The Greek that is translated in English as “the light” is translated in John 1:8 in Alekano as “the father of light,” in Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac as “the true light,” and in Tenango Otomi as “that one who opens the hearts of the people.”
Matt Taylor (in The PNG Experience ) describes the process of finding the correct term for the presently prepared Nukna translation of John:
“We’ve been working on the Nukna translation of the book of John, and recently came to Jesus’ famous statement in John 8:12, ‘I am the light of the world.’ As we discussed how to best translate this metaphor, we realized that there was a problem. There is a Nukna word for light — yam — but it’s not possible to say just yam by itself. Light always has a source, and grammatically that source must be included, either by mentioning the actual source or by using a possessive pronoun — ‘its light,’ ‘their light,’ etc. It would be ungrammatical to just say ‘light.’ ( This grammatical feature is known as ‘inalienable possession.’) To literally translate ‘I am the light of the world’ into Nukna would lead to an unacceptable Nukna sentence.
“One idea we’ve had is to use a common source of light that the Nukna people are familiar with: the bamboo torch. The Nukna people live in a remote area without electricity. To see at night, they often light up a species of bamboo named kup. Kup burns with a blazing brightness, and a long piece can be held as a torch, enabling a person to walk at night around the otherwise pitch black village. So in Nukna, Jesus’ words would read, ‘I am like a bamboo torch [kup] that shines its light to the world.’
“Our translation team needs to do further testing to see if this figure of speech is communicating accurately and powerfully. Please pray for us, that God would guide us as we seek to communicate this concept, as well as many others, into the Nukna language in a dynamic and life-changing way. ‘It’s like the light of a bamboo torch shining in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.’ (John 1:5).”
Likewise, Mungaka also uses “torch” (source: Nama 1990).
The Greek that is translated as “world” in English is translated as “all the people who sleep in all the places of the earth” in Samo (source: Shaw / Van Engen 2003, p. 178) or “world people” in Lisu (source: Cooke 1947, p. 29).
Following are a number of back-translations of John 1:9:
Yatzachi Zapotec: “The light of God has arrived in this world, to enter into the hearts of mankind; and it shines for all of them.”
Huehuetla Tepehua: “The one who is the true one, who can give understanding, came here to this earth. He gives understanding to the minds of all men.”
Alekano: “The father of light, who enlightens the people all over, appeared and remained on earth.”
Lalana Chinantec: “The rays of the real Light were beginning to shine, causing the path on which all men walk to become lit.” (Source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
Uma: “That Word, He was the true light that shone on the hearts of all people, He arrived in the world.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “This true light, that means the Word, has come here already to the world giving light to the thoughts/minds of all mankind.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “At that time Christ arrived here on the earth, that true light. He is the one who illumines the minds of all mankind.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “The proper/real light, it was the one who came to the earth to go illuminate (the particle ‘go’ is commonly used with verbs of motion such as ‘come’) the minds of all people.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “That one who really is this light, who gives light to all people, he was now arriving here under the heavens/sky.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “That one who came to the earth is truly the one who opens the hearts of the people.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Jesus-Christ is the one who is the true light that arrived here in the world and lightens/enlightens the mind/thinking of all the people.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Mairasi: “That is the true Light which already arrived in this world to brighten people.” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)
Bariai: “And the true light which gives light to all people, that’s just was descended and came to the earth.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
Kupsabiny: “That light of truth came to the world so that it could bring light to every person.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
Scholars are divided in their opinions of the relation between this verse and the previous and following verses. Some make it the conclusion of the paragraph begun in verse 6 (Good News Translation, New English Bible, New American Bible, Moffatt), while others place it at the beginning of the following paragraph (Phillips, Goodspeed, Jerusalem Bible, Revised Standard Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). On the other hand, the UBS Greek New Testament makes verses 6-13 into one paragraph. Two arguments favor placing verse 9 as a continuation of the paragraph begun in verse 6, rather than as the beginning of a new paragraph. First, verses 1-5 reflect a kind of poetic structure, which is picked up again in verse 10. From the viewpoint of the sentence structure, therefore, verse 9 fits more naturally with the prose of verses 6-8. Secondly, as the commentators point out, the pronominal reference in verse 10 (Greek “he”; Good News Translationthe Word) is the Word (see New English Bible alternative rendering), and not “the light.” It would seem, therefore, that it is better to place verse 9 with verses 6-8.
