save

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The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as a form of “save” in English is translated in Shipibo-Conibo with a phrase that means literally “make to live,” which combines the meaning of “to rescue” and “to deliver from danger,” but also the concept of “to heal” or “restore to health.”

Other translations include:

  • San Blas Kuna: “help the heart”
  • Laka: “take by the hand” in the meaning of “rescue” or “deliver”
  • Huautla Mazatec: “lift out on behalf of”
  • Anuak: “have life because of”
  • Central Mazahua: “be healed in the heart”
  • Baoulé: “save one’s head”
  • Guerrero Amuzgo: “come out well”
  • Northwestern Dinka: “be helped as to his breath” (or “life”) (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida),
  • Matumbi: “rescue (from danger)” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Noongar: barrang-ngandabat or “hold life” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • South Bolivian Quechua: “make to escape”
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl: “cause people to come out with the aid of the hand” (source for this and one above: Nida 1947, p. 222)
  • Bariai: “retrieve one back” (source: Bariai Back Translation)

See also salvation and save (Japanese honorifics).

complete verse (Jeremiah 46:27)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 46:27:

  • Kupsabiny: “God continued to say,
    ‘Do not be afraid you my people,
    do not be afraid you people of Israel.
    I will rescue you to get up from that faraway land,
    your descendants coming from that land where you are prisoners.
    You will go to live in peace so that you are safe/guarded,
    and no one shall frighten you any other day.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘But you (plur.) Israelinhon who are-descendants of my servant Jacob, do- not -be-afraid or be-nervous. For I will- surely -save you (plur.) from the far place where you were taken-captive. You will-live again in peace and without disaster, and no one will-cause- you (plur.) -to-be-terrified.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “But you people of Israel who serve me,
    do not be at all dismayed now,
    because some day I will bring you back from distant places;
    I will bring your descendants from the land to which they were exiled.
    Then you Israeli people will again live peacefully and safely,
    and there will not be any nation to cause you to be terrified.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

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 Jeremiah 46:27

For this verse, compare 30.10, which is almost identical.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .