There is no word in Khanty that directly corresponds to the concept of “love.”
In one of the two Bible translation projects (see here ) for which so far (2025) Genesis, Jonah, Luke, and Acts have been translated, mosty (мосты) with the primary meaning of “to be needed” or “to be necessary” was often used when translating the Greek agapao (ἀγαπάω) and the Hebrew aheb (אָהַב) — “love” in English — and the Greek agapétos (ἀγαπητός) — “beloved” in English.
Interestingly, the same word is also used in verses like Luke 7:2 for the Greek entimos (ἔντιμος) or “value highly” or in Luke 20:17 and Acts 4:11 where the “cornerstone” is the “necessary stone.”
In the other translation project in Khanty, the gospel of Mark has been translated (see here ). Here the translators have used vŏłanga săma (вŏԓаӈа сăма), meaning “important” or “pleasant to the heart” when referring to love.
Following is a Ukrainian Orthodox icon of the Transfiguration by Ivan Rutkovych (c. 1650 – c. 1708) (for the Church of Christ’s Nativity in Zhovkva, Ukraine, today in the Lviv National Museum).
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 are a number of back-translations of Luke 9:35:
Noongar: “A voice spoke from the cloud, ‘This is my son, the one I send. Hear him!'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “They heard a speaker from inside the cloud that said: ‘This He is my Child whom I chose. Listen to his words!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “And there was a voice from inside the cloud saying, ‘This is my child whom I have chosen. Listen to him.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And they heard someone suddenly talking, coming from the cloud, ‘This is the one I have chosen to rule — my son; you listen to his words.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Then there was a voice from the clouds which said, ‘This is my child whom I have chosen. Listen to what he says.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “And then there was a voice which seemed to come from the cloud, which said, ‘This is my Son whom I chose to send/entrust. Listen to him well.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and one for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains in the following way: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In both languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
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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.
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®).
houtos estin ho huios mou ho eklelegmenos ‘this is my son, the chosen one,’ cf. on 3.22. Here it is a proclamation in the third person, intended for those present, i.e. for the disciples.
eklelegmenos ‘chosen,’ equivalent to eklektos (cf. 23.35), and both a Messianic title (cf. also Is. 42.1 LXX).
Translation:
For a voice came … see on 3.22.
My Son, my Chosen, or, ‘my Son, the One I have chosen,’ ‘my Son whom I have chosen’ (cf. Balinese, Sranan Tongo). The appositional or relative construction has explicative, not distinctive or restrictive meaning, cf. on “your wife Elizabeth” in 1.13. For to choose cf. on 6.13.
For to listen cf. on “to hear” in 1.41.
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.
And: This verse begins with a Greek conjunction that is often translated as “and.” Some English versions, such as the Berean Standard Bible, English Standard Version, and Revised Standard Version, translate it that way. Some other versions, including the NET Bible, New Living Translation (2004), and New Revised Standard Version, translate it as “Then,” since it introduces the next event in the story. Several other versions, including the Contemporary English Version, Good News Translation, New Century Version, and New International Version, do not translate this conjunction. Introduce this next event in a natural way in your language.
a voice came from the cloud, saying: In some languages it may not be natural to say that a voice “came.” Other ways to translate this are:
There was a voice from the cloud that said -or-
They heard a voice that came from the cloud
The voice was the voice of God. In some languages it may be more natural to say that God was speaking rather than that his voice came. For example:
⌊God⌋ spoke from the cloud, and he said… -or-
⌊They heard God⌋ speaking from the cloud. He said…
9:35b
This is My Son, whom I have chosen: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as This is My Son, whom I have chosen is literally “This is my Son, the chosen one.” The Berean Standard Bible has supplied the information that it was God who chose Jesus.
God chose Jesus in the sense that he appointed Jesus for a special purpose. Only Jesus could fulfill that purpose, because he is God’s only Son. Your translation should not imply that God selected Jesus from among many other sons. Some other ways to translate this clause are:
This is my Son, my Chosen One (New Living Translation (2004)) -or-
This is my Son. He is the one whom I have appointed
My Son: Here the words My Son indicate that Jesus has the same nature as God and that he comes from God. They also indicate that the relationship between God and Jesus, his Son, is similar in some way to the relationship of human fathers and sons. God does not have a physical body, and he did not create/produce Jesus the way a human father produces a son. Jesus existed eternally as the Son with his Father.
In some areas people may not understand the way My Son is used in this context. If that is true in your area, you may wish to include a footnote. For example:
God is the Father of Jesus the Son in a different way than human males are fathers of their sons. The Bible uses the word Son to express the fact that Jesus has the same nature as God. It also indicates that the relationship between God and Jesus, his Son, is similar in some way to the relationship of human fathers and sons.
The word Son, referring to the Son of God, first occurs in Luke in 1:32b.
In languages where there is no single word for Son, many translators have used a more general expression, such as:
my child -or-
my male child
If you decide to use “my male child,” be sure that this expression does not imply that God had another child who was female.
whom I have chosen: In some languages it may be necessary to specify the purpose for which God chose his Son. If that is true in your language, try to use a general expression. For example:
chosen ⌊by Me⌋ ⌊to do My will⌋ (Translator’s Reference Translation)
9:35c
Listen to Him!: This is a command addressed to the three disciples. The Greek text emphasizes the word Him. Jesus the Messiah was the one they should listen to, in contrast to Moses and Elijah. Show this emphasis in a natural way in your language. Some ways to do this in English are:
he is the one to whom you should listen -or-
listen to him alone/only
Listen: The verb Listen implies obeying as well as hearing. If people in your area would not understand that the word Listen implies “obey,” you may want to include this implied information. For example:
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