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®).
For more information, see here.
Ἓν δὲ τοῦτο μὴ λανθανέτω ὑμᾶς, ἀγαπητοί, ὅτι μία ἡμέρα παρὰ κυρίῳ ὡς χίλια ἔτη καὶ χίλια ἔτη ὡς ἡμέρα μία.
8But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.
Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Peter 3:8:
The Hebrew adonai in the Old Testament typically refers to God. The shorter adon (and in two cases in the book of Daniel the Aramaic mare [מָרֵא]) is also used to refer to God but more often for concepts like “master,” “owner,” etc. In English Bible translations all of those are translated with “Lord” if they refer to God.
In English Old Testament translations, as in Old Testament translations in many other languages, the use of Lord (or an equivalent term in other languages) is not to be confused with Lord (or the equivalent term with a different typographical display for other languages). While the former translates adonai, adon and mare, the latter is a translation for the tetragrammaton (YHWH) or the Name of God. See tetragrammaton (YHWH) and the article by Andy Warren-Rothlin in Noss / Houser, p. 618ff. for more information.
In the New Testament, the Greek term kurios has at least four different kinds of use:
In the first and fourth case, it is also translated as “Lord” in English.
Most languages naturally don’t have one word that covers all these meanings. According to Bratcher / Nida, “the alternatives are usually (1) a term which is an honorific title of respect for a high-ranking person and (2) a word meaning ‘boss’, ‘master’, or ‘chief.’ (…) and on the whole it has generally seemed better to employ a word of the second category, in order to emphasize the immediate personal relationship, and then by context to build into the word the prestigeful character, since its very association with Jesus Christ will tend to accomplish this purpose.”
When looking at the following list of back-translations of the terms that translators in the different languages have used for both kurios and adonai to refer to God and Jesus respectively, it might be helpful for English readers to recall the etymology of the English “Lord.” While this term might have gained an exalted meaning in the understanding of many, it actually comes from hlaford or “loaf-ward,” referring to the lord of the castle who was the keeper of the bread (source: Rosin 1956, p. 121).
Following are some of the solutions that don’t rely on a different typographical display (see above):
We have come to rely on another term which emphasizes God’s essential nature as YHWH, namely jukurrarnu (see tetragrammaton (YHWH)). This word is built on the same root jukurr– as is jukurrpa, ‘dreaming.’ Its basic meaning is ‘timelessness’ and it is used to describe physical features of the land which are viewed as always being there. Some speakers view jukurrarnu in terms of ‘history.’ In all Genesis references to YHWH we have used Kaatu Jukurrarnu. In all Mark passages where kurios refers to God and not specifically to Christ we have also used Kaatu Jukurrarnu.
New Testament references to Christ as kurios are handled differently. At one stage we experimented with the term Watirirririrri which refers to a ceremonial boss of highest rank who has the authority to instigate ceremonies. While adequately conveying the sense of Christ’s authority, there remained potential negative connotations relating to Warlpiri ceremonial life of which we might be unaware.
Here it is that the Holy Spirit led us to make a chance discovery. Transcribing the personal testimony of the local Warlpiri pastor, I noticed that he described how ‘my Warlaljamarri called and embraced me (to the faith)’. Warlaljamarri is based on the root warlalja which means variously ‘family, possessions, belongingness’. A warlaljamarri is the ‘owner’ or ‘possessor’ of something. While previously being aware of the ‘ownership’ aspect of warlaljamarri, this was the first time I had heard it applied spontaneously and naturally in a fashion which did justice to the entire concept of ‘Lordship’. Thus references to Christ as kurios are now being handled by Warlaljamarri.” (Source: Stephen Swartz, The Bible Translator 1985, p. 415ff. )
Law (2013, p. 97) writes about how the Ancient Greek Septuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew adonai was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments: “Another case is the use of kurios referring to Jesus. For Yahweh (in English Bibles: ‘the Lord‘), the Septuagint uses kurios. Although the term kurios usually has to do with one’s authority over others, when the New Testament authors use this word from the Septuagint to refer to Jesus, they are making an extraordinary claim: Jesus of Nazareth is to be identified with Yahweh.”
See also Father / Lord.
