Peter

Following is a Armenian Orthodox icon of Peter (found in the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shusha, Azerbaijan).

Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )

Following is a hand colored stencil print on momigami of Peter by Sadao Watanabe (1970):

Image taken with permission from the SadaoHanga Catalogue where you can find many more images and information about Sadao Watanabe. For other images of Sadao Watanabe art works in TIPs, see here.

In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “key” (referring to Matthew 16:19). (Source: Tarja Sandholm)


“Peter” or “Cephas” in Finnish Sign Language (source )

In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with the sign for “rock,” referring to the meaning of the Greek word for “Peter.”


“Peter” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

See also Peter – rock.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Peter .

complete verse (John 13:8)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 13:8:

  • Uma: “Petrus said: ‘No, Lord! Don’t wash my feet!’ Yesus said: ‘If I do not wash you (sing.), you (sing.) will have no connection/relationship with me.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Petros said, ‘I will really not let you wash my feet.’ ‘If I do not wash your feet,’ said Isa, ‘you are no longer my disciple.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Peter said, ‘It cannot be that you are the one to wash my feet.’ And Jesus answered, ‘If I do not wash you, you are not my disciple.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Whereupon Pedro said, ‘Don’t, don’t you (sing.) wash my feet.’ But Jesus said, ‘If I don’t wash your (sing.) feet, you (sing.) will also not be counted as my disciple.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Pedro said again, ‘It’s really like it’s not fitting that I let you wash my feet.’ Jesus again said, ‘But if I don’t cleanse you, it’s certain you are not my disciple. You have no share which comes from me.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But Peter said, ‘No. You cannot wash my feet.’ Jesus said, ‘If I do not wash your feet, then you are not my companion then.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi 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 John 13:8

Peter declared (New American Bible “Peter replied”) is rendered “Peter said” in most translations. The Greek verb “to say” covers a wide spectrum of meaning, and Good News Translation gives it the proper shade of meaning in the context.

Never at any time expresses a very strong negation in Greek. Moffatt translates “You will wash my feet never!” (note also Jerusalem Bible “ ‘Never!’ said Peter. ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ ”) In some languages this strong negation is not properly expressed by a future tense, such as “You will never wash.” The closest equivalent would be some expression of necessity, for example, “You must never wash.”

If I do not wash your feet is literally “If I do not wash you.” Most translations here are literal, but the reference is obviously to Peter’s feet, not to his whole body (see verse 9). Good News Translation makes this information explicit.

You will no longer be my disciple is more literally “You have no part with me.” Moffatt renders “you will not share my lot”; Phillips “you cannot share my lot”; Goodspeed “You will have no share with me”; New English Bible “you are not in fellowship with me”; and Jerusalem Bible “you can have nothing in common with me.” New American Bible assumes that the background of the Greek word “part” is to be found in the Hebrew term that describes the God-given heritage of Israel. That is, New American Bible takes the analogy to represent the “heritage” or “share” in the promised land that God gave to the individual tribes. In light of this background, New American Bible translates “you will have no share in my heritage.” Whatever the source of the imagery, Jesus uses these words to affirm that if Peter is not “washed” he will not share in the benefits of Jesus’ death, and so will have no place among God’s people.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .