world (Chinese)

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “world” in English is translated in Mandarin Chinese with shìjiè (世界). While shìjiè is now the commonly used term for “world” in Chinese, it was popularized as such by Chinese Bible translations. (Source: Mak 2017, p. 241ff.)

See also world.

listen / pay attention

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “listen” or “pay attention” or something similar in English is translated in the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) with the idiom tcherani khutu, literally “you set ear.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

gentiles / nations

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė)) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).

Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).

In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

See also nations.

complete verse (Isaiah 34:1)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 34:1:

  • Kupsabiny: “Come (plur.) near so you can see oh you nations.
    Listen you people.
    Let the world/land and everything
    that is inside it listen.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “O people of the nations,
    come before me and listen carefully,
    O People, pay attention!
    May the earth and all who live there hear.
    May the world and everything in it hear.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “You (plur.) nations, you (plur.) come and listen carefully. The whole world and all that is in it listen.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Isaiah 34:1

All four lines of this verse are parallel, but they are grouped in two pairs.

Draw near, O nations, to hear, and hearken, O peoples: The nouns nations and peoples both refer to non-Israelites here (see 11.10). The verbs Draw near … to hear and hearken summon these people to gather around the prophet and listen to him.

Let the earth listen, and all that fills it; the world, and all that comes from it: The verb listen serves both these lines. Some translations may need to repeat it in the last line. The earth … and all that fills it and the world, and all that comes from it refer to every living thing on the earth. The unusual Hebrew noun translated that comes from it comes from a root meaning “to come out.” It is a poetic way of referring to living things as though they are the world’s offspring. For earth see 2.19; for world see 13.11.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• You nations, come close and hear;
you peoples, listen up.
Let the earth and everything in it listen;
let the [created] world and all that it produces take notice.

• Come close and hear, you [foreign] nations;
pay attention, you peoples.
May the earth and everything that fills it listen;
may the world and everything it produces take notice.

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 .