The Greek term exodos (ἔξοδος) that is used in Luke 9:31, is typically translated as “departure” in English, but a handful of English translations use exodus, including the New Revised Standard Version, updated edition (2021) (“They appeared in glory and were speaking about his exodus”), the New Living Translation (2004, 2007), and The Second Testament by Scot McKnight (2023) (“who, appearing in splendor, were talking about his exodus”).
The French translation of Chouraqui (1985) uses exode (Apparaissant dans leur gloire, ils parlent de son exode) and the Danish Authorized Version (last revision 1992) uses udgang, the same term that is used in Hebrews 11:22 for the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt (note that the Old Testament Exodus book is called Anden Mosebog or “The second book of Moses” in Danish).
A number of translations don’t use the term for “exodus” in the translation but point to it in a note, including the French Nouvelle Français courant (latest rev. 2007) and the Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, édition intégrale (1977 / 2010) (“Jesus must bring about the new exodus through his death, resurrection, and ascension”), the CatalanTraducció Interconfessional (1995), or the various Catholic Christian Community Bibles (see here).
The note in Sarah Ruden’s translation (2021, p. 200) says this: “In this context, Moses and Elijah are the perfect interlocutors. Moses led the exodus (from the Greek for, literally, the ‘road out’; ‘departure’ is the word I use here) of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt, and Elijah made his exit from earth on a heavenly chariot. Also, Moses and Elijah sum up the main authority of scripture, ‘the law and the prophets’: Moses was said to have written the Pentateuch, and Elijah was an exemplary prophet.”
The different Greek words (agapaō and phileō) that are used in the conversation between Jesus and Peter (the first two times, Jesus asked Peter whether he “agapaōs” him, to which Peter answers that he “phileōs” Jesus, whereas the third time, Jesus’ question and Peter’s answer are both “phileō“) and that are typically all translated “love” in English are differentiated in some translations:
The English translation by Blackwelder (1980) differentiate with love and have affection, Cassirer (1989) with love and hold dear, Pakaluk (2021) has cherish and love, and Ruden (2021) has love and close friend
A number of German translations (Luther 2017, Neue Genfer Übersetzung 2011, Menge 2010, BasisBibel 2021) use lieben (for agapaō) vs. lieb haben for phileō (“love” vs. “be very fond of”); the translation by Fridolin Stier (1989) has “love” and “be a friend”
Likewise, the FrenchBible Segond 21 (publ. 2007) uses aimer vs. avoir l’amour with a similar difference than the former German translations
The BurmeseMyanmar Standard Bible (2017) has hkyit (ချစ်) vs. hkyithkain (ချစ်ခင်), also “love” vs. “love / be fond of.”
Kayaw makes a distinction as well (source: Anonymous)
The Greek in John 1:16 that is translated as “grace upon grace” or similar in English is translated in Huichol as “He treats us with graciousness, and keeps increasing it.” (Source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
The English translation by Pakaluk (2021) has one gift in place of another (complete Verse: “Because we have all received of his fullness, and one gift in place of another.”) Compare Ruden (2021): “Out of what fills him to the full, we have all been given a share, joyful favor in exchange for joyful favor” and the German translation by Berger / Nord: “Because that was the only way — no matter before or after him — that we could draw from what was given to him in fullness, grace and yet more grace.”
The Greek that is traditionally translated as “carpenter” in English is translated in the English by Ruden (2021) as “builder.” “[The Greek word] tektōn means simply |skilled workman|. I choose builder because the likelihood that Jesus| family were among local artisans employed in rebuilding the new city of Sepphoris [which was destroyed in 4 BC], close to Nazareth.” (p. xliii)
In the Finnish translation of 2020 it is translated as rakennusmies, a generic term for a construction worker. (Source: Seppo Sipilä)
The Greek and Hebrew terms that are translated as “hypocrite” in English typically have a counterpart in most languages. According to Bratcher / Nida (1961, p. 225), they can be categorized into the following categories:
those which employ some concept of “two” or “double”
those which make use of some expression of “mouth” or “speaking”
those which are based upon some special cultural feature
those which employ a non-metaphorical phrase
Following is a list of (back-) translations from some languages:
Mazahua: “have a swollen mouth” (from too much speaking)
Tai Dam: “have a straight mouth and a crooked heart”
Kongo: “the bitterness of white” (an idiom based on the fact that white-wash looks nice but tastes bitter)
Merina Malagasy: “spread a clean carpet” (an expression used in Madagascar to describe one who covers up the dirt of an unswept floor just before the arrival of guests)
Zanaki: “those who make themselves out to be good”
Tetelcingo Nahuatl: “those who deceive” (this and all examples above acc. to Bratcher / Nida 1961, p. 225)
Kafa: “one who makes as if his belly is clean” (source: Loren Bliese)
Bauzi: “good on top person” (source: David Briley in Kroneman (2004), p. 502)
Tibetan: kha chos pa (ཁ་ཆོས་པ།), lit. “mouth + religion + person” (used for instance in Matt. 7:5) or sgyu zog can (སྒྱུ་ཟོག་ཅན།), lit. “deception + fraud + person” (used for instance in Matt. 24:51) (source: gSungrab website )
Low German: “actor in a comedy” (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006)
Lélé: ne kub so or “make mouth two” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
The Latvian term liekulis was likely coined by the Bible translation of Ernst Glück (1654–1705) in the late 17th century and is still being used today (source ).
