bronze

The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “bronze” in English is translated in Newari as “bell-metal,” since bells are made of bronze in Nepal (source: Newari Back Translation).

See also bronze vessel.

righteous, righteousness

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:

  • Bambara, Southern Bobo Madaré, Chokwe (ululi), Amganad Ifugao, Chol, Eastern Maninkakan, Toraja-Sa’dan, Pamona, Batak Toba, Bilua, Tiv: “be straight”
  • Laka: “follow the straight way” or “to straight-straight” (a reduplicated form for emphasis)
  • Sayula Popoluca: “walk straight”
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl, Kekchí, Muna: “have a straight heart”
  • Kipsigis: “do the truth”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “do according to the truth”
  • Huautla Mazatec: “have truth”
  • Yine: “fulfill what one should do”
  • Indonesian: “be true”
  • Navajo (Dinė): “do just so”
  • Anuak: “do as it should be”
  • Mossi: “have a white stomach” (see also happiness / joy)
  • 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)
  • Central Subanen: “wise-good” (source: Robert Brichoux in OPTAT 1988/2, p. 80ff. )
  • Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “live well”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “goodness before the face of God” (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl: “the result of heart-straightening” (source: Nida 1947, p. 224)
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “entirely good” (when referred to God), “do good” or “not be a debtor as God sees one” (when referred to people)
  • Carib: “level”
  • Tzotzil: “straight-hearted”
  • Ojitlán Chinantec: “right and straight”
  • 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)
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun: “having sin taken away” (Source: Nida 1952, p. 144)
  • Nyamwezi: wa lole: “just” or “someone who follows the law of God” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Venda: “nothing wrong, OK” (Source: J.A. van Roy in The Bible Translator 1972, p. 418ff. )
  • 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)
  • “did what he should” (Eastern Highland Otomi)
  • “a clear man, good [man]” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004)

See also respectable, righteous, righteous (person), devout, and She is more in the right(eous) than I.

complete verse (Isaiah 60:17)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 60:17:

  • Kupsabiny: “I shall bring you gold instead of bronze
    and I shall bring you silver instead of metal/iron.
    I shall bring you bronze instead of wood
    and I shall bring you iron instead of rocks.
    I shall give you peace to go before you/lead you
    and righteousness shall rule over you.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “I will bring gold instead of bronze, and silver instead of iron.
    I will bring bronze instead of wood and iron instead of stone.
    [I] will make your kingdom peace and
    your ruler righteousness.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “I will-change the materials of your (sing.) temple: the bronze I will-change to gold, the irons I will-change to silver, the woods I will-change to bronze, and the stones I will-change to iron. And the peace and righteousness will-supersede you (plur.).” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.

Translation commentary on Isaiah 60:17

As in verse 15, the Hebrew preposition tachat opens this verse. Here it is rendered Instead of and used four times to mark each of the changes that are to come. In each example a more precious material replaces a less valuable one, symbolizing changes for the better. Some commentators understand these promises in a literal sense. For them this verse refers to the valuable materials that will be used to build a new Temple more grand than Solomon’s Temple that was destroyed. However, the promises here are general and translators should not mention the Temple or its construction.

Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver: God will replace less valuable metals with precious ones. As noted above, this symbolizes the better future that God’s people can expect. For bronze and iron, see the comments on 45.2. There is some poetic logic in the replacements, since both bronze and gold are similar in color, and so are iron and silver. If the receptor language does not distinguish bronze and iron, translators may use other common metals if they are of less value than gold and silver.

And instead of wood, bronze, instead of stones, iron: The verb phrase I will bring, which is used twice in the first two lines, is implied in both these lines as well. God will also replace wood and stones with the more valuable materials bronze and iron.

I will make your overseers peace and your taskmasters righteousness is a figurative expression that means God will replace oppression with peace and righteousness. The Hebrew term for overseers can be used in both a positive and negative sense for leaders, but the word for taskmasters always has a negative sense, referring to those who oppress (see 3.12, where it is rendered “oppressors”). The word taskmasters recalls the Exodus story, where it is used to refer to the Egyptians who oppressed the Israelites (see, for example, Exo 3.7). In this context both terms refer to leaders who use their authority to oppress others. The irony in these two lines is obvious: the future oppressive leaders of God’s people will be peace (see 26.12) and righteousness (see 1.21). These positive qualities will be typical of God’s people in place of oppression. Good News Translation renders these two lines nonfiguratively with the future leaders of Judah in focus by saying “Your rulers will no longer oppress you; I will make them rule with justice and peace.” For translators who have difficulty conveying the implications of the figurative language here, Good News Translation is a useful model. Bible en français courant provides another possible model with “The authority and the power that I will establish in your midst, it is peace and justice.”

Translation examples for this verse are:

• Instead of bronze I will bring you gold,
and instead of iron I will bring you silver;
instead of wood you will have bronze,
and instead of stones you will have iron.
Peace will become your overlord,
righteousness will become your master.

• I will bring gold to replace bronze,
and silver to replace iron;
I will give you bronze to replace wood,
and iron to replace stones.
I will make peace and righteousness
to become your masters.

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 .