Lloyd Peckham explains the Mairasi translation: “In secret stories, not knowable to women nor children, there was a magical fruit of life. If referred to vaguely, without specifying the specific ‘fruit,’ it can be an expression for eternity.”
The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated in English as “joy” or “happiness” is translated in the HausaCommon Language Bible idiomatically as farin ciki or “white stomach.” In some cases, such as in Genesis 29:11, it is also added for emphatic purposes.
Other languages that use the same expression include Southern Birifor (pʋpɛl), Dera (popolok awo), Reshe (ɾipo ɾipuhã). (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
The Greek that is typically translated with a generic expressions such as “he who,” “whoever,” or “if anyone” in English is translated with the plural form (“they”) in Daga. “A literal translation of these conveys the idea that one specific unnamed individual is being discussed. Thus, for instance, in John 5:24 ‘he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life’ meant in Daga that there was one fortunate individual to whom it applied.”
Following are a number of back-translations of John 4:36:
Uma: “The people who harvest certainly receive their salary, with the result that the harvesters and the planters will be glad together. The fruit that they harvest, its meaning [is] people who receive good life until forever.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “The people who gather them to bring to me get a good reward. And the people they gather are given life forever. Therefore the ones planting and the ones gathering are equally happy/joyful.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And he who harvests, which is to say, he who caused them to understand so that they might believe in me, God has a reward for him. And those people whom he harvests, they will be given eternal life. Therefore the one who plants the word of God and the one who harvests the fruit of the word of God, they will all rejoice.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Those who harvest, they will be salaried, and the people whom they harvest, they will gain life that has no end. Therefore those who planted (used of rice seedlings) the word of God, they will rejoice-with the harvesters.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Therefore it would be good if you start now to harvest. It’s really assured that God will give a reward for what you will have done, which is to cause people to believe-in/obey me so that life without ending can be theirs. Really far-from-ordinary is the happiness of that harvester, likewise the field-cultivator.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “He who harvests gets a wage. In like manner he who encourages the people so they believe in me will get a wage. And those people who believe in me will have the new life forever. Therefore he who first gives the word and he who encourages the people so they believe in me together will rejoice.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
“Jesus is dressed in a different style of clothing than the style of the woman who is shown as a Lanna Thai northerner. It is unusual for him to talk to a person from a different region, especially a woman. The clothes, the roof of the house in the background, and the dipper for water all indicate that this is in northern Thailand.”
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®).
This verse contrasts the natural crops and the “spiritual crops.” There is an interval of four months between sowing and harvesting natural crops, but it may be that this passage suggests that with the “spiritual crops” the results are immediate. What is emphasized is the joy which both the one who plants and the one who reaps have in common.
Good News Translation makes explicit the object of the verb reaps (that is, the harvest), which is unexpressed in Greek. Gathers the crops for eternal life is literally “gathers fruit for eternal life,” but the use of the plural crops is more natural in English than the singular “fruit.” In this context the crops are people who believe, while the phrase for eternal life means “that these people who believe may have eternal life.” However, though the sense of the imagery that Jesus uses may be explained in this way, it is usually unwise to remove the metaphor (“demetaphorize”) when translating. Here, as in other passages of John, the imagery is so closely tied to the event to which it refers that to “demetaphorize” in translation may require so much reworking as to go beyond the legitimate limits of translation.
The phrase the man who reaps the harvest may be translated as more or less equivalent to “the man who harvests” or “the man who cuts the grain” or even “the man who brings the grain in from the field.” The choice of a term or phrase will depend upon the most natural way of speaking about harvesting in the language concerned.
The passive expression is being paid may be made active by indicating the agent, who would be God, that is, “God pays the man who harvests.” However, the introduction of God as the agent of the paying may be misunderstood. It may be better to use a so-called pseudo-passive, for example, “receive pay,” since the pay the harvester receives is essentially eternal life. Here reaping the harvest and gathering the crops refer to the same process.
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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