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 (Nehemiah 6:13)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Nehemiah 6:13:

  • Kupsabiny: “They thought they would be able to frighten me so that I would commit a sin and follow his words, and then accuse me and I would get a bad name/reputation.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “They just want to frighten me and do/make sin by following what Shemaya said, so-that they will-put- me -down and spoken-evil-of/make-bad to the people.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “They had paid-him-a-wage to frighten me so-that I would sin if I followed that and my honor would be ruined and I would be-shamed.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • English: “They had bribed him to cause me to be afraid. They wanted me to disobey God’s commands and sin by hiding in the temple. If I did that, they would be able to ruin my reputation and discredit me.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Nehemiah 6:13

He was hired: Good News Translation changes the form of the verb from passive to active and restructures the verse to be more natural English. One translation has “they paid him.”

Be afraid … act in this way … sin: Three verbs are used in the Hebrew to express the results that Tobiah and Sanballat wished to achieve. First they wanted to cause him to be scared, they wanted to “intimidate” him (so New International Version). They hoped that because of his fear he would obey the suggestion of Shemaiah. This would result in accomplishing the primary purpose of their plot, which was to make Nehemiah sin by hiding illegally in the Temple. To sin is to do something evil in God’s sight by disobeying God’s commandments.

So they could give me an evil name: Sinning would ruin Nehemiah’s reputation (see Deut 22.19). This would be especially true if he were put to death for his action. For the Jews, it was one’s name that reflected or represented one’s reputation. It was very humiliating for one’s name to be spoiled or for one’s reputation to be “discredited” (so New Living Translation). The Hebrew says literally “so that it would be for them for a bad name,” but the meaning is as Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation have interpreted it. Some languages may use an expression like “to spoil one’s name” or “to sell one’s name.” They refers to Tobiah and Sanballat. In some languages this would be a third person dual reference because the pronoun refers specifically to two persons.

In order to taunt me: In Hebrew the word rendered taunt can mean to laugh at or to mock, but here it means to “discredit” (New International Version) or to “humiliate” (Good News Translation). Traduction œcuménique de la Bible translates it with the sense that they would make him into a blasphemer. See also the comments on taunt at Neh 4.4; 5.9.

Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Nehemiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .