synagogue, temple (inner), temple (outer)

In many English translations the Greek terms “hieron” (the whole “temple” in Jerusalem or specifically the outer courts open to worshippers) and “naos” (the inner “shrine” or “sanctuary”) are translated with only one word: “temple” (see also for instance “Tempel” in German [for exception see below] and “tempel” in Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans).

Other languages make a distinction: (Click or tap here to see more)

  • Navajo (Dinė): “house in which worship is carried out” (for naos)
  • Balinese: “inner part of the Great Temple” (“the term ‘inner part’ denoting the hindmost and holiest of the two or three courts that temples on Bali usually possess”) vs. “Great Temple”
  • Telugu: “womb (i.e. interior)-of-the-abode” vs. “abode”
  • Thai: a term denoting the main audience hall of a Buddhist temple compound vs. “environs-of-the-main-audience-hall”
  • Kituba: “place of holiness of house-God Lord” vs. “house-God Lord”
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “deep in God’s house” vs. “God’s house” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • German das Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022): “inner court of the temple” (Tempelinnenhof) vs. “temple”

Languages that, like English, German, Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans, don’t make that distinction include:

  • Mandarin Chinese: “聖殿 Shèng diàn” (“holy palace”)
  • Loma: “the holy place”
  • Pular: “the sacred house” (source for this and the one above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Zarma: “God’s compound”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “big church of the Jews”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “big house on top (i.e. most important)”
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: “house that is looked upon as holy, that is sacred, that is taboo and where one may not set foot” (lit. “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” — because taboo is violated — using a term that is also applied to a Muslim mosque) (source for this and the three above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Mairasi: Janav Enggwarjer Weso: “Great Above One’s (God’s) House” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Noongar: Maya-maya-Kooranyi: “Sacred House” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “the big church of the Israelites”
  • Aguaruna: “the house for talking to God” (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Guhu-Samane: “festival longhouse of God” (“The biiri, ‘festival longhouse’, being the religious and social center of the community, is a possible term for ‘temple’. It is not the ‘poro house’ as such. That would be too closely identified with the cult of poro. The physical features of the building, huge and sub-divided, lend it further favor for this consideration. By qualifying it as ‘God’s biiri’ the term has become meaningful and appropriate in the context of the Scriptures.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. )
  • Enga: “God’s restricted access house” (source: Adam Boyd on his blog )

Another distinction that tends to be overlooked in translations is that between hieron (“temple” in English) and sunagógé (“synagogue” in English). Euan Fry (in The Bible Translator 1987, p. 213ff. ) reports on this:

“Many older translations have simply used transliterations of ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ rather than trying to find equivalent terms or meaningful expressions in their own languages. This approach does keep the two terms separate; but it makes the readers depend on explanations given by pastors or teachers for their understanding of the text.

“Translators who have tried to find meaningful equivalents, for the two terms ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ have usually made a distinction between them in one of two ways (which focus on the contrasting components of meaning). One way takes the size and importance of the Temple to make a contrast, so that expressions such as ‘sacred meeting/ worship house of the Jews’ and ‘big sacred meeting/worship house of the Jews’ are used. The other way focuses on the different nature of the religious activity at each of the places, so that expressions such as ‘meeting/worship house of the Jews’ and ‘sacrifice/ceremony place of the Jews’ are used.

“It is not my purpose in this article to discuss how to arrive at the most precise equivalent to cover all the components of meaning of ‘temple’. That is something that each translator really has to work through for himself in the light of the present usage and possibilities in his own language. My chief concern here is that the basic term or terms chosen for ‘temple’ should give the reader of a translation a clear and correct picture of the location referred to in each passage. And I am afraid that in many cases where an equivalent like ‘house of God’ or ‘worship house’ has been chosen, the readers have quite the wrong picture of what going to the Temple or being in the Temple means. (This may be the case for the word ‘temple’ in English too, for many readers.)”

