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 Greek, Latin and Hebrew that is usually translated in English as “truth” is translated in Luchazi with vusunga: “the quality of being straight” (source: E. Pearson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 160ff. ), in Obolo as atikọ or “good/correct talk” (source: Enene Enene), and in Ekari as maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (esp. in John 14:6 and 17; 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. ).
The translation committee of the Malay “Good News Bible” (Alkitab Berita Baik, see here ) wrestled with the translation of “truth” in the Gospel of John (for more information click or tap here):
“Our Malay Committee also concluded that ‘truth’ as used in the Gospel of John was used either of God himself, or of God’s revelation of himself, or in an extended sense as a reference to those who had responded to God’s self-disclosure. In John 8:32 the New Malay translation reads ‘You will know the truth about God, and the truth about God will make you free.’ In John 8:44 this meaning is brought out by translating, ‘He has never been on the side of God, because there is no truth in him.’ Accordingly Jesus ‘tells the truth about God’ in 8:45, 46 (see also 16:7 and 8:37a). Then, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’ becomes ‘I am the one who leads men to God, the one who reveals who and what God is, and the one who gives men life.” At 3:21 the translation reads ” … whoever obeys the truth, that is God himself, comes to the light …’; 16:13a appears as ‘he will lead you into the full truth about God’; and in 18:37 Jesus affirms ‘I came into the world to reveal the truth about God, and whoever obeys God listens to me.’ On this basis also 1:14 was translated ‘we saw his glory, the glory which he had as the Father’s only Son. Through him God has completely revealed himself (truth) and his love for us (grace)’; and 1:17 appears as ‘God gave the law through Moses; but through Jesus Christ he has completely revealed himself (truth) and his love for us (grace).'” (Source: Barclay Newman in The Bible Translator 1974, p. 432ff. )
Helen Evans (in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) tells of the translation into Kui which usually is “true-thing.” In some instances however, such as in the second part of John 17:17 (“your word is truth” in English), the use of “true-thing” indicated that there might be other occasions when it’s not true, so here the translation was a a form of “pure, holy.”
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 59:14:
Kupsabiny: “Truth/justice was moved aside and righteousness is not near. Because truth/justice is suppressed in the compound and the straight/right matter is not allowed to be seen.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Since it’s like this, justice has been pressed back and sent off, righteousness has gone far away, and as for truth [lit.: true matters] it has been stumbling on the roads, that being the case, honesty is not able to enter.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “That is why God still did- not -punish our (incl.) enemies and he still did- not give us (incl.) victory with righteousness. For the truth is nowhere to be found; the people can no-longer be-trusted.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, shirizoke-rare-ru (退けられる) or “dismiss/reject” is used.
In this verse there are strong echoes of verse 9 with the use of the following expressions: Justice, righteousness, and afar off. There is also an interesting structural feature in the Hebrew here. The noun for Justice stands at the end of its clause, followed by the one for righteousness that opens the next clause; likewise, the noun for truth ends its clause, followed by the one for uprightness that begins the next clause. This literary arrangement places focus on the four nouns.
Justice is turned back refers to the people’s failure to act with justice toward others, whereas verse 9 spoke about the absence of God’s justice. The Hebrew verb for is turned is the same one translated “turning away” in the previous verse, but here the adverb back is added. The people reject justice as the basis for settling disputes. For languages that do not use passive verbs, this line may be rendered “We reject justice” or “We refuse to act with justice” (see also the examples below).
Righteousness stands afar off is parallel to the previous line. Here the people admit that they do not act in any way that guarantees the rights of others. Such a principle is far from them—far from their thoughts and far from their actions. The abstract noun righteousness is the subject of an active verb, stands. In many languages this way of speaking may not be acceptable. If so, this line may be rendered “we are far from acting in/with righteousness” or “we in no way act justly.” Good News Translation says “and right cannot come near,” and Bible en français courant has “justice remains inaccessible.”
For truth has fallen in the public squares is a figurative expression that means telling the truth no longer takes place in public life. The Hebrew particle ki rendered for is a logical connector, so this line explains why the people fail to act with justice and fairness. The Hebrew verb rendered has fallen is the same one translated “stumble” in verse 10. Most versions consulted use “stumble” here also. However, for the last two lines of this verse Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “Honesty and uprightness are no more in demand in the marketplace.” The Hebrew word translated public squares refers to the public spaces within towns where legal and business matters were handled (see the comments on 15.3). It may be rendered “marketplaces” (so Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Lies have replaced the truth in the conduct of the community’s business and all aspects of public life. As in the previous line, an abstract noun (truth) is the subject of an active verb (has fallen) here. If this construction is awkward in a language, a possible alternative “we no longer speak truthfully in public places.”
And uprightness cannot enter is parallel to the previous line. The Hebrew word for uprightness refers to what is straight, true and honest (see the comments on 26.10). Uprightness cannot enter is a figurative expression that means the people refuse to let honesty play any part in the way they conduct themselves. They do not act in a consistent, honest and reliable manner. Good News Translation says “and honesty finds no place there,” Revised English Bible has “and honesty is kept outside,” and Contemporary English Version translates “honesty is shoved aside.” See the examples below for possible nonfigurative renderings of this line.
For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:
• We turn aside from justice,
we ensure that righteousness stays far from us;
for truthfulness is not to be found in public places,
and we refuse to act with complete honesty.
• Justice we have rejected,
righteousness we have kept far from us.
Truthfulness in public life is lacking,
and we refuse to act with any honesty.
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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