The Greek that is translated in English as “devil” (itself via late Latin from Greek diabolos: “accuser, slanderer”) is sometimes translated with indigenous specific names, such as “the avaricious one” in Tetelcingo Nahuatl, “the malicious deity” in Toraja-Sa’dan (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel), or in Yoruba as èṣù. “Èṣù is thought of as bringing evil, but also as giving protection. The birth of a child may be attributed to him, as the names given to some babies show, Èṣùbiyi (Èṣù brought this forth), and Èṣùtoyin (Èṣù is worthy of praise).” (Source: John Hargreaves in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 39ff. . See also this article by Tunde Adegbola: Èṣù is not Satan: A Christian apologist’s perspective .)
Other translations include:
Muna: Kafeompu’ando seetani or “Master of the evil-spirits” (source: René van den Berg)
Mairasi: owe er epar nan or “headman of malevolent spirits” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Ojitlán Chinantec: as “head of the worldlings” (source for the last two: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125).
Mandarin Chinesemóguǐ (魔鬼), literally “magical ghost.” This is a term that was adopted from Buddhist sources into early Catholic writings and later also by Protestant translators. (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 32)
Uma: “King of Evil-ones” (source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “leader of demons” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
Bariai: “the bad man” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
Kupsabiny: “the Enemy” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
In Lak and Shughni it is translated with terms of feminine gender. Vitaly Voinov tells this story (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):
“In the Lak language of Dagestan, the names ‘Iblis’ and ‘sheytan’ (referring to Satan and his minions, respectively) in this language were borrowed from the Arabic Islamic tradition, but they entered Lak as feminine nouns, not masculine nouns. This means that they grammatically function like nouns referring to females in Lak; in other words, Laks are likely to think of Iblis as a woman, not a man, because of the obligatory grammatical patterning of Lak noun classes. Thus, when the team explained (in Russian) what the Lak translation of Jesus’ wilderness temptation narrative at the beginning of Matthew 4 said, it sounded something like the following: ‘After this, the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by Iblis… .The temptress came to Jesus, and she said to Him…’
“Since this information (that the devil is a female spirit) is part of the very name used for Satan in Lak, nothing can really be done about this in the translation. The Lak translator did not think that the feminine gender of Iblis should cause any serious misunderstandings among readers, so we agreed to leave it in the translation. Prior to this, I had never heard about languages in which the devil is pictured as a woman, but recently I was told by a speaker of the Shughni language that in their language Sheytan is also feminine. This puts an interesting spin on things. The devil is of course a spirit, neither male nor female in a biologically-meaningful sense. But Bible translators are by nature very risk-aversive and, where possible, want to avoid any translation that might feed misleading information to readers. So what can a translator do about this? In many cases, such as the present one, one has to just accept the existing language structure and go on.”
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Timothy 3:6:
Uma: “A religion leader must not be one who has just believed in the Lord Yesus, for his heart will become high [i.e. he will get proud or haughty], with the result that he will get punishment like the King of Evil-ones was / will be punished with.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “It is also not possible to be titled leader if it is a person recently/newly trusting Isa Almasi because if his trust is not yet strong perhaps his liver will become high (proud) and judgment will be dropped on him like the judgment of the leader of demons in old times.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “It is also necessary that he is not still a new believer, for he might come to think himself higher than others and God will punish him just as Satan was punished.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “The leader of believers, it is also necessary that he is not a person who has recently-believed lest he become proud (lit. his mind become-high) and that be the cause of God’s condemning him to be punished like what happened to the Devil (loan Diablo).” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “It’s necessary that the person who will be in charge is a person who has been a believer for a long time already, for if he’s still new, maybe he’ll become praise-seeking. Well if it’s like that, he’ll be sentenced to punishment like Satanas who is habitually-praise-seeking.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Concerning the man who is appointed to take up the position of leading at the church, he should not be a man who has just recently believed in Jesus Christ. Because perhaps he will become proud. Then he will sin like the devil sinned long ago in being proud and together they will be punished.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
From the family, attention is now focused on the person’s own faith experience. He must not be a recent convert. The Greek word is the source of the English word “neophyte”; literally it means “newly planted” and is used here figuratively to refer to new believers. Good News Translation captures the meaning in a positive manner, “he must be mature in the faith,” and one may also express this as “he must have believed in Jesus for a long time,” or “he must have been a Christian for a long time,” or even “he must believe strongly in Jesus.” However, in many languages Revised Standard Version‘s model will be the more natural way to translate this clause; for example, “he must not be a person who has only recently believed in Jesus.” The danger of being a recent convert is that he may fall into the temptation of being puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. The word translated puffed up comes from a root word that means “smoke,” hence the suggestion that puffed up with conceit could be translated “in a cloud land of conceit.” If such a figurative expression does not occur in the receptor language, another metaphor could be substituted, as, for example, Good News Translation “swell up with pride,” “have a heart full of pride,” or “have a very high heart.” If no equivalent metaphor exists, then as a last resort the meaning of the metaphor can be translated, for example, as “become arrogantly proud.”
The expression the condemnation of the devil can be taken to refer to the judgment executed by the devil, in which case it is connected with the following verse, which mentions the snare of the devil. Most commentaries and translations, however, understand the construction as an objective genitive, which means that the devil is the receiver rather than the doer of the action, hence, the judgment that was meted out to the devil, a meaning that is made clear in Good News Translation, “be condemned, as the Devil was.” The agent in this case is God, and this information can be made explicit in the translation if so desired; for example, “and have God condemn (or, punish) him as he [God] condemned the Devil” (see 1.20 for comments on the devil or “Satan”). It is not at all clear what judgment the verse is referring to; some commentators suggest that this reflects a common theme in the New Testament writings, namely, that in the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Devil suffered a decisive defeat that will be finalized at the end time (see, for example, Matt 25.41; Luke 10.18; Rev 20.10).
A final qualification of the candidate for the episcopal office is that he must be well thought of by outsiders. Outsiders are most probably non-Christians, hence Good News Translation “people outside the church.” The conduct of the bishop should be such that even those who do not belong to the believing community cannot help but be impressed by his irreproachable behavior. Many languages will restructure this clause; for example, “Also people who do not believe in Jesus should respect (or, think well of) him,” or even idiomatically as in many Asian languages, “he should have much face before those who are outsiders (or, do not believe in Jesus).” If this is not the case, it is likely that he will fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. The reproach would come from the outsiders who would say terrible things against the church leader, perhaps accusing him of hypocrisy. Fall into reproach may also be rendered as “so that people who do not believe will not say evil things about him,” or following Good News Translation‘s model, “he will not lose face (or, be disgraced) before….” The expression the snare of the devil is similar in construction to that of “the condemnation of the devil” in the previous verse and is likewise ambiguous. Taken as an objective genitive it refers to the trap that is meant to catch the Devil. More likely, however, it should be taken as a subjective genitive, referring to the trap that the Devil has laid for the arrogant and boastful. A literal translation will of course retain the ambiguity. Those translations that resolve the ambiguity show preference for the latter interpretation; for example, Good News Translation “fall into the Devil’s trap,” or Revised English Bible “be caught in the devil’s snare.” One may also translate “the Devil won’t be able to trap him,” “and have the Devil trap him,” or “have the Devil as it were catch him in a trap.”
An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• He must have believed in Jesus for a long time so that he will not have a heart full of pride and have God condemn (or, punish) him as he [God] condemned the Devil. People outside the church (or, who do not believe in Jesus) should respect him. Then they will not say evil things about him (or, make him lose face), and the Devil won’t be able to trap him.
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to Timothy. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1995. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
recent convert: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as recent convert refers to a person who has only been a believer for a short time.
3:6b
or he may become conceited: Paul said that if a recent convert is chosen as an overseer there is a danger that he may become conceited.
conceited: The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as conceited refers to people who think and behave as though they are superior to other people. They are very proud. In many languages, there is an idiomatic way to say this. The Good News Translation uses an English figure of speech and says “swollen with pride.” See the note on 6:4a. This Greek word also occurs in 2 Timothy 3:4.
3:6c
fall under the same condemnation as the devil: This can also be translated:
incur the same judgment as the devil
-or-
earn the same judgment as the devil
the same condemnation as the devil: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the same condemnation as the devil probably refers to the judgment that the devil receives. This means that God will punish a person who has become conceited in the same way that he punished the devil for his pride. See the New International Version (2011 Revision), New Jerusalem Bible, Good News Translation, New American Standard Bible, and Contemporary English Version.
Paul did not make explicit here the way that God punished the devil. So it would be best if you also did not make this explicit.
the devil: The devil is the chief of all evil spirits. The name of the devil is Satan. He is also referred to in some parts of the New Testament as “The Evil One.”
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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.
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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