The Greek that is often translated as “trespass” or “transgression” in English is translated as “missing the commandment” in Kipsigis and “to step beyond the law” in Navajo (Dinė). (Source: Bratcher / Nida 1961)
In Tepeuxila Cuicatec it is translated as “thing not reached.” Marjorie Davis (in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 34ff. ) explains: “[This] implies that the goal was not reached, the task was not finished, or of finished, it was not satisfactorily done. According to the Cuicateco way of thinking of one does not what is expected of him, he offends [or: trespasses] and is an offence.”
The Greek in Romans 11:12 that is translated in English as “full inclusion” or similar is translated as “return to their place” in Isthmus Zapotec, as “be called back by God” in Tzeltal, as “when they believe well” in Central Tarahumara, as “when God reinstates them” in Yatzachi Zapotec, and as “when they again become many who believe” in Chicahuaxtla Triqui. (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “world” in English is translated in Mandarin Chinese with shìjiè (世界). While shìjiè is now the commonly used term for “world” in Chinese, it was popularized as such by Chinese Bible translations. (Source: Mak 2017, p. 241ff.)
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė)) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).
Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).
In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 11:12:
Uma: “Most of the Jews were rebellious/rejecting and they are not God’s portion. And from there many non-Jews over the whole world got big blessings from God. So how much more will be the blessedness of the contents of the world if/when the Jews repent and return to God!” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “If the Yahudi nation is sinning and God is rejecting them turns out (mole’) to the good of the nations not Yahudi, really much more good will come to the not Yahudi when the Yahudi return to God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “So by means of the disobedience of the Jews, which is their not believing, God has blessed with good all mankind. And by means also of the fact that God’s blessing to the Jews had been removed from them, how greatly God has shown to the people who aren’t Jews, His kindness. And if that’s the case, how much greater will be the good which the people who aren’t Jews will receive at the time in the future when the Jews return to their believing.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Let us consider this then: if the collective-people on this earth were exceedingly blessed on account of the sin of the Jews and their loss (i.e. what they lost), surely they will be even-more blessed when/if the proper number of Jews will be saved.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “In that the Jews separated from God, there came about that all the people are not Jews all over the world encountered God’s blessing. But when there comes the day when also the Jews will believe in Christ, God overflowingly will bless all the people all over the world.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Following the demands of English discourse structure, the Good News Translation once again makes a pronominal reference explicit (of the Jews is literally “of them”). Moreover, as with the previous sentence, so here also a verb must be supplied from the context (Good News Translationbrought; Revised Standard Version “means”; An American Translation* takes the noun “riches” and transforms it into a verb “has so enriched”).
In a number of languages one cannot speak of a noun such as sin “bringing rich blessings.” However, sin can be expressed as a cause—for example, “because the Jews sinned, rich blessings have come to the world” or “because the Jews sinned, other people in the world have experienced so many good things.”
The Greek word rendered spiritual poverty in the Good News Translation is difficult to translate literally. Elsewhere in the New Testament it occurs only in 1 Corinthians 6.7 with the meaning of “failure” or “defeat.” The Revised Standard Version renders the word by “failure” and the New English Bible by “falling-off.” An American Translation* chooses the word “false step” and Moffatt “defection”; the Jerusalem Bible translates by two words “fall and defection.” Most commentators see in this word the meaning of “defeat,” while others point out that the basic idea in this context is “smaller” or “less.” If this last viewpoint is taken, the word may refer either to the small number of Jews who are saved or, as the Good News Translation interprets it, to their spiritual poverty.
As in the first clause of verse 12, there is also relation of cause and effect between spiritual poverty and the fact of “bringing rich blessings.” One may translate, therefore, as “because the Jews were spiritually poor, the Gentiles enjoyed rich blessings” or “because the Jews failed, rich blessings came to the Gentiles.”
The King James Version represents a rather literal rendering of the last part of this verse: “how much more their fulness?” Paul is arguing from the lesser to the greater, and so the phrase “how much more” must be taken as a reference to rich blessings in the previous line. This then is the logic for the Good News Translation rendering: How much greater the blessings will be.
The meaning of the word “fulness” is also disputed. Some take this as a reference to a time when the Jews will completely do the will of God (see 13.10). However, most commentators and modern translators understand it in the sense of the complete number of Jews who will finally be included in God’s salvation (Moffatt “what will it mean when they all come in”; An American Translation* “how much more good the addition of their full number will do”; New American Bible “how much more their full number”).
The final exclamation in verse 12 may be rendered as a strong affirmation in the form “the blessings will even be much greater when all the Jews are included” or “… when the number of those who experience salvation includes all the Jews.”
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 .
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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