complete verse (John 7:49)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 7:49:

  • Uma: “Only the common people believe him, because they do not know the Law of Musa. May they be cursed!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Those are the ones who believe in him, those crowds because they are ignorant as to what it says in the law of Musa. Therefore God’s wrath is on them.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “These many people who follow him, they don’t understand our law. They will be thrown into Hell,’ they said.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “As for those many-people who have believed, they know nothing about our law. In-the-future indeed (prophetic formula) God will punish them,’ they said.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “The only ones who believe-in/obey him are the mass of those common-folk who have no knowledge at all of our (incl.) laws. Isn’t it indeed so that as for those people, God has sworn to punish them?'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But those people who believe in him do not know the law and they are the people who will be punished.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

law

The Greek that is translated in English as “Law” or “law” is translated in Mairasi as oro nasinggiei or “prohibited things” (source: Enggavoter 2004) and in Noongar with a capitalized form of the term for “words” (Warrinya) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

In Yucateco the phrase that is used for “law” is “ordered-word” (for “commandment,” it is “spoken-word”) (source: Nida 1947, p. 198) and in Central Tarahumara it is “writing-command.” (wsource: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

See also teaching / law (of God) (Japanese honorifics).

Translation commentary on John 7:49

This crowd is no doubt equivalent to the rabbinical phrase “the people of the land,” used to describe the masses of the people, as opposed to the “students of the law.” As a rule this expression had derogatory connotations.

The Law of Moses is literally “the Law.” It is extremely important that the reader be made to see that the religious law, not the law of the state, is referred to. Some translators try to make this information explicit by translating “law” with a capital “L,” but this device is of no help to those who only hear the Scripture read.

So they are under God’s curse is literally “they are under a curse,” but obviously God’s curse is referred to, and Good News Translation makes this information explicit. Other translations attempt to do this in other ways. Note, for example, New American Bible “they are lost anyway!”; Phillips “is damned anyway!”; Jerusalem Bible “they are damned.” It is important that the reader recognize that this curse is not imposed by the authorities or by the Pharisees, and that it is not such a curse as one experiences in voodoo, for example.

In order to render the term curse it is necessary in some languages to say “to cause people to be destroyed by God,” for when a person curses another, he calls upon God to destroy such an individual. It is, of course, impossible for God to curse in the sense of putting a person under God’s curse. The closest equivalent may simply be “God will destroy them anyway” or “God will cause them to perish.”

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 .