salvation

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The Greek, Latin and Hebrew that is translated with “salvation” (or “deliverance”) in English is translated in the following ways:

  • San Blas Kuna: “receive help for bad deeds” (“this help is not just any kind of help but help for the soul which has sinned)
  • Northwestern Dinka: “help as to his soul” (“or literally, ‘his breath'”) (source for this and the one above: Nida 1952, p. 140)
  • Central Mazahua: “healing the heart” (source: Nida 1952, p. 40)
  • Tzeltal: col: “get loose,” “go free,” “get well” (source: Marianna C. Slocum in The Bible Translator 1958, p. 49f. )
  • Aari: “the day our Savior comes” (in Rom 13:11) (source: Loren Bliese)

in Mairasi its is translated as “life fruit” or “life fruit all mashed out.” Lloyd Peckham explains: “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.” And for “all masked out” he explains: “Bark cloth required pounding. It got longer and wider as it got pounded. Similarly, life gets pounded or mashed to lengthen it into infinity. Tubers also get mashed into the standard way of serving the staple food, like the fufu of Uganda, or like poi of Hawaii. It spreads out into infinity.” (See also eternity / forever)

In Lisu a poetic construct is used for this term. Arrington (2020, p. 58f.) explains: “A four-word couplet uses Lisu poetic forms to bridge the abstract concrete divide, an essential divide to cross if Christian theology is to be understood by those with oral thought patterns. Each couplet uses three concrete nouns or verbs to express an abstract term. An example of this is the word for salvation, a quite abstract term essential to understanding Christian theology. To coin this new word, the missionary translators used a four-word couplet: ℲO., CYU. W: CYU (person … save … person … save). In this particular case, the word for person was not the ordinary word (ʁ) but rather the combination of ℲO., and W: used in oral poetry. The word for ‘save’ also had to be coined; in this case, it was borrowed from Chinese [from jiù / 救]. These aspects of Lisu poetry, originally based on animism, likely would have been lost as Lisu society encountered communism and modernization. Yet they are now codified in the Lisu Bible as well as the hymnbook.”

In the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) it is translated with chipulumutso which is used to refer to an act of helping someone who is in problems but cannot help him/herself come out of the problems because of weakness. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

See also save and save (Japanese honorifics) / salvation (of God) (Japanese honorifics).

forgive, forgiveness

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The concept of “forgiveness” is expressed in varied ways through translations. Following is a list of (back-) translations from some languages:

  • Tswa, North Alaskan Inupiatun, Panao Huánuco Quechua: “forget about”
  • Navajo (Dinė): “give back” (based on the idea that sin produces an indebtedness, which only the one who has been sinned against can restore)
  • Huichol, Shipibo-Conibo, Eastern Highland Otomi, Uduk, Tepo Krumen: “erase,” “wipe out,” “blot out”
  • Highland Totonac, Huautla Mazatec: “lose,” “make lacking”
  • Tzeltal: “lose another’s sin out of one’s heart”
  • Lahu, Burmese: “be released,” “be freed”
  • Ayacucho Quechua: “level off”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “cast away”
  • Chol: “pass by”
  • Wayuu: “make pass”
  • Kpelle: “turn one’s back on”
  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “cover over” (a figure of speech which is also employed in Hebrew, but which in many languages is not acceptable, because it implies “hiding” or “concealment”)
  • Tabasco Chontal, Huichol: “take away sins”
  • Toraja-Sa’dan, Javanese: “do away with sins”
  • San Blas Kuna: “erase the evil heart” (this and all above: Bratcher / Nida, except Tepo Krumen: Peter Thalmann in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 25f.)
  • Eggon: “withdraw the hand”
  • Mískito: “take a man’s fault out of your heart” (source of this and the one above: Kilgour, p. 80)
  • Western Parbate Kham: “unstring someone” (“hold a grudge” — “have someone strung up in your heart”) (source: Watters, p. 171)
  • Hawai’i Creole English: “let someone go” (source: Jost Zetzsche)
  • Cebuano: “go beyond” (based on saylo)
  • Iloko: “none” or “no more” (based on awan) (source for this and above: G. Henry Waterman in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 24ff. )
  • Tzotzil: ch’aybilxa: “it has been lost” (source: Aeilts, p. 118)
  • Suki: biaek eisaemauwa: “make heart soft” (Source L. and E. Twyman in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 91ff. )
  • Warao: “not being concerned with him clean your obonja.” Obonja is a term that “includes the concepts of consciousness, will, attitude, attention and a few other miscellaneous notions” (source: Henry Osborn in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 74ff. See other occurrences of Obojona in the Warao New Testament.)
  • Martu Wangka: “throw out badness” (source: Carl Gross)
  • Mairasi: “dismantle wrongs” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Nyulnyul: “have good heart” (source )
  • Kyaka: “burn the jaw bones” — This goes back to the pre-Christian custom of hanging the jaw bones of murdered relatives on ones door frame until the time of revenge. Christians symbolically burned those bones to show forgiveness which in turn became the word for “forgiveness” (source: Eugene Nida, according to this blog )
  • Koonzime: “remove the bad deed-counters” (“The Koonzime lay out the deeds symbolically — usually strips of banana leaf — and rehearse their grievances with the person addressed.”) (Source: Keith and Mary Beavon in Notes on Translation 3/1996, p. 16)
  • Ngbaka: ele: “forgive and forget” (Margaret Hill [in Holzhausen & Ridere 2010, p. 8f.] recalls that originally there were two different words used in Ngbaka, one for God (ɛlɛ) and one for people (mbɔkɔ — excuse something) since it was felt that people might well forgive but, unlike God, can’t forget. See also this lectionary in The Christian Century .
  • Amahuaca: “erase” / “smooth over” (“It was an expression the people used for smoothing over dirt when marks or drawings had been made in it. It meant wiping off dust in which marks had been made, or wiping off writing on the blackboard. To wipe off the slate, to erase, to take completely away — it has a very wide meaning and applies very well to God’s wiping away sins, removing them from the record, taking them away.”) (Source: Robert Russel, quoted in Walls / Bennett 1959, p. 193)
  • Gonja / Dangme: “lend / loan” (in the words of one Dangme scholar: “When you sin and you are forgiven, you forget that you have been forgiven, and continue to sin. But when you see the forgiveness as a debt/loan which you will pay for, you do not continue to sin, else you have more debts to pay” — quoted in Jonathan E.T. Kuwornu-Adjaottor in Ibadan Journal of Religious Studies 17/2 2010, p. 67ff. )
  • Kwere: kulekelela, meaning literally “to allow for.” Derived from the root leka which means “to leave.” In other words, forgiveness is leaving behind the offense in relationship to the person. It is also used in contexts of setting someone free. (Source: Megan Barton)
  • Merina Malagasy: mamela or “leave / let go (of sin / mistakes)” (source: Brigitte Rabarijaona)

