The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, and Greek that is translated in English typically as “obedience” or “obey” is translated in Tepeuxila Cuicatec as “thing hearing,” because “to hear is to obey.” (Source: Marjorie Davis in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 34ff. )
In Huba it is translated as hya nǝu nyacha: “follow (his) mouth.” (Source: David Frank in this blog post )
In Central Mazahua it is translated as “listen-obey” and in Huehuetla Tepehua as “believe-obey” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), and in Noongar as dwangka-don, lit. “hear do” (source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).
The Greek that is translated as “sinner” in English is translated in various ways:
“people with bad hearts” (“it is not enough to call them ‘people who do bad things,’ for though actions do reflect the heart, yet it is the hearts with which God is primarily concerned — see Matt. 15:19“) in Western Kanjobal
“people who are doing wrong things in their hearts” in San Blas Kuna (source for this and above: Nida 1952, p. 148)
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 5:19:
Uma: “Adam, he did not submit to God’s command, with the result that many people became sinners. So also Yesus, he submitted to God’s command, and because of that submitting of his, many people become/became straight in God’s sight.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Because of one man’s not following God’s command, that’s why all human beings are sinful. But because of one person’s following God’s command, that’s why all mankind can be considered straight by God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Because of the transgression of just one person, many were made sinners; but also because of one person, Jesus Christ, who obeyed what God wanted Him to do, many people can be considered by God as righteous.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Because due to one person’s not obeying what God said, all people became inherent-sinners. But also because of one person’s obedience to God, all who believe become righteous.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Adam did not do what God told him and thus very many people ended up being sinners. But Jesus Christ did what he was told and now very many people are subject to having God clear them.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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:
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)
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)
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)
As in verse 15, so here many men is equivalent in meaning to “all men.”
Were made translates the same verb used in Acts 7.27 (who made you ruler and judge?). It is best understood in the sense of “make (someone) to be (something).” The phrase were made sinners has its parallel in will be put right with God (Revised Standard Version “will be made righteous”). It is important to understand the context in which Paul is speaking. He looks upon Adam as the father of the human race and the one who introduced sin into the world. From this perspective many men were made sinners as the result of the disobedience of one man. Paul does not intend to imply that men are held responsible for the sin that Adam committed, as is made clear by looking at the other aspect of Paul’s thought in this verse. Paul also affirms that in the same way many will be put right with God as the result of the obedience of the one man. In the same way that Adam is looked upon as being the head of the old human race, so Christ is the head of the new humanity. And as Adam’s disobedience brought sin into the world and made it possible for every man to sin, so Christ’s obedience makes it possible for every man to be put right with God. Yet Adam’s sin not only introduced sin into the world, but it meant that all of his descendants were born into a race which had separated itself from God. So then, when Paul says that many men were made sinners as the result of the disobedience of one man, he has in mind two things: (1) Adam is the one who brought sin into the world, and (2) all men are descendants of Adam and are born into a race of people who are already separated from God. Jesus Christ stands in sharp contrast to Adam: by his obedience to God Jesus Christ brought “righteousness” into the world and so made it possible for every man to be put right with God.
The phrases as the result of the disobedience of one man and as the result of the obedience of the one man must both be transformed into clauses of cause in many languages—for example, “and just as people because sinners because one man disobeyed God, in the same way God puts people right with himself because the one man obeyed God.” It may be necessary to specify that “the one man” is “Jesus Christ.”
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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