3Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my coworkers, whose names are in the book of life.
The Greek that is translated “these women” in English, referring to Euodia and Syntyche from the previous verse, was translated in the Mandarin Chinese “Peking Version” translation (publ. 1872) via affixing shì (氏) to Euodia’s and Syntyche’s names. In classical Chinese, shì could notify female gender but was likely obsolete in spoken Chinese in the 19th century already as it is today. When Katharine Bushnell (1855-1946) read this translation after arriving in China as a medical missionary in 1879, she likely didn’t understand shì that way (particularly because the “Nanking Version,”the other Mandarin Chinese translation available then, and the “Delegates Version,” the most common Literary or Classical Chinese version used more transparent translations). Instead she assumed that the gender of Euodia and Syntyche was simply dropped. She herself recounts what happened:
“Finding a sex-biassed translation in the Chinese translation of the Bible, I one day asked a male missionary about it. He said that undoubtedly it was so rendered because of pagan prejudice against the ministry of women. I was shocked. It had never before entered my mind that such a thing could be. This led to my tracing other signs, both in the Chinese and the English Bible, that pointed in the same direction, when I consulted my Greek Testament. Could it be possible that men allowed prejudice to color Scripture translation?” (Source: Katherine Bushnell in A Brief Sketch of Her Life, 1932 ).
This caused Bushnell to “devote [herself] to more careful and critical study of the Greek New Testament, and later, of the Greek Old Testament; and [she] added the study of Hebrew for comparison in the Old Testament” (source: see above), resulting in the highly influential God’s Word to Women, beginning in 1908 and finally as a 100-chapter study in book form in 1921.
Bushnell states in the book: “Supposing women only had translated the Bible, from age to age, is there a likelihood that men would have rested content with the outcome? Therefore, our brothers have no good reason to complain if, while conceding that men have done the best they could alone, we assert that they did not do the best that could have been done. The work would have been of a much higher order had they first helped women to learn the sacred languages (instead of putting obstacles in their way), and then, have given them a place by their side on translations committees.” (God’s Word to Women, p. 146, accessible here )
The Greek “Syzygus” (from “syzyge”) may be a proper name, but this exegesis was not acceptable in Kahua because its equivalent form, Sisiko, means “farting” (source: David Clark) Most English translation translate it as something like “true companion.”
In choosing a word for the Greek that is typically translated as “gospel” in English, a number of languages construct a phrase meaning “good news,” “joyful report” or “happiness-bringing words.” In some instances such a phrase may be slightly expanded in order to convey the proper meaning, e.g. “new good word” (Tzotzil), or it may involve some special local usage:
the Germandas Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022) translates as “all-transformative good news” (alles verändernde gute Botschaft), also “good news”
Vitaly Voinov tells this story about the translation into Rutul (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):
“In Rutul, it was only during the most recent consultant checking session that I realized that the Rutul word for Gospel – Incir (from Arabic إنجيل — Injil) — sounds and looks exactly like the word that means ‘fig’ in Rutul. This is a case of homonymy, in which two completely non-related words from differing historical sources have come to sound exactly alike. Most Rutul speakers know that incir means ‘fig’ because they grow this fruit in their yard or buy it at the market every week. However, because the religious sphere of discourse was heavily disparaged during the Soviet era, most people simply never encountered Incir with the meaning of ‘Gospel.’ This meaning of the word, which Rutuls of the pre-Soviet era knew from the Koran, simply fell into disuse and never had much reason for returning into contemporary Rutul since there is no Christian church established among the people. So if the translator continues to use the term Incir as the rendering for ‘Gospel,’ he runs the risk that most readers will, at best, read the word with a smile because they know that it also means ‘fig,’ and, at worst, will completely misunderstand the word. The seemingly ‘easy’ solution in this case is for the translator to use a Rutul neologism meaning ‘Joyful Message’ or ‘Good News,’ [see above] instead of Incir; but in fact it is not all that easy to make this change if the translator himself insists on using the historical word because at least some Rutuls still understand it as meaning ‘Gospel.’ This is a situation in which the translation team has to gradually grow into the understanding that a fully intelligible translation of Scripture is preferable to one that maintains old words at the cost of alienating much of the readership.”
Following are a number of back-translations of Philippians 4:3:
Uma: “And I ask you (sing.) Sunsugus, my faithful friend, help those two women, so that they no longer are in-disharmony / disagree. While I was still there with you (pl.), they worked hard with me spreading the Good News, with Klemens and also my other companions of one-work. Their names are all written in the Book of Life.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “And you also, my trustworthy companion working for God there, please help those women so that they can agree/live in harmony. Because formerly they really helped me so that the good news (could) spread. They were together with Kelemen and my other companions working for God. All their names are written now by God in the book for listing the names of the people who have life in heaven without end.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And you also, my partner there, I want you to help these women so that they might carry this out because they continued helping me in spreading the Good News; and there was also Clement and some others who helped me; the names of all of them are already written in the book of God where He lists the names of those who have been given life without end.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “You (sing.) also who are my trusted companion, please help these women, for they have been industrious (appreciative particle) in working-with me in my preaching the good news, along with plural Clemente and my other fellow-workers whose names are all in the book in-which-are-written the names of those who have life that has no end.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “And you (sing.), Susugus, my true load-sharer, there is something also that I am asking you to do. Please help these two women to be reconciled now. For as for them, their help to me has been big in my teaching of the Good News. Like Clemente also and others too who help me. I am really sure that their names are written where the names are written of as many as will be given life which is without ending.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “And you, my fellow worker, I ask the favor that you see how you can arrange the word I speak to these women. These women helped me before, there where I spoke the good news. And also Clement helped me along with others of our brothers who helped me to speak the word. The names of these people are written in the book where is written the names of the people who encounter the new life.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The name that is transliterated as “Clement” in English is translated in Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) with a sign that depicts a collaborator in the expansion of the gospel and his name from Greek means “one who is compassionate, merciful and forgiving.” that is, someone who understands others. The sign made is the very sign of “evangelism.” but it was divided between the head (understands and understands forgiveness) and the heart (for being compassionate and merciful). (Source: Aline Martins and Paul Fahnestock)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The concept of “requesting” is translated in the Shinkaiyaku Bible as o-negai (お願い), combining “request” (negai) with the respectful prefix o (お).
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 benefactive construction as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.
Here, agete (あげて) or “do for their sake” is used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
In addition to the direct appeal to these two women, a third person is requested to help them work out a reconciliation. Paul addresses this person as my faithful partner, literally “true yokefellow” (Revised Standard Version). A number of commentators suggest that is possible to take the word partner as a proper name, Syzygos, and the accompanying adjective to mean “true to his name” or “rightly so called.” On the basis of this interpretation Paul would be playing on the meaning of the name. In effect he would be saying: “I ask you, Syzygos, as your name suggests, a faithful partner, …” (Jerusalem Bible “I ask you, Syzygos, to be truly a ‘companion’ ”). It is better, however, to follow the majority of modern translations, including Good News Translation, and to take this expression as a description of an unidentified Christian colleague of Paul (New English Bible “loyal comrade,” Goodspeed “true comrade,” New American Bible “dependable fellow worker”). My faithful partner may be rendered as “you who have joined with me so constantly in the work,” “you have worked with me so well,” or “you on whom I depend so much to help me.”
To help these women (literally, “to help them”) obviously means to assist Euodia and Syntyche to reconcile their differences, and it may be useful (perhaps even necessary) to indicate clearly the expected result of what this faithful partner would do to help these women, for example, “to help these women to agree,” “… to throw away their contrary words,” or “… to forget their arguments.”
For they have worked hard with me to spread the gospel translates a Greek relative clause, literally “inasmuch as they labored with me in the gospel,” giving the reason why they deserve help. The compound word rendered have worked hard appears elsewhere in the New Testament only in 1.27, where it is translated fighting together. It is a word normally used of fighting in war or of a contest in an athletic arena. This metaphorical sense is reflected in several translations, for example, “was fighting to defend” (Jerusalem Bible), “shared my contests” (Bruce). In any case, the basic connotation is hard and strenuous work. The phrase “in the gospel” should be taken in the sense of “for the gospel” (Phillips), “in the cause of the Gospel” (New English Bible), “in promoting the gospel” (New American Bible), or, more explicitly, to spread the gospel (Good News TranslationGoodspeedDie Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). It may be impossible in some languages to speak of “spreading the gospel.” It is, however, almost always possible to say “telling more and more people about the good news.”
Clement, otherwise unknown in the New Testament, is evidently another of Paul’s fellow workers at Philippi (as also Epaphroditus; see 2.25). Together with Clement and all my other fellow workers must be expressed in some languages as a complete sentence, to show clearly that Clement and the other fellow workers were also engaged in spreading the gospel. This sentence may take the form of “Clement and all the other persons who worked with me also told many people about the good news.”
The relative pronoun whose should refer to all those who have been mentioned in verse 3, including the two women (Euodia and Syntyche), Clement, and the other fellow workers. To make this quite clear it may be useful to render this final relative clause as a separate sentence, for example, “The names of all these persons who helped me are in God’s book of the living.” If one does not add the phrase, “those who helped me,” a reader might assume that the reference is to those who heard the good news rather than to those who were so faithful in telling others about the good news.
God’s book of the living is literally “book of life.” The figure may be taken from the ancient practice by which cities kept an official register in which names of its citizens were recorded. It is a common Old Testament symbol for God’s record of the covenant people (cf. Exo 32.22; Psa 69.28; Isa 4.3; Ezek 13.9; Dan 12.1), and so Good News Translation renders explicitly that it is God’s book. In later Judaism and in the New Testament, the expression is used predominantly of the book of the life to come, that is, eternal life, as can be seen in Aramaic phrases of the Hebrew Bible on Isa 4.3 and Ezek 13.9 (see also Rev 3.5; 13.8; 17.8; 20.12, 15; etc.). The same idea is expressed in Luke 10.20 in different words. The word “life” here is not a reference to the abstract principle of life but to the living. The reference may or may not imply that Clement and other fellow workers of Paul are already dead. In either case, the translation is not affected.
A literal rendering of whose names are in God’s book of the living might suggest that this is merely a book of those Christians who were alive at the time since book of the living would be literally translated in many languages as “book concerning those who are alive,” or “book in which the names of those who are living are written down.” In some languages a more satisfactory wording would be “book of those who possess real life,” “book with the names of those who really have life” or “… have true life.” The use of a phrase such as “to have true life” would help to suggest the quality of life which is characteristic of those having so-called “eternal life.” This particular quality of life is expressed in some languages as “have life from God,” “who have been made alive by God,” or “who have come to have a new life through Christ.”
Quoted with permission from Luo, I-Jin. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.