The English version of Sarah Ruden (2021) uses “play-actor.” She explains (p. li): “A hupokrites is fundamentally an actor. The word has deep negativity in the Gospels on two counts: professional actors were not respectable people in the ancient world, and traditional Judaism did not countenance any kind of playacting. I write ‘play-actor’ throughout.”
The Greek in John 7:38 that is typically translated in English as “out of heart (or: “innermost”) shall flow rivers of living water” is translated by the English translations by Ruden (2021) and Pakaluk (2021) as “from his belly rivers of flowing water are going to run” (Ruden) and “rivers of flowing water will flow out from his belly” (Pakaluk).
Ruden explains her choice (p. 285): “The wordplay and symbolism involve the running or ‘living’ water of baptism, and possibly also the fluid that runs (here, literally) ‘from his abdominal cavity’ from the spear puncture at the crucifixion (John 19:34). There are several Hebrew Bible passages echoed here.”
Pakaluk says (p. 96): “It seems that John understands this language to be foreshadowing the pouring out of water, along with blood, from the lanced side of Christ on the cross, which John highlights (19:34) and which is understood in the tradition to represent the birth of the Church. It is indeed the language of birth.”
Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Aramaic all have one term only that refers to what can be expressed in English as “sky” or “heaven(s)” (as a physical and spiritual entity). While there is a slight overlap between the meaning of the two English terms, “sky” (from Old Norse sky meaning “cloud”) typically refers to the physical entity, and “heaven” (from Old English heofon meaning “home of God”) typically refers to the spiritual entity. While this enriches the English lexicon, it also forces English Bible translators to make decisions that can be found only in the context in the Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic texts. Most versions tend to use “heaven(s)” even if the meaning is likely “sky,” but the Contemporary English Version (NT: 1991, OT: 1995, DC: 1999) is an English translation that attempted to be more specific in the separation of the two meanings and was used as the basis for the links to verses used for this and this record (“sky”).
Norm Mundhenk (in The Bible Translator 2006, p. 92ff. ) describes the difficulty that English translations face (click or tap here to see more):
“A number of years ago an old lady asked me a question. What did Jesus mean when he said, ‘Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away’? I do not remember what answer I gave, but I was surprised at how concerned she seemed to be about the verse. It was only later, after I had left her, that I suddenly realized what it was that she was so concerned about. She knew that death could not be far away, and all her life she had looked forward to being with God in heaven. But this verse said that ‘heaven will pass away’! What did that mean for her hopes? In fact, of course, in this verse Jesus was talking about the skies or the heavens, not about Heaven as the place of God’s presence. If I had realized the problem in time, I could easily have set the lady’s mind at rest on this question that was troubling her so much. However, I suspect that she is not the only person to be misled by the wording of this verse. Therefore, it is very surprising to find that even today many English versions (including the New International Version, New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, Good News Translation) still say ‘heaven and earth’ in verses like Matt 24:35 and its parallels (Mark 13:31 and Luke 21:33). The Contemporary English Version (CEV) and Phillips’ translation seem to be aware of the problem, and in Mark 13:31 both of these have ‘earth and sky’ instead of ‘heaven and earth.’ But in some other passages (such as Matt 5:18) the traditional wording is still found in both of those translations. The New Century Version (NCV) does have ‘earth and sky’ more consistently, and the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) has ‘sky and earth’ in these passages. (Although ‘sky and earth’ is closer to the Greek, it seems more natural in English to say ‘earth and sky’; but either way, at least the meaning is correct.)
“Louw and Nida’s Lexical Semantics of the Greek New Testament (publ. 1992) suggests that the Greek expression being translated here, ho ouranos kai he ge is ‘a more or less fixed phrase equivalent to a single lexical unit’ and that it means everything that God created, that is, the universe. They then quote Mark 13:31 as an example, using ‘heaven and earth’ in their translation of it. However, they go on to say that there ‘may be certain complications involved in rendering ho ouranos kai he ge as ‘heaven and earth,’ since ‘heaven’ might be interpreted in some languages as referring only to the dwelling place of God himself. The referents in this passage are ‘the sky and the earth,’ in other words, all of physical existence, but not the dwelling place of God, for the latter would not be included in what is destined to pass away.’ In my opinion, English itself is one of the languages where the word ‘heaven’ will be interpreted as referring only to the dwelling place of God himself, and translations into English should not use ‘heaven’ in these passages. It is probably because these passages are so very familiar that translators do not realize the meaning they are giving their readers when they use the expression ‘heaven and earth’ here. In modern English we might talk about a rocket ‘soaring into the heavens,’ but we would certainly not describe it as ‘soaring into heaven,’ because ‘heaven’ is not another way of referring to the sky or to outer space.
“In fact, it is surely important in all languages to have some way of distinguishing the concept of ‘sky’ from the concept of ‘dwelling place of God.’ In these passages translators should never use a term meaning ‘the dwelling place of God.’ It may not be necessary to use a term meaning ‘sky’ either, if there is some other expression in the language which gives the correct meaning of ‘everything that has been created’ or ‘the universe.’ There are of course places in the New Testament where Heaven, as the place where God lives, is contrasted with the earth. In these passages, translators should be careful to give the correct meaning. A good example of this is in the Lord’s Prayer, in Matt 6:10: ‘Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’ Similarly, 1 Cor 15:47 says that ‘the first man [a reference to Adam] was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.’ Passages like these are referring to Heaven, not to the sky. Other NT passages where heaven refers to God’s dwelling place, in contrast with earth, are Matt 5:34-35, 16:19, 18:18, Acts 7:49, James 5:12, and Rev 5:3.
“Sometimes in the New Testament, the word ‘heaven’ is used because of the Jewish reluctance to use the name of God. ‘Heaven’ in these cases is used in place of ‘God’ and refers to God himself. This is the case in the many references in Matthew to ‘the kingdom of heaven’ where other gospels have ‘the kingdom of God’ (e.g., compare Matt 4:17 with its parallels in Mark 1:15 and Luke 10:9). It is also most likely the case in references like Matt 16:1, Luke 20:4, 5, John 3:27, and even perhaps Col 1:5.
“There are some places, such as Matt 11:25, where God is called ‘Lord of heaven and earth.’ Since God is of course the Lord of Heaven as well as of the universe, it may not matter so much which interpretation is given in these passages (others are Luke 10:21 and Acts 17:24). Nevertheless, the intended meaning here is likely to be ‘the universe.’ This is because this expression in Greek, as Louw and Nida say, is a set expression referring to everything that has been created. Acts 17:24 in fact combines the idea of the creation of the universe with the idea of God as Master or Lord of the universe. (…)
“Old Testament background The use of ‘heaven and earth’ in the New Testament is very similar to what we find in the Old Testament, because it is largely based on the Old Testament.
“The Old Testament begins with the story of creation, which is presented as the creation of the heavens and the earth, with lights to shine in the heavens and give light to the earth. Birds are created to live in the heavens, animals to live on earth, and fish to live in the sea (Gen 1:1-2:4).
“As we can see from the way the creation story is told, it is meant to be understood as the creation of the universe. Although in English the regions above the earth have traditionally been called ‘the heavens’ in the story of creation, they cannot be called ‘Heaven,’ in the sense of the place where God dwells. In terms of modern English, it would probably be better to say ‘the sky and the earth’ or ‘the earth and the sky.’ The story of creation then becomes an important theme throughout the Old Testament. (…)
“In most passages, whether in the Old Testament or the New Testament, when ‘heaven and earth’ or ‘the heavens and the earth’ are mentioned, the meaning is the created universe. It is not a reference to Heaven, as the dwelling place of God. In English, translators have not been careful to keep this distinction clear, and this is probably true in many other languages as well. However, as we have seen, this can lead to real confusion for ordinary Bible readers. It is better if translators find ways to make the meaning clear in these passages. ‘Heaven’ should be mentioned only in passages which clearly mean the dwelling place of God. In other passages, an expression should be used which means only ‘sky.’ Or else, the whole expression ‘heaven and earth’ can be translated in a way to show that the whole universe is meant.”
Other languages that have a semantic distinction similar to English include (click or tap here to see more):
Mossi: saase — “sky”; nyingeri — “the up above”(source for Loma and Mossi: Bratcher/Nida)
Roviana: mamaṉa — “sly”; maṉauru — “heaven” (an old word, meaning “empty, open space of the sky”) (source: Carl Gross)
Kayaw: mô̄la or “canopy-under”/mô̄khû̄la or “canopy-above-under” — “sky” (atmosphere where there is just air); mô̄khû̄ or “canopy-on/above” — “heaven” (invisible abode of God and angels)
Mairasi: Sinyavi — an indigenous term that is used for both “sky” and heaven”; Surga — loanword from Sanskrit via Indonesian referring to “heaven” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Kupsabiny: “up” for “sky” vs. “God’s Homestead” for “heaven” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
In some languages, such as Yagaria, a term that was originally used as “sky” (gokudana) was adopted by the Christian community as “heaven.” This resulted in a language shift so that now all communities uses “empty space / air” (galogina or hakalogina) as “sky” and gokudana is exclusively used for the Christian concept of heaven. (Source: Renck 1990, p. 133)
Many languages follow the original biblical languages in not making that distinction, such as (click or tap here to see more):
Cherokee: galaladi (ᎦᎸᎳᏗ) or “up” — Bender / Belt (2025, p. 23) note that there is a related term — galvlohi (ᎦᎸᎶᎯ) — that is used “for the upperworld of Cherokee cosmology, [but] was not used, possibly to communicate a sharp distinction.
