A robe dipped in blood. Translating the book of Revelation wasn’t as difficult as we might think. The Tobas are well accustomed to dreams and visions, so the concepts involved in Revelation were not too strange. But some of the vocabulary was difficult, and particularly this phrase in chapter 19 verse 13...
For a traditionally warlike people, at first sight one may think this phrase would be easy to translate. But in fact it proved to be one of the most difficult and time-consuming verses to translate. With Bishop David Leake already back in Norfolk, and Michael already well into the final stages of the checking process, we still didn’t have an acceptable translation of this verse. The New International Version translates the verse as follows:
He is dressed in a robe dripped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.
José Manuel’s first draft translation said “his garment had blood on it”, but we felt it was not specific enough and didn’t do justice to the richness of the original expression in the Greek:
καὶ περιβεβλημένος ἱμάτιον βεβαμμένον αἵματι,
And having been clothed with garment having been dipped in blood,
καὶ κέκληται τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ.
And having been clothed with garment having been dipped in blood,
καὶ κέκληται τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ.
and has been called the name of him the word of God.
Then we looked for alternative words: “splashed with blood”, “sprinkled with blood”, “stained with blood”, “soaked in blood.” But none were accurate enough. Our understanding of the context of this verse was that the rider of the horse had returned from battle, having defeated his enemies.
So in the end, after much consultation via emails and text messages between Michael in Salta, David in Norfolk and Hilario in Juárez, we came up with the following:
Naa'me louo jo'ne yatedañe joote necouayelo jana'me netauo', qama'le da'me lenaĝat joñe'me eet'oi: "Jona'me 'Laqatac joñe'me Dios."
Which means:
The clothing he was wearing had got dirtied with blood, and the name of him was this: “The Word of God”.