16It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
The Greek, Hebrew and Ge’ez that is typically translated as “eternity,” “forever,” or “forever and ever” in English are translated in Mairasi as “mashed out infinitely.” Lloyd Peckham explains: “Bark cloth required pounding. It got longer and wider as it got pounded. Similarly, life gets pounded or mashed to lengthen it into infinity. Tubers also get mashed into the standard way of serving the staple food, like the fufu of Uganda, or like poi of Hawaii. It spreads out into infinity.” (Source: Lloyd Peckham)
In Lisu the phrase “forever and ever” is translated as ꓕꓲꓽ ꓞꓲꓼ ꓕꓲ ꓑ — thi tsi thi pa, verbatim translated as “one – lifetime – one – world.” This construction follows a traditional four-couplet construct in oral Lisu poetry that is usually in the form ABAC or ABCB. (Source: Arrington 2020, p. 57f.)
In Makonde it is often translated as navyaka or “years and years.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
If the Hebrew and Ge’ez or (the transliterated) Greek “Amen” (as part of a prayer) is not transliterated, it can also be translated into expressions such as “That is just the way it is” (Huichol), “That’s it” (Shilluk), “May it be thus” (Tzeltal) (source: Bratcher / Nida), “Let those things thus be” (Kituba) (source: Donald Deer in The Bible Translator 1973, p. 207ff. ), “It’s true” (Bariai) (source: Bariai Back Translation), or “so be it” (T’áá ákót’ée doo) ( Navajo (Dinė)).
In Nias, it is translated as Yaduhu (likewise: Jadoehoe) or “Yes, that’s true.” This goes back to culturally customary interruptions of sermons to verify the content of the message. Also, “a key characteristic of the Nias language is its consistent tendency to end words with a vowel sound. This presented a significant challenge for ‘amen,’ as its pronunciation would unavoidably become ‘ami.’ Crucially, ‘ami’ already carries the distinct meaning of ‘delicious’ in the Nias language, which would have led to an unintended and incongruous meaning in a liturgical context. (Source: Rebecca Evelyn Laiya / Merri Anna Kristina Laia in Konferensi Linguistik Tahunan Atma Jaya 23 [2025] ).
In Mairasi the translation is aniaut aug or “it’s a tuberful dig.” The preface to Enggavoter 2004 explains: “Truth is like a tuber [sweet potatoes, taro, cassava, yams]. We Mairasi have tubers as our standard food. The leaves are visible above ground. But we planted the plant so that it would produce tubers, but those are beneath the ground. So the vocabulary about ‘truth’ and ‘produce’ or ‘fruit’ is based on words for ‘tubers.’ For example: the word for ‘Amen’ ‘it’s a tuberful dig’ [also used for ‘verily’ or ‘definitely’] has its story like this: We see the leaves of the sweet potato but we do not know: the question is ‘Are there tubers or not?.’ So we dig then we see tubers. Therefore we say that ani ‘dig’ was aut ‘with tubers,’ which is ‘Aniaut!‘ ‘Definitely true!'”
In Huba it is translated as Aɗǝmja or “let it be so.” David Frank (in this blog post ) explains: “Whenever there were persistent problems such as a drought, or a rash of sickness or death, the king (or his religious advisor) would set aside a day and call on everyone to prepare food, such as the traditional mash made from sorghum, or perhaps even goat. The food had to be put together outside. The king or his religious advisor would give an address stating what the problem was and what they were doing about it. Then an elder representing the people would take a handful of that food and throw it, probably repeating that action several times, until it was considered to be enough to atone for all the misfortune they had been having. With this action he was ‘shooting (or casting off) misfortune’ to restore well-being to his people. As he threw the food, he would say that this is to remove the misfortune that had fallen on his people, and everybody would respond by saying aɗǝmja, ‘let it be so.’ People could eat some of this food, but they could not bring the food into their houses, because that would mean that they were bringing misfortune into their house. There is still a minority of people in this linguistic and cultural group that practices the traditional religion, but the shooting of misfortune is no longer practiced, and the term ‘shoot misfortune’ is used now in Bible translation to refer to offering a sacrifice. Aɗǝmja is how they translate ‘amen.'”
In American Sign Language, “Amen” is translated with a sign that means “it is established.”
