The Greek, Latin and Hebrew that is translated as “envy” or “envious” in most English translations is, according to Nida (1952, p. 134), translated into Tzeltal and Tabasco Chontal in the following manner:
“Envy is bred of covetousness and self-centeredness. The Tzeltals, who recognize a covetous man as having a ‘small heart,’ say that an envious person has ‘a greedy heart.’ ‘Small hearts’ and ‘greedy hearts’ go together, and the soul shrinks in direct proportion to its greediness. The envious person is never satisfied, for he can never keep step with his own insatiable ego.
“The Chontal Indians, living in the low, swampy delta land of Tabasco in southern Mexico, regard envy in a more subtle way. They say of the man who is envious of his neighbor, ‘He did not want to see his neighbor.’ This describes the end result of envy. People cannot bear to see others enjoying the privileges which they insist should be their own. The envious man has acquired such a self-directed stare that he cannot take his eyes off self to see another’s enjoyment.”
In Central Mazahua is is translated as “jealous of each other, their fellow people,” in Sayula Popoluca as “hate those who have something” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), in Matumbi as sukya, which means “envy” but also “hate” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext), and in Kupsabiny as “blackstomached” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation).
The term that is translated as “hypocrisy” in English versions is translated with a term in Oxchuc Tzeltal that means “two hearts,” in Central Pame “two mouths” (source: Nida 1952, p. 150), and in San Miguel El Grande Mixtec “having two heads” (source: Nida 1947, p. 150).
Kituba uses a specialized idiom for “hypocrisy”: “eye under leaf” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel) and in the Mandarin ChineseUnion Version the four-character phrase jiǎmào wéi shàn (假冒为善 / 假冒為善), lit. “impersonate for good” is used (source: Zetzsche).
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated in English typically as “gossip” or “whisperer” is translated in Tepeuxila Cuicatec as “speak-hide against people.” (Source: Marjorie Davis in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 34ff. )
In Tarok it is translated as anung awarwar or “a licking mouth.” (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
The Greek that is translated as “wickedness” or similar in English is translated as “delight in doing things against people” in Yatzachi Zapotec. (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 1:29:
Uma: “Many kinds of sin and thoughts that are not straight are in their hearts. They are greedy, evil their behavior, jealous, want to murder, quarrel, deceive, hateful,” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Their livers are filled with different-kinds of sin and whatever is evil/bad. They are covetous and they do bad to their companions. They are always jealous of their companions. They kill. They always fight/quarrel and they deceive their companions. They wish that bad things happen to their companions. They are always gossiping.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The only thing they think about is wickedness and evil behavior. They are selfish and their behavior is filthy. They are full of envy; they murder; they quarrel with each other; they tell lies; they harm their companions, they gossip.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “They continually are doing all kinds of evil. They are greedy (lit. grab-after what is not theirs) and envious. They are murderers, quarrelers, tricksters, and they are continually-thinking/planning to treat-their companions -maliciously. They are gossipers,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Concerning these people, their hearts have been grabbed by the evil they walk by. They are adulterers, evil people. They want to increasingly multiply what they own. They are envious. They are murderers, they are wanters of fights, they are deceivers, they are unrestrained.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Similar lists of sins appear in the New Testament at 13.13; 1 Corinthians 5.10, 11; 6.9, 10; 2 Corinthians 12.20, 21; Galatians 5.19-21; etc. The specific sins mentioned do not necessarily represent distinct and separate qualities in each case; in some instances it is obvious that Paul has heaped synonyms together. Nevertheless, the translator must attempt, insofar as possible, to cover all of these areas of sin and wickedness with more or less equivalent terms. For wickedness and evil it may be necessary to employ simply one generic expression equivalent to “badness.”
In a number of languages most of the nouns which identify evil activities must be expressed as verbs, so that greed must be rendered as “they want what others have” and vice as “they engage in badness with one another” or “they cause badness to one another.”
Similarly, jealousy and murder may be translated as “they are very jealous of one another” and “they kill one another.” Fighting is a Greek word which means “strife” or “party spirit,” resulting in sharp argument and dissension. Deceit may be equivalent to “they deceive one another.” Malice is a word which occurs only here in the New Testament and is defined as “the tendency to put the worst construction on everything.” Malice may be rendered in some languages as “they are always thinking the worst of others.”
Gossip may be rendered as “they say bad things about one another.” This is substantially equivalent to the first evil mentioned in verse 30, and the same translation may cover both expressions. In some languages one may have idiomatic expressions for gossip—for example, “they harvest lies” or “they throw lies into the wind,” with the implication that the lies will be carried far and wide.
The word rendered hateful to God (so also New English Bible) appears only here in the New Testament, and may possibly be taken as active: “haters of God” (Revised Standard Version) or “enemies of God” (Jerusalem Bible). Insolent may be rendered as “they insult one another.” Terms such as proud and boastful may be translated in such a way as to indicate the difference between personal attitudes and outward behavior—for example, “in their hearts they think they are great and they are always telling people that they are great” or “their hearts are proud and their words are big.” In some languages pride is expressed in a somewhat idiomatic form: “they think they are chiefs” or “they are always giving themselves power.”
They are immoral is simply a highly generic expression to describe evil, and the word which follows, translated they do not keep their promises, apparently is a play on words with the preceding term. Failure to keep their promises may be rendered as “they do not do what they say they will do” or “they promise but do not perform.” This may be rendered idiomatically in some languages as “they gamble with their words” or “their words have several layers.”
The negative expression they show no kindness or pity may be rendered positively in some languages as “they go on handling others roughly.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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