Many languages use a “body part tally system” where body parts function as numerals (see body part tally systems with a description). One such language is Angguruk Yali which uses a system that ends at the number 27. To circumvent this limitation, the Angguruk Yali translators adopted a strategy where a large number is first indicated with an approximation via the traditional system, followed by the exact number according to Arabic numerals. For example, where in 2 Samuel 6:1 it says “thirty thousand” in the English translation, the Angguruk Yali says teng-teng angge 30.000 or “so many rounds [following the body part tally system] 30,000,” likewise, in Acts 27:37 where the number “two hundred seventy-six” is used, the Angguruk Yali translation says teng-teng angge 276 or “so many rounds 276,” or in John 6:10 teng-teng angge 5.000 for “five thousand.”
This strategy is used in all the verses referenced here.
Source: Lourens de Vries in The Bible Translator 1998, p. 409ff.
See also numbers in Ngalum and numbers in Kombai.
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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) can be used, as in mi-mae (御前) or “before (God)” in the referenced verses. In some cases in can also be used in reference to being before a king, such as in 1 Samuel 16:16.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
See also presence (Japanese honorifics) and before you / to you.
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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
For beloved see comments on Jude JUD.1.3.
But do not ignore this one fact recalls verse 5 and deliberately contrasts the attitude of the false teachers with the attitude that the readers of this letter should have. Ignore translates the same word in both verses: in verse 5 the false teachers are accused of deliberate ignorance or neglect; in verse 8 the readers are urged not to do this. Furthermore, in the Greek the plural pronoun “you” is used in verse 8 and placed in the emphatic position, “don’t you ignore,” thus contrasting it with “they” in verse 5; the sense is something like “you yourselves must not do what these false teachers deliberately do.”
Since ignore translates the same word found in verse 5, the interpretation of this word in verse 5 will affect the way it is interpreted in verse 8. It may therefore be advisable to use the same word in both verses in order to reflect this relationship. This is in fact done in many translations: Revised Standard Version ignore, Jerusalem Bible “forget,” New English Bible “lose sight of.”
With the Lord may be rendered as “the way that the Lord thinks” or “the way that the Lord reckons things.”
With the Lord one day is as a thousand years …: the delay of the Parousia can be explained by the fact that the Lord’s way of reckoning time is different from human reckoning and does not conform to human ways of thinking. The statement in this verse is based on Psa 90.4, “A thousand years to you are like one day” (Good News Bible). Most commentaries take the statement to mean that what may seem long to us as people may in fact be short to God, and what may seem short to us may in fact be long to him.
And a thousand years as one day: the repetition of the statement (but in reverse) needs to be noted. Some commentaries and translations take this repetition to be simply stylistic and regard the two parts as parallel to each other. This is the position reflected in Good News Translation “There is no difference in the Lord’s sight between one day and a thousand years; to him the two are the same.” Others take this as emphasizing that on the one hand God is able to act quickly to fulfill his promises (as in verse 10), while on the other hand he gives sufficient time for people to repent (as in verse 9), although for the unrepentant the time is too brief. If this second position is taken, then the two parts of the statement need to be retained in translation. It seems likely, however, that the stylistic interpretation is to be preferred.
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Second Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
3:8–9
These verses contrast with verse 5. Peter said that there would be some things that the people who would scoff would deliberately ignore, but he appealed to the people to whom he sent his letter not to ignore or forget one important fact: God does not count time in the same way that we do. To him one thousand years is not a long time, and one day is not a short time; they are both the same.
Some people thought that Christ was late in fulfilling his promise to return. But Peter said that was not true but that the reason why he had not yet returned was that he was giving people time to repent, because he did not want to condemn and destroy anyone.
3:8a
Beloved: See the note on 3:1a.
do not let this one thing escape your notice: The Greek pronoun that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as your is not translated in most English versions. However, since it shows the contrast with “they” in verse 5, you should make this contrast clear in your translation.
3:8b
With the Lord: “Lord” in this verse and in the next verse may refer to Christ or God, but Bible scholars do not agree on which. These Notes will take “Lord” as referring to Christ in these verses. You may choose either, but be careful to be consistent.
© 2000 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
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.
No comments yet.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.