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Timothy 6:16:
Uma: “It is only he who has no death. He dwells in light that is no kidding its shining. No-one can approach him or see him, for he is invisible. It is only he who is appropriate to be honored, and who is appropriate to govern forever. Amin! Thus indeed!” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “He is the only one who does not die. His dwelling-place is in brightness which cannot be approached. No one has seen him and nobody can see him. He is really worthy to be made-great/honored and he is the one who is powerful (supernaturally) without end. Amin.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “He is the One who has no death. He lives in light which cannot be approached. No person has ever seen Him, and He cannot be seen by any person. May He be praised and may He rule forever.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “He alone is the source of life which is forever because he never-dies. His location also, it is not possible for people to approach, because it is extremely dazzling. Absolutely no person has seen him and no one also is able-to-see (him). May he be praised/honored and rule forever. Amen.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “And God alone is the one who has no origin, no death. Really very dazzlingly-bright is where he lives, which cannot be approached by people. And there’s no person who has been able to see him. The truth is, he can’t be seen by any man/human. He must be honored/respected for ever and the strength of his unending supernatural-power be recognized/acknowledged. This is the truth!” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “It is God who will never die. There in the light where he lives, no one is able to approach. No person is able to see him because it is not possible to see him. God is supremely revered. He has power himself forever. Amen.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system, one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and others for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are Twents as well as Indonesian and Malay. In the latter two languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, sumaw-are-ru (住まわれる) or “dwell” is used.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a third person singular and plural pronoun (“he,” “she,” “it” and their various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. While it’s not uncommon to avoid pronouns altogether in Japanese, there are is a range of third person pronouns that can be used. In these verses a number of them are used that pay particularly much respect to the referred person (or, in fact, God, as in Exodus 15:2), including kono kata (この方), sono kata (その方), and ano kata (あの方), meaning “this person,” “that person,” and “that person over there.”
This verse continues the thought of verse 15 and mentions other attributes of God: he is the only one who is immortal, he dwells in light, he is invisible, he deserves to be honored and to reign. The word for immortality appears only here and 1 Cor 15.53-54in the whole New Testament. However, the adjective “immortal” is found in 1.17, and although a different word is used there, these two terms are closely related in terms of meaning. To be immortal is to be beyond the power of death, to live on forever and never experience death.
The word unapproachable appears only here in the whole New Testament. The idea of God revealing himself by means of an intense and dazzling light that no human eye can stand is found in many places in the Old Testament, particularly during the time of the Exodus (see, for example, Exo 24.15-17). The purpose of the light is to make people unable to see the very face of God. Unapproachable light may then be alternatively expressed as “the light that prevents people from seeing God.”
The last attribute mentioned is that of being invisible (see 1.17) and once again reflects a theme that is prevalent in the Old Testament: God is so holy that no human being can see God and live (see, for example, Exo 33.20 “I will not let you see my face, because no one can see me and stay alive” [TEV]). An alternative translation for the first part of this verse is “He alone lives forever. He lives in light which prevents people from seeing him. In fact no one has ever seen him, nor will anyone ever see him.”
The conclusion of the hymn is an appropriate expression of praise, ascribing to God honor and eternal dominion. For honor see 1.17. The usual word used to form a pair with honor is “glory,” and so it is in 1.17 and other parts of the New Testament. Here, however, “glory” has been substituted by dominion (Good News Translation “power”), perhaps to connect this expression of praise with the theme of God’s sovereign power that is prevalent in the whole hymn. The word for dominion is sometimes translated “strength” or “power” in other parts of the New Testament; it includes the elements of rule and sovereignty.
For eternal see 1.16. The idea of God ruling forever is also a prevalent Old Testament theme (see, for example, Exo 15.18; Psa 146.10; Lam 5.19). In the New Testament eternal rule is ascribed to Jesus Christ (see, for example, Luke 1.33; Rev 11.15). For Amen see 1.17. An alternative translation model for the final sentence is “May people praise God and may he rule powerfully forever.”
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 .
He alone is immortal: To say that only God is immortal is to say that he is the only one who lives forever and never dies.
6:16b
and dwells in unapproachable light: In the Old Testament, God often demonstrated his presence by appearing as a bright light. This is part of the meaning of God’s “glory.” Paul was probably thinking about this aspect of God’s presence when he wrote that God dwells in unapproachable light. Even Moses was not able to approach the tabernacle when God’s glory (light) filled it (Exodus 40:34–35).
unapproachable: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as unapproachable means that no one can approach or come near this “light.”
6:16c
Him: This refers to God.
nor can anyone see Him: Not only has no person seen God, but it is not possible for a person to see God and remain alive (Exodus 33:20).
6:16d
To Him be honor and eternal dominion: Paul was not praying for God to receive honor and might. Instead, he was praising God because it is right to honor God, and God is mighty. The Contemporary English Version expresses this:
God will be honored, and his power will last forever.
honor: In some languages it may be necessary to use a verb rather than a noun like honor. To honor someone means to respect him and to treat him as an important person. See the note on 1:17d.
eternal dominion: In Greek the expression that the Berean Standard Bible translates as eternal means that God will always deserve honor and might.
Amen: When people in the Bible prayed to God, they often ended by saying Amen. This means not only that they had finished, but that they fully agreed with what they had said. Because this word is well known even today, many translations just transliterate it. Another possibility is to translate it with an expression like “so let it be.” See the note on 1:17d.
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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.
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