The Hebrew and Greek that is usually translated into English as “peace,” when referring to one’s inner peace, is (back-) translated with a variety of idioms and phrases:
“rest the heart” (Central Mazahua) / “rest within” (Lacandon) (source: Nida 1952, p. 40 and 128ff.) / “wait well in your heart” (Yatzachi Zapotec) (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
The Greek that is often translated as “flesh” in English (when referring to the lower human nature) can, according to Nida (1947, p. 153) “very rarely be literally translated into another language. ‘My meat’ or ‘my muscle’ does not make sense in most languages.” He then gives a catalog of almost 30 questions to determine a correct translation for that term.
The Toraja-Sa’dan translation uses a variety of terms for the translation of the same Greek term (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight)
A form of kale tolinona or “corporeal” is for instance used in Romans 9:5 or Colossians 1:22 (and also in Genesis 6:3 and Exodus 30:32)
A form of mentolinona or “the human” is for instance used in Matthew 16:17 or John 1:14
Phrases that include pa’kalean or “bodiliness” (also: “human shape”) are for instance used in Romans 6:6 or 1 Peter 2:11 (as well as in Isa 52:14, Isa 53:2, and Lamentations 4:7
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 8:6:
Uma: “Whoever follow the evil desires of their heart, that-that always is what they think about. People like that get death that separates them from God. But whoever follow the desire of the Holy Spirit, the desire of the Holy Spirit is what they think about, and they get good life and peace/unity/agreement with God.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “If a person always thinks of following his greedy-desire, eventually he will die and go to hell. But if that is what a person always thinks of following/obeying the will of the Holy Spirit, God will give him everlasting life and his liver is peaceful.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Now if the thing which controls the mind of a person is all the evil desires of his body, he will be punished with death death without end. But if the Holy Spirit is the one who controls his thinking, there will be no end to his life and his relations with God are peaceful.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “The person who obeys his evil desires, those alone are what his mind is concentrated on, and the result is that he will be separated from God forever. But the one who obeys the Holy Spirit, his mind is concentrated on what the Holy Spirit desires, and the result is that his mind will become peaceful while at-the-same-time he enjoys life that has no end.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Therefore those who earnestly do the evil in which people live will go to punishment. But the person who earnestly endeavors to do the will of God is the person who has peace in his heart and is given the new life.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) can be used, as in mi-tama (御霊) or “Spirit (of God)” in the referenced verses.
In this verse Paul gives the outcome of the two ways of life. To have your mind controlled by human nature results in death is literally “the mind of the flesh is death.” There is no verb connecting “flesh” and “death,” and so one has to be supplied from the context. Most translations supply “is” and a number of others supply “means,” while the Good News Translation supplies results in. Although Paul is describing the present condition of the man of faith and of the man who lives apart from faith, his focus of attention seems to be on the final outcome of their lives, and this is why the Good News Bible has supplied the verb results in. The same is true of the second half of this verse.
In many languages expressions of result may be effectively restructured as conditions—for example, “If you think only about what your body wants you will die, but if you think only about what God’s Spirit wants you will truly live and have peace.” In some instances there must be an agent of life and peace, and therefore one may translate as “God will cause you to live and have peace.”
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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