Question about translation of Romans 4:9

Question about translation of Romans 4:9

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In church this morning, I stumbled across Romans 4:9 in my bilingual English/Spanish NIV/NVI Bible, and was puzzled by the Spanish translation of this verse.1 (Emphasis added for sake of comparison)

In English, the text reads:

Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.

The part that interests me is the second sentence in the Spanish translation, which, in English, would translate to “Is it not also for the gentiles?”

The question is: Why is the word translated as “uncircumcised” in English, but “gentiles” in Spanish yet there is a footnote in the Spanish translation that says the literal translation is “uncircumcised?”

Or the other possible question is: Why didn’t the English translation say “gentiles” instead?

Considering these are both the NIV (aka NVI in Spanish) translations, I would have expected the translators to come up with a more similar translation.

I’m sure this proves my ignorance of the translation process. 🙂


1 And in Spanish:

¿Acaso se ha reservado esta dicha sólo para los que están circuncidados? ¿Acaso no es también para los *gentiles?[a] Hemos dicho que a Abraham se le tomó en cuenta la fe como justicia.

Footnotes:

a. Romanos 4:9 los *gentiles. Lit. la *incircuncisión.

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