Another problem of translation in this verse grows out of the observation that the Greek text may be punctuated in two different ways. These alternatives are represented (1) in the Good News Translation text (the light that comes into the world and shines on all mankind) and (2) in the alternative rendering given in certain editions of Good News Translation (the light that shines on all men who come into the world). Most modern commentators and translators accept as their first choice the rendering represented in the Good News Translation text. Although both renderings are grammatically possible, at least two reasons favor this interpretation: (1) In the context the focus is on light, and not on mankind. (2) John elsewhere speaks of Jesus as “coming into the world” (6.14; 9.39; 11.27; 16.28), and in 12.46 Jesus says “I have come into the world as light”; but nowhere in John’s Gospel are men spoken of as “coming into the world.”
The adjective translated real (Moffatt, Goodspeed, New English Bible, New American Bible) refers to that which is real or genuine, as opposed to that which does not exist or is an imitation of that which is authentic. Elsewhere in John’s Gospel this adjective appears in 4.23,37; 6.32; 7.28; 8.16; 15.1; 17.3; and 19.35.
The precise connotation of the verb rendered shines on is difficult to determine. A number of translations understand it in the sense of “to enlighten” (Moffatt, Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible). It can have this meaning (see Eph 1.18; Heb 6.4; 10.32), but generally those who interpret the present passage in this fashion presuppose a Hellenistic background for the prologue of the Gospel. Two considerations oppose this interpretation. (1) Nowhere else in John’s Gospel is it implied that all men are given a divine illumination; in fact, it is often explicitly stated that men do not recognize the truth when it comes to them, and it requires a special act of God’s grace for them to become his children. (2) Elsewhere in this Gospel the function of light is “to show men up for what they are,” that is, to bring men under God’s judgment (see especially 3.19-21; see also Paul’s use of this word in 1 Cor 4.5). Most translators prefer either to remain ambiguous (Good News Translation, Phillips; and so it seems Goodspeed “sheds light upon”), or to render with the force of “to enlighten” (New American Bible “gives light to”; Anchor Bible also appears to go in this direction).
A number of translational problems are associated with verse 9. In the first place, there is a shift of tense between “this was the real light” and the explanation concerning the light, that it “comes into the world” and “shines on all mankind.” The first clause must often be rendered “this light is the real light,” in which the subject becomes a specific identification of the “light” just mentioned in verse 8. The rendering of “real” as a qualification of “light” is difficult, since a literal translation would suggest to many readers that it was a physical light: that is, a torch or lamp. In reality, John is using “light” in a spiritual sense, and therefore it may be necessary to translate “This light was surely true.” On the other hand, some languages express genuineness by a negation, for example, “There is nothing at all false in this light.”
Certain complications appear when one speaks about “the light coming into the world.” It might be interpreted almost exclusively in the sense of “the dawning of the morning.” In the present context, the “coming” is not so much the arrival of the light in the physical world as its coming to mankind. It may be appropriate, therefore, to translate the final qualifications of light as “the light that comes to the people in the world and shines on all of them.”
It is essential to understand the expression all mankind in the sense of “all people.” A translation of “men” which might be interpreted as not including women should certainly be avoided.
In some languages it is not sufficient to say shines on all mankind, which would imply merely the light of a lamp or a torch shining on people. The emphasis here is that people are caused to see the light, and so in some languages one may render the final expression in verse 9 as “causes all men to see the light.”
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 .
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