In some languages, such as Wandala, the vocabulary for terms for either “heaven” or “sky” is much richer than just to include those two distinction. While zhegela, the term that is specifically used for the physical sky was only used in early translations of the New Testament for “sky,” other terms such as samaya (used for both “sky” and “heaven” — employed for instance in Matthew 10:32f.), zlanna (specifically used for the perfect abode of God and the goal of the faithful, as in Matthew 8:11), kwárá (a locational term used to speak of a chief’s rule [lit., “voice”] such as Matthew 3:2), or sleksire (“chieftaincy,” “kingship,” or “royalty” [originally from slekse “chief”] and used where there are no locational overtones, such as in Matthew 16:28) are used. (Source: Mona Perrin in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 51ff.)
Under the auspices of the Dhama Mate Swe Association , a new Burmese translation of the New Testament was published in 2024 which uses terminology that attempts to overcome “insurmountable barriers to the Buddhist world.” One term that this version uses is ရွှေမြို့တော် (shway myahoettaw) or “Golden City” for “heaven,” referring it to the golden city described in Revelation 21 but at the same time using a Buddhist term for a desired destination that does not have the Buddhist connotation of ကောင်း ကင် (kaungg kain) as being the Trāyastriṃśa (တာဝတိံသာ) heaven, home of Śakra/Indra. This Burmese translation formed the basis of translations of parts of the New Testament into other languages spoken in Burma, including Sumtu Chin, Ekai Chin, Songlai Chin, Danau, Kadu, Kanan, Khün, Lahta Karen, Rakhine, Marma (Northern Rakhine), Riang Lai, Samtao, Shwe Palaung, Tai Laing, Taungyo, Intha, Danu, Tavoyan (Dawei), and Chak (Thet). (Source: Jay Pratt)
The English translation by Sarah Ruden (2021) uses “sky” throughout. Ruden explains (p. li): “The Greek word ouranos refers evenhandedly to the physical sky and the place—often pictured as a royal court — where supreme divinity resides. ‘Sky’ seems generally better, first of all in avoiding the wackier modern imagery that comes with the English ‘heaven.’ And even when a supernatural realm is meant, ‘sky’ will often do, because the divine realm was thought to be located there, in addition to the weather and the heavenly bodies, whereas ‘heaven’ to us is fundamentally a religious term, and the ancients did not tend to separate linguistic domains in this way. I have retained the plural ‘skies’ where I see it in the Greek, because it is a Hebraism familiar in English translations of scripture and (I hope) not too archaic or jarring.”
The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “In the beginning” is translated in Lisu as ꓬꓲ ꓚꓰ ꓬꓲ ꓪꓴꓸ — yi tshe yi vu: “In very early times, when there were no people.” This construction follows a traditional four-couplet construct in oral Lisu poetry that is usually in the form ABAC or ABCB. The same phrase is also used as a title for the book of “Genesis.” (Source: Arrington 2020, p. 58)
In the most widely used Mandarin Chinese Bible translation, the Union Version, the term 太初 — tàichū is used in John 1:1 (but not for Gen. 1:1) — vice versa in the Yue Chinese (Cantonese)New Cantonese Bible of 1997, whereas in Hakka Chinese, 太初 — thai-chhû in Hakka — is used in both cases). Tàichū originally was used in early Daoist writings (Liezi, Zhuangzi — both 5th century BC) which is remarkable because of the connection with “dào” (道) in the same verse (see Word / Logos), suggesting connections between Chinese culture and John 1:1. (Source: Zetzsche)
Other translations include:
Jamaican Patois: “when time started” (wen taim did staat); similarly the English translation by James A. Kleist (1954): when time began or Knox (1949): at the beginning of time
Bariai: “prior to the coming forth of everything” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “When before still in the past” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Kölsch: “in the beginning of everything” (translation by Boch 2017)
German: “primordial beginning” (Urbeginn) (translation by Fridolin Stier, 1989)
English translation of the gospels of Sarah Ruden (2021, p. xlii): “inauguration” which “echoes similar connotations of a Hebrew word in Genesis”