Here are some examples:

  • Bambara: “house of God” (or: “big house of worship”) vs. “worship house” (or: “small houses of worship”)
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” (see above) vs. “meeting house for discussing matters concerning religious customs” (and “church” is “house where one meets on Sunday”)
  • Navajo (Dinė): “house in which worship is carried out” vs. “house of gathering” (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida)

    • Bangandu: “the great house of God” vs. “house of prayer” (Source: Ervais Fotso Noumsi in Le Sycomore, 16/1, 2022 )

Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Herod’s temple (source: Bible Lands 2012)

Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing synagogues in New Testament times (source: Bible Lands 2012)

See also this devotion on YouVersion .

Translation commentary on 1 Esdras 5:54 - 5:55

And they gave money to the masons and the carpenters …: At the beginning of this new section the conjunction And is not needed (so Good News Bible). The pronoun they refers to the Jewish people. Good News Bible has “The people,” and Contemporary English Version says “the Israelites.” We prefer “The Jews.” The Greek word for money is literally “silver,” but this word is used generally for money. It can be translated with any general term that is used for monetary exchange in the form of payment. The meaning here may be that the money was paid to the workmen as Revised Standard Version suggests, or it may be as Good News Bible interprets the text, that is, the community contributed money to be paid to workmen. In the technical terminology of employment, the money was used to “hire” the needed workmen. The Greek word for masons refers to men who quarry and work with stone. The English word carpenters refers to people who build with wood, but the Greek word here includes those who work with other materials as well.

And food and drink and carts to the Sidonians and the Tyrians: Food and drink most likely refer to grain and wine, which the Jews gave as payment. As the Revised Standard Version footnote indicates, the Greek text is unclear at the point where Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible have carts. This reading is in fact found in only one manuscript. Other manuscripts have several other words (among them is not “wine,” as in Contemporary English Version‘s footnote). The reading we suggest is “joy,” found in King James Version. This reading too is found in only one Greek manuscript, but is also reflected in Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic manuscripts. It seems to be the one reading among the many which best explains the existence of the others. This reading supposes that the Hebrew word for “oil” in the parallel passage of Ezra 3.7 was mistaken for the somewhat similar Hebrew word for “joy,” and this was what was translated into Greek. The word “joy” does not easily fit in with food and drink, so scribes made different guesses as to what the right word was, in each case choosing one pronounced much like or spelled much like the Greek word for “joy.” The word “joy” is also the most difficult of the readings presented (that is, the one the scribes would have been least likely to have introduced), and we may apply the principle of textual criticism here that, other things being equal, the most difficult reading is more likely to be the original one. If “carts” was the original reading, there is no possible explanation for all the other choices to exist, since “carts” makes perfectly good sense. The word “joy” also explains why there are manuscripts that omit the phrase “and joy” entirely. In defense of this reading it may also be pointed out that Josephus, who used 1 Esdras as a source for book 11 of his Jewish Antiquities (11.4.1), seems to know this reading, although he says that the Sidonians and Tyrians were “very willing and ready” to do the work rather than that the Jews “gladly” paid them. The Sidonians and the Tyrians were the people of the Phoenician cities of Sidon and Tyre, north of the old kingdom of Israel. The translation of this phrase should not suggest that all the people of Sidon and Tyre were involved in bringing lumber for the Temple. Obviously, only a certain number of laborers were hired.

To bring cedar logs from Lebanon: For cedar logs and Lebanon, see the comments on 1 Esd 4.48.

And convey them in rafts to the harbor of Joppa: The cedar logs were tied together in such a way as to create rafts to be brought down the seacoast to the port city of Joppa, which was about 58 kilometers (36 miles) northeast of Jerusalem. So the cargo was its own mode of transportation. Contemporary English Version says “and so these logs were tied together into rafts and floated by sea to the harbor at Joppa.”

According to the decree which they had in writing from Cyrus king of the Persians: See 1 Esd 2.3-7. For Cyrus king of the Persians, see the comments on 1 Esd 2.1-2.

A model that combines verses 54 and 55 is:

• The Jews hired stoneworkers and carpenters to rebuild the Temple. They also gladly paid men from Sidon and Tyre with food and drink to bring cedar logs down from [the mountains of] Lebanon. These men tied the logs into rafts, and floated them down the seacoast to the port at Joppa. All of this was done according to the written orders given by King Cyrus of Persia [or, what King Cyrus of Persia had written in a letter].

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 1-2 Esdras. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.