complete verse (Psalm 94:21)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 94:21:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “They gather together contending with the righteous
    and pass judgment that the innocent be killed.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “They gang up against righteous people
    and they sentence innocent people to death.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “They have-become-one to go-against the righteous ones
    and they sentence to-death those (who) have-no sin.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “They stay together hating good people,
    and they judge innocent people to death.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Wanakuwa pamoja kupigana na wanyofu,
    wanakubaliana kuwahukumu wasio na hatia kuuawa.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “They plan to get rid of righteous people, and they declare that innocent people/people who have not done what is wrong must be executed.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

righteous, righteousness

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The Greek, Hebrew, and Latin terms that are translated in English mostly as “righteous” as an adjective or personified noun or “righteousness” (also as “upright(ness)” and “just(ice)”) are most commonly expressed with concept of “straightness,” though this may be expressed in a number of ways. (Click or tap here to see the details)

Following is a list of (back-) translations of various languages:

  • Bambara, Southern Bobo Madaré, Chokwe (ululi), Amganad Ifugao, Chol, Eastern Maninkakan, Toraja-Sa’dan, Pamona, Batak Toba, Bilua, Tiv: “be straight”
  • Laka: “follow the straight way” or “to straight-straight” (a reduplicated form for emphasis)
  • Sayula Popoluca: “walk straight”
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl, Kekchí, Muna: “have a straight heart”
  • Kipsigis: “do the truth”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “do according to the truth”
  • Huautla Mazatec: “have truth”
  • Yine: “fulfill what one should do”
  • Indonesian: “be true”
  • Navajo (Dinė): “do just so”
  • Anuak: “do as it should be”
  • Mossi: “have a white stomach” (see also happiness / joy)
  • Paasaal: “white heart” (source: Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
  • (San Mateo del Mar Huave: “completely good” (the translation does not imply sinless perfection)
  • Nuer: “way of right” (“there is a complex concept of “right” vs. ‘left’ in Nuer where ‘right’ indicates that which is masculine, strong, good, and moral, and ‘left’ denotes what is feminine, weak, and sinful (a strictly masculine viewpoint!) The ‘way of right’ is therefore righteousness, but of course women may also attain this way, for the opposition is more classificatory than descriptive.”) (This and all above from Bratcher / Nida except for Bilua: Carl Gross; Tiv: Rob Koops; Muna: René van den Berg)
  • Central Subanen: “wise-good” (source: Robert Brichoux in OPTAT 1988/2, p. 80ff. )
  • Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “live well”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “goodness before the face of God” (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl: “the result of heart-straightening” (source: Nida 1947, p. 224)
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “entirely good” (when referred to God), “do good” or “not be a debtor as God sees one” (when referred to people)
  • Carib: “level”
  • Tzotzil: “straight-hearted”
  • Ojitlán Chinantec: “right and straight”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “walk straight” (source for this and four previous: John Beekman in Notes on Translation November 1964, p. 1-22)
  • Makonde: “doing what God wants” (in a context of us doing) and “be good in God’s eyes” (in the context of being made righteous by God) (note that justify / justification is translated as “to be made good in the eyes of God.” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Aari: The Pauline word for “righteous” is generally rendered by “makes one without sin” in the Aari, sometimes “before God” is added for clarity. (Source: Loren Bliese)
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun: “having sin taken away” (Source: Nida 1952, p. 144)
  • Nyamwezi: wa lole: “just” or “someone who follows the law of God” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Venda: “nothing wrong, OK” (Source: J.A. van Roy in The Bible Translator 1972, p. 418ff. )
  • Ekari: maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (the same word that is also used for “truth“; bokouto — “enormous” — is being used as an attribute for abstract nouns to denote that they are of God [see also here]; source: Marion Doble in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 37ff. ).
  • Guhu-Samane: pobi or “right” (also: “right (side),” “(legal) right,” “straightness,” “correction,” “south,” “possession,” “pertinence,” “kingdom,” “fame,” “information,” or “speech” — “According to [Guhu-Samane] thinking there is a common core of meaning among all these glosses. Even from an English point of view the first five can be seen to be closely related, simply because of their similarity in English. However, from that point the nuances of meaning are not so apparent. They relate in some such a fashion as this: As one faces the morning sun, south lies to the right hand (as north lies to the left); then at one’s right hand are his possessions and whatever pertains to him; thus, a rich man’s many possessions and scope of power and influence is his kingdom; so, the rich and other important people encounter fame; and all of this spreads as information and forms most of the framework of the people’s speech.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in Notes on Translation 1964, p. 11ff.)
  • German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): Gerechtheit, a neologism to differentiate it from the commonly-used Gerechtigkeit which can mean “righteousness” but is more often used in modern German as “fairness” (Berger / Nord especially use Gerechtheit in Letter to the Romans) or Gerechtestun, also a neologism, meaning “righteous deeds” (especially in Letter to the Ephesians)
  • “did what he should” (Eastern Highland Otomi)
  • “a clear man, good [man]” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004)

See also respectable, righteous, righteous (person), devout, and She is more in the right(eous) than I.

Translation commentary on Psalm 94:20 - 94:21

In the final verses the psalmist sums up his faith in the LORD’s justice: Yahweh is with the righteous and against the wicked. In verse 20, by means of a rhetorical question, the psalmist declares that Yahweh is in no way on the side of “corrupt judges” (Good News Translation), which translates “throne of destruction.” Revised Standard Version takes this to mean wicked rulers, but as Anderson points out, it is more likely that in this context judges are meant (see Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Bible en français courant). For a translation discussion of “corrupt,” see 14.1. The Hebrew phrase translated by Good News Translation as “You have nothing to do with…” is rendered by Biblia Dios Habla Hoy as “you cannot be the friend of…,” which may serve as a better model for many languages. Revised Standard Version mischief (also New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible) does not seem adequate for the Hebrew word, which indicates rather “wrong, disorder, wickedness”; so Good News Translation “injustice.” The Hebrew phrase translated by statute can be taken to mean “against the law,” as Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translates it. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible and Bible en français courant translate “who create misery by flouting the law.” Good News Translation‘s “who make injustice legal” will often have to be shifted to two clauses; for example, “who do things which the law is against” or “who do wrong acts which the law says people should not do.”

In verse 21a band together translates a verb form found only here in the Old Testament, which is defined as “gather together (against).” Against the life implies that they plan to kill him. Condemn the innocent to death translates “condemn innocent blood” (see similar language in 106.38).

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 .