See also this devotion on YouVersion .

sin

The Hebrew and Greek that is typically translated as “sin” in English has a wide variety of translations.

The Greek ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō) carries the original verbatim meaning of “miss the mark” and likewise, many translations contain the “connotation of moral responsibility.”

  • Loma: “leaving the road” (which “implies a definite standard, the transgression of which is sin”)
  • Navajo (Dinė): “that which is off to the side” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: kasalan, originally meaning “transgression of a religious or moral rule” and in the context of the Bible “transgression of God’s commandments” (source: H. van der Veen in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 21ff. )
  • Kaingang: “break God’s word”
  • Bariai: “bad behavior” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Sandawe: “miss the mark” (like the original meaning of the Greek term) (source for this and above: Ursula Wiesemann in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 36ff., 43)

In Shipibo-Conibo the term is hocha. Nida (1952, p. 149) tells the story of its choosing: “In some instances a native expression for sin includes many connotations, and its full meaning must be completely understood before one ever attempts to use it. This was true, for example, of the term hocha first proposed by Shipibo-Conibo natives as an equivalent for ‘sin.’ The term seemed quite all right until one day the translator heard a girl say after having broken a little pottery jar that she was guilty of ‘hocha.’ Breaking such a little jar scarcely seemed to be sin. However, the Shipibos insisted that hocha was really sin, and they explained more fully the meaning of the word. It could be used of breaking a jar, but only if the jar belonged to someone else. Hocha was nothing more nor less than destroying the possessions of another, but the meaning did not stop with purely material possessions. In their belief God owns the world and all that is in it. Anyone who destroys the work and plan of God is guilty of hocha. Hence the murderer is of all men most guilty of hocha, for he has destroyed God’s most important possession in the world, namely, man. Any destructive and malevolent spirit is hocha, for it is antagonistic and harmful to God’s creation. Rather than being a feeble word for some accidental event, this word for sin turned out to be exceedingly rich in meaning and laid a foundation for the full presentation of the redemptive act of God.”

In Warao it is translated as “bad obojona.” Obojona is a term that “includes the concepts of consciousness, will, attitude, attention and a few other miscellaneous notions.” (Source: Henry Osborn in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 74ff. ). See other occurrences of Obojona in the Warao New Testament.

Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the Danish Bibelen 2020, comments on the translation of this term: “We would explain terms, such that e.g. sin often became ‘doing what God does not want’ or ‘breaking God’s law’, ‘letting God down’, ‘disrespecting God’, ‘doing evil’, ‘acting stupidly’, ‘becoming guilty’. Now why couldn’t we just use the word sin? Well, sin in contemporary Danish, outside of the church, is mostly used about things such as delicious but unhealthy foods. Exquisite cakes and chocolates are what a sin is today.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )

See also sinner.

complete verse (Luke 1:77)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 1:77:

  • Noongar: “and you will tell his people this: God will save their lives when he forgives their sinning.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “You (sing.) will be the one who tells the people the way/path so that God gives them salvation/goodness andforgives their sins.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “You are the one to tell his people so that they know that if their sins are already forgiven they are saved.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “You will cause them to understand that they will be given life without end if they beg for forgiveness from God.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “You (sing.) will tell his people that they can be saved if their sins are forgiven.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For you will teach his people the path of salvation/freedom and forgiveness of their sins.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Luke 1:77

Exegesis:

tou dounai gnōsin sōtērias tō laō autou ‘to give knowledge of salvation to his people,’ either explains hetoimasai, or is parallel with it, preferably the former.

gnōsis (also 11.52) ‘knowledge,’ always with a religious connotation.

sōtēria ‘salvation,’ here in a religious sense as the subsequent clause shows.

en aphesei hamartiōn autōn ‘in the forgiveness of their sins’; autōn refers to the individual members of the laos ‘people.’ The phrase goes either with dounai gnōsin sōtērias or with sōtērias only, preferably the latter; this means that salvation consists in the forgiveness of sins.

aphesis ‘release from captivity’ (4.18), ‘remission of debt,’ hence ‘forgiveness’ in the sense of ‘the act of forgiving.’

hamartia ‘sin,’ in the plural ‘sinful actions’; in Luke hamartia occurs always in connexion with forgiveness or forgiving and hence refers to the guilt of sin.

Translation:

To give knowledge of salvation to his people. One or both of the verbal nouns may have to be changed into a verb, e.g. ‘to make known to his people salvation,’ ‘to cause his people to know that they are saved’; or in the active voice with appropriate adjustments ‘to cause his people to know (or, to tell his people) that the Lord saves them.’ For his people, i.e. ‘the Lord’s people,’ ‘the people the Lord rules,’ cf. above on v. 68.

In the forgiveness of their sins. The preposition serves here to introduce that in which salvation consists, that which is the contents of salvation. This can often be expressed by equating ‘salvation’ and ‘forgiveness’; hence, ‘(that is,) forgiveness…,’ ‘which is forgiveness…’ (Tagalog); or, using a verbal clause, ‘that their sins are forgiven’ (Balinese), ‘that is, he has forgiven them their sins’ (Kituba). Idiom may require minor syntactic shifts without appreciable difference of meaning, e.g. ‘to forgive a person’s sins,’ ‘to forgive a person who has sinned,’ ‘to forgive (his) sins to a person,’ ‘to forgive a person as to (his) sins.’ The verb occurs also in 7.42f, in the sense of ‘to cancel debts,’ and in 6.37 (for Gr. apoluō) with a juridical connotation ‘to acquit/to set free.’

Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Luke 1:77

1:77

This verse tells the means by which John will prepare the people for the Lord. In some languages you may need to make this connection more explicit. For example:

⌊You will prepare his people for him by⌋ giving them the knowledge of salvation

In other languages you may leave this connection implied and choose whether to begin a new sentence here. For example:

You will give them the knowledge of salvation
-or-
giving his people the knowledge of salvation

to give to His people the knowledge of salvation: The expression to give to His people the knowledge of salvation implies two things:

(a) John would tell the people about God coming to save his people through the Christ.

(b) John would lead the people to experience God saving them.

Some English versions translate only the idea of (a). However, it is good to translate in a way that implies both (a) and (b). For example:

⌊You will do this⌋ by leading his people to know/experience salvation.
-or-

⌊You will tell⌋ his people about salvation and help them be saved.

See save in the Glossary (see the note on salvation).

salvation through the forgiveness of their sins: The phrase through the forgiveness of their sins expresses the way in which God would save his people from judgment and punishment. He would save them by forgiving them for their sins.

forgiveness of their sins: In this context the phrase forgiveness of their sins refers to God choosing not to punish people for the evil/wrong things that they have done and thought. God cancels their guilt and treats them as though they had never offended him.

Some ways to translate forgiveness of their sins are:

release from their sins
-or-
taking away their sins
-or-
canceling their sins/guilt

In some languages it may be necessary to translate the noun forgiveness with a verb. Some ways to do this are:

pardon their sins
-or-
cancel their sins

In many languages there may be an idiom for this. For example:

erase their sins/guilt
-or-
wiping away their sins

In some languages it is more natural to say “forgive people,” rather than to “forgive sins.” For example:

forgive ⌊people⌋ for their sins

See forgive in Key Biblical Terms.

sins: The word sins refers to offenses against God or another person. These sins include acts, thoughts, and attitudes that are not what God wants or approves. A person can also offend God by not doing what God wants him to do.

Try to translate sins with a general term that can include any wrongdoing against God. Here are problems to avoid:

(a) The term should not imply that only serious crimes such as murder or stealing are sins. Other offenses such as gossip and greed are also sins.

(b) The term should not include accidents or mistakes that are not against God’s will.

Some ways to translate sins are:

wrong acts
-or-
offenses ⌊against God⌋
-or-
evil deeds

In some languages it may be natural to translate sins with a phrase that includes a verb. For example:

wrong things that they have done

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