angel

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The Greek, Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Aramaic that is translated as “angel” in English versions is translated in many ways:

  • Pintupi-Luritja: ngaṉka ngurrara: “one who belongs in the sky” (source: Ken Hansen quoted in Steven 1984a, p. 116.)
  • Tetela, Kpelle, Balinese, and Mandarin Chinese: “heavenly messenger”
  • Shilluk / Igede: “spirit messenger”
  • Mashco Piro: “messenger of God”
  • Batak Toba: “envoy, messenger”
  • Navajo (Dinė): “holy servant” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida 1961; Igede: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
  • Central Mazahua: “God’s worker” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.)
  • Saramaccan: basia u Masa Gaangadu köndë or “messenger from God’s country” (source: Jabini 2015, p. 86)
  • Mairasi: atatnyev nyaa or “sent-one” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “word bringer” (source: James Lauriault in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 32ff. )
  • Apali: “God’s one with talk from the head” (“basically God’s messenger since head refers to any leader’s talk”) (source: Martha Wade)
  • Michoacán Nahuatl: “clean helper of God” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Noongar: Hdjin-djin-kwabba or “spirit good” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Wè Northern (Wɛɛ): Kea ‘a “sooa or “the Lord’s soldier” (also: “God’s soldier” or “his soldier”) (source: Drew Maust)
  • Iwaidja: “a man sent with a message” (Sam Freney explains the genesis of this term [in this article ): “For example, in Darwin last year, as we were working on a new translation of Luke 2:6–12 in Iwaidja, a Northern Territory language, the translators had written ‘angel’ as ‘a man with eagle wings’. Even before getting to the question of whether this was an accurate term (or one that imported some other information in), the word for ‘eagle’ started getting discussed. One of the translators had her teenage granddaughter with her, and this word didn’t mean anything to her at all. She’d never heard of it, as it was an archaic term that younger people didn’t use anymore. They ended up changing the translation of ‘angel’ to something like ‘a man sent with a message’, which is both more accurate and clear.”)

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) is used as in mi-tsukai (御使い) or “messenger (of God).” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Bender / Belt (2025, p. 2f.) report about the translation of “angel” in Cherokee: “In John, the concept of angel is translated using a descriptive neologism rather than a semantic extension, suggesting the lack of a ready parallel. The plural is dmikahnawadidohi, ‘the law-givers’ or ‘those who go around looking after the medicine.’ Cherokee speakers argue that the Cherokee word for ‘law,’ dikahnawadvsdi, expresses the intent to maintain social, physical, and spiritual health and has at its core the word for ‘medicine,’ mwoli, which encompasses all aspects of social and spiritual well-being, including balance and order (Altman and Belt 2009), much more than the English word. Thus, the Cherokee word for ‘angel’ represents a new perspective on this category of spiritual beings named in the Bible. It does not derive from the concept of messenger present in both its Greek (angelos) and Hebrew (malak) antecedents perhaps because the Cherokee word for ‘messenger,’ atsinvsidasdi, is widely used to translate the foreign lexeme ‘servant.'”

See also angel (Acts 12:15) and this devotion on YouVersion .

disappearance

In Gbaya, the notion of the the disappearance of someone is emphasized in the referenced verses with ɓɛlɛm, an ideophone that expresses the disappearance of someone unnoticed or a sudden action such as holding one’s breath.

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

complete verse (Acts 12:10)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 12:10:

  • Uma: “So, they walked going past the soldier who was guarding the first door and the soldier guarding the second door, and they arrived at the iron door, the road/way going into the town. That iron door opened by itself. They continued on through that door and went into the town. Before they had walked very long, the angel all of a sudden vanished, leaving Petrus.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “After they had passed the first guard and then the second, finally they arrived at the iron gate that led out to that city. The gate opened by itself and they went out. They walked following one street then suddenly the angel disappeared.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Now they passed the first guard on their way and then the second, and when they arrived at the iron door of the gate, which faces the city, surprisingly it just opened without anyone opening it, and they went inside. The two of them continued on, and after they had walked for a little while the angel disappeared, and Peter was left there by himself.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “They passed-by the first and second guards, then they arrived at the metal door to go-out to the outside. For-no-reason it opened and they went-out. When they had walked the interval of one street, then the angel disappeared.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “They passed the first and then the second guard. And then they reached the gate which went to the city. Although the gate was iron, when they arrived, it opened by itself. Therefore they went straight out. After going out, they continued walking. But they hadn’t walked far when the angel disappeared.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 12:10

The first guard station can be rendered as “the first group of soldiers who were guarding.” The second can, of course, be “the second group of soldiers who were guarding.”

The mention of the iron gate that opens into the city has caused most commentators to assume that Peter was being held prisoner in the tower of Antonia, located at the northwest corner of the temple area, with gates leading into the temple area and into the city itself.

The iron gate that opens into the city may cause certain difficulties since people will not understand the nature of the prison (or palace) in which Peter had been imprisoned. In some languages the only reasonable equivalent is “door,” but in other instances one can speak of “the iron gate in the wall.” One cannot, however, employ the word opens in a number of languages since this would imply opening into a room but not into the city. One must, therefore, use an expression such as “leads out into the city” or “opens and one may go into the city.”

The gate opened for them by itself may be rendered as “the gate became open but no one had moved it.”

It is held by some that a street (Greek “one street”) may possibly have the meaning of “a certain street.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .