The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “neighbor” in English is rendered into Babatana as “different man,” i.e. someone who is not one of your relatives. (Source: David Clark)
In North Alaskan Inupiatun, it is rendered as “a person outside of your building,” in Tzeltal as “your back and side” (implying position of the dwellings), in Indonesian and in Tae’ as “your fellow-man,” in Toraja-Sa’dan it is “your fellow earth-dweller,” in Shona (translation of 1966) as “another person like you,” in Kekchí “younger-brother-older-brother” (a compound which means all one’s neighbors in a community) (sources: Bratcher / Nida and Reiling / Swellengrebel), in Mairasi “your people” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Mezquital Otomi as “fellow being,” in Tzeltal as “companion,” in Isthmus Zapotec as “another,” in Teutila Cuicatec as “all people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), and in most modern German translations as Mitmensch or “fellow human being” (lit. “with + human being”).
In Matt 19:19, Matt 22:39, Mark 12:31, Mark 12:33, Luke 10:27, Luke 10:29 it is translated into Ixcatlán Mazatec with a term that refers to a person who is socially/physically near. Ixcatlán Mazatec also has a another term for “neighbor” that means “fellow humans-outsiders” which was not chosen for these passages. (Source: Robert Bascom)
In Noongar it is translated as moorta-boordak or “people nearby” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “neighbor” or “relative” in English is translated in the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) and the Buku Lopatulika translation (1922/2018) with just one word: nansi. This word can also be translated as neighbors whom you share a blood relation with because in Chewa context a community is mostly comprised of people of blood relations. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 15:3:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“and out of his mouth does not come slanderous words,
who does no harm to his neighbor
or spread bad rumor about his fellow human,” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“who does not go on maligning others,
who does not keep on causing pain to the hearts of his neighbors
who does not go on lying about his friends,” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“He/she does- not -make-up-accusations-against/slander others,
and he/she does- not -do or speak bad to his fellowman.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Eastern Bru:
“And he who doesn’t affix blame to others. And he who doesn’t do bad things to his friend. And he who does not speak badly about others.” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
Laarim:
“a person who has no slander,
and person who does not treat his neighbor badly,
and a man who does not insult his friend,” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“ambaye hawaongopei watu,
ambaye hamtendei mabaya mwenzake,
ambaye hamteti jirani yake.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“and they do not slander others.
They do not do to others things that are wrong, and they do not say bad things about others.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
(3) The next qualification for entering the Temple has to do with slander, spreading malicious gossip or speaking ill of others. Tongue represents the organ of speech, and it is not necessary to say literally in English (as does Revised Standard Version) slander with his tongue. In some languages, however, the literal phrase may be quite effective. The verb translated “to slander” occurs rarely; some think it has here the meaning “to spy on” (so Briggs). Slander is sometimes expressed idiomatically as “taking away people’s names,” “saying bad words about people” or “putting dirt on people’s backs.”
(4-5) The next two qualifications use two synonymous terms, friend and neighbor, both referring to fellow Israelites in general.
Does no evil has the broadest sense possible of “does no harm to,” “does nothing bad to.”
The term friend presents certain problems for the translator in some languages. In many face-to-face societies a person forms few if any associations on an entirely voluntary basis. One’s friends are nearly always kinsmen and are designated by the appropriate kinship term. Therefore it is sometimes necessary to say “he does no harm to the people he goes about with” or “he does not injure people who work beside him.”
Reproach (Good News Translation “rumors”) translates a word meaning taunt, scorn, contempt. Dahood has “slur”; New English Bible “tells no tales against”; Bible en français courant “does not insult”; New Jerusalem Bible “casts no discredit on.” From the meaning of the verb takes up in line c, New Jerusalem Bible gets a different sense altogether: “or borne a reproach for [his acts toward] his neighbor,” that is, he has never so acted against his neighbor as to have been reproached for it. This does not seem very likely.
Neighbor is expressed idiomatically in some languages as “younger-brother-older-brother,” referring to everyone in the community.
In translation it is important that it be clear that each passage after verse 1 is a reply to the original question. In some languages a string of replies to a single question will require markers to show that the replies are the response unit of the discourse. In some cases this may be done by using two section headings; for example, the first, “Who may worship God?” and the second inserted before verse 2, “This is the person who may worship God.” In some languages careful use of connectives will be required between the responses, to give more cohesion to the response unit; for example, “He must be a person who obeys God … and in addition does what is right, moreover what he says must be true and sincere, furthermore he is a person who does not slander other people….” In some languages the tying together of the response unit may be done by inserting at several points something equivalent to “and this also….”
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
The following are presentations by the Psalms: Layer by Layer project, run by Scriptura . The first is an overview, the second an introduction into the poetry, and the third an introduction into the exegesis of Psalm 15.
John Wu Ching-hsiung (1899-1986) was a native of Ningbo, Zhejiang, a renowned jurist who studied in Europe and the United States, and served as a professor of law at Soochow University, as a judge and the Acting President of the Shanghai Provisional Court, and as the Vice President of the Commission for the Drafting of the Constitution of the Republic of China, before becoming the Minister of the Republic of China to the Holy See. Wu has written extensively, not only on law but also on Chinese philosophy, and has also written his autobiography, Beyond East and West, in English. Wu was a devout Catholic and had a personal relationship with Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975). Wu began translating the the Psalms in 1938, and was encouraged by Chiang to translate the entire New Testament, which he corrected in his own handwriting. (…) John Wu Ching-hsiung’s translation of the Psalms (first draft in 1946, revised in 1975) was translated into Literary Chinese in the form of poetic rhyme, with attention paid to the style of writing. According to the content and mood of the different chapters of the original psalm, Wu chose Chinese poetic forms such as tetrameter, pentameter, heptameter [4, 5 or 7 syllables/Chinese characters per stanza], and the [less formal] Sao style, and sometimes more than two poetic forms were used in a single poem. (Source: Simon Wong)
John Wu Ching-hsiung himself talks about his celebrated and much-admired (though difficult-to-understand) translation in his aforementioned autobiography: (Click or tap here to see)
“Nothing could have been farther from my mind than to translate the Bible or any parts of it with a view to publishing it as an authorized version. I had rendered some of the Psalms into Chinese verse, but that was done as a part of my private devotion and as a literary hobby. When I was in Hongkong in 1938, I had come to know Madame H. H. Kung [Soong Ai-ling], and as she was deeply interested in the Bible, I gave her about a dozen pieces of my amateurish work just for her own enjoyment. What was my surprise when, the next time I saw her, she told me, “My sister [Soong Mei-ling] has written to say that the Generalissimo [Chiang Kai-shek] likes your translation of the Psalms very much, especially the first, the fifteenth, and the twenty-third, the Psalm of the Good Shepherd!”
“In the Autumn of 1940, when I was in Chungking, the Generalissimo invited me several times to lunch with him and expressed his appreciation of the few pieces that he had read. So I sent him some more. A few days later I received a letter from Madame Chiang [Soong Mei-ling], dated September 21, 1940, in which she said that they both liked my translation of the few Psalms I had sent them. ‘For many years,’ she wrote, ‘the Generalissimo has been wanting to have a really adequate and readable Wen-li (literary) translation of the Bible. He has never been able to find anyone who could undertake the matter.’ The letter ends up by saying that I should take up the job and that ‘the Generalissimo would gladly finance the undertaking of this work.’
“After some preliminary study of the commentaries, I started my work with the Psalms on January 6, 1943, the Feast of the Epiphany.
“I had three thousand years of Chinese literature to draw upon. The Chinese vocabulary for describing the beauties of nature is so rich that I seldom failed to find a word, a phrase, and sometimes even a whole line to fit the scene. But what makes such Psalms so unique is that they bring an intimate knowledge of the Creator to bear upon a loving observation of things of nature. I think one of the reasons why my translation is so well received by the Chinese scholars is that I have made the Psalms read like native poems written by a Chinese, who happens to be a Christian. Thus to my countrymen they are at once familiar and new — not so familiar as to be jejune, and not so new as to be bizarre. I did not publish it as a literal translation, but only as a paraphrase.
“To my greatest surprise, [my translation of the Psalms] sold like hot dogs. The popularity of that work was beyond my fondest dreams. Numberless papers and periodicals, irrespective of religion, published reviews too good to be true. I was very much tickled when I saw the opening verse of the first Psalm used as a headline on the front page of one of the non-religious dailies.”
A contemporary researcher (Lindblom 2021) mentions this about Wu’s translation: “Wu created a unique and personal work of sacred art that bears the imprint of his own admitted love and devotion, a landmark achievement comparable to Antoni Gaudi’s Basilica of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain. Although its use is still somewhat limited today, it continues to attract readers for the aforementioned qualities, and continues to be used in prayers and music by those who desire beauty and an authentic Chinese-sounding text that draws from China’s ancient traditions.”
The translation of Psalm 15 from the 1946 edition is in pentameter and the rhyme scheme is -an (the 1946 edition did not have verse numbers either):
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