiter in the gate” (similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). The Hebrew verb rendered reproves speaks of judging and correcting as well as of making decisions that affect others. This takes place in the gate. The city gate was the main place in an ancient city where political and economic business was conducted and where legal disputes were settled (see Ruth 4.1-12 for an example). For a description of the city gate, see the comments on 3.26. Revised English Bible renders gate as “court,” which may be misleading to modern readers if they imagine some large building in town. In any case, the gate itself is not in focus here, but the passing of judgment there, so in the gate may be rendered “in the city.” Good News Translation does not refer to the gate at all, which is acceptable.
And with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right: The evil people also lie in court, so that innocent people do not receive justice. This line is literally “and they turn aside with confusion a just one.” The Hebrew word rendered an empty plea means “confusion” (see 24.10, where it is rendered “chaos”). They cause confusion in the court to deny justice to innocent people. It could be done by lying witness, as Good News Translation suggests. The verb turn aside refers to denying or preventing justice here (compare 10.2).
Some translation examples for this verse are:
• These evil people slander others by what they say about them in court,
they set a trap for those who administer justice in the town,
and they use lying words to prevent the innocent receiving justice.
• With one word in court these evil people make others appear to be sinners,
they deceive those administering justice at the city gate,
and by lying they deny justice to the innocent.
Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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