16for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him.
Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Aramaic all have one term only that refers to what can be expressed in English as “sky” or “heaven(s)” (as a physical and spiritual entity). While there is a slight overlap between the meaning of the two English terms, “sky” (from Old Norse sky meaning “cloud”) typically refers to the physical entity, and “heaven” (from Old English heofon meaning “home of God”) typically refers to the spiritual entity. While this enriches the English lexicon, it also forces English Bible translators to make decisions that can be found only in the context in the Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic texts. Most versions tend to use “heaven(s)” even if the meaning is likely “sky,” but the Contemporary English Version (NT: 1991, OT: 1995, DC: 1999) is an English translation that attempted to be more specific in the separation of the two meanings and was used as the basis for the links to verses used for this and this record (“sky”).
Norm Mundhenk (in The Bible Translator 2006, p. 92ff. ) describes the difficulty that English translations face (click or tap here to see more):
“A number of years ago an old lady asked me a question. What did Jesus mean when he said, ‘Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away’? I do not remember what answer I gave, but I was surprised at how concerned she seemed to be about the verse. It was only later, after I had left her, that I suddenly realized what it was that she was so concerned about. She knew that death could not be far away, and all her life she had looked forward to being with God in heaven. But this verse said that ‘heaven will pass away’! What did that mean for her hopes? In fact, of course, in this verse Jesus was talking about the skies or the heavens, not about Heaven as the place of God’s presence. If I had realized the problem in time, I could easily have set the lady’s mind at rest on this question that was troubling her so much. However, I suspect that she is not the only person to be misled by the wording of this verse. Therefore, it is very surprising to find that even today many English versions (including the New International Version, New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, Good News Translation) still say ‘heaven and earth’ in verses like Matt 24:35 and its parallels (Mark 13:31 and Luke 21:33). The Contemporary English Version (CEV) and Phillips’ translation seem to be aware of the problem, and in Mark 13:31 both of these have ‘earth and sky’ instead of ‘heaven and earth.’ But in some other passages (such as Matt 5:18) the traditional wording is still found in both of those translations. The New Century Version (NCV) does have ‘earth and sky’ more consistently, and the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) has ‘sky and earth’ in these passages. (Although ‘sky and earth’ is closer to the Greek, it seems more natural in English to say ‘earth and sky’; but either way, at least the meaning is correct.)
“Louw and Nida’s Lexical Semantics of the Greek New Testament (publ. 1992) suggests that the Greek expression being translated here, ho ouranos kai he ge is ‘a more or less fixed phrase equivalent to a single lexical unit’ and that it means everything that God created, that is, the universe. They then quote Mark 13:31 as an example, using ‘heaven and earth’ in their translation of it. However, they go on to say that there ‘may be certain complications involved in rendering ho ouranos kai he ge as ‘heaven and earth,’ since ‘heaven’ might be interpreted in some languages as referring only to the dwelling place of God himself. The referents in this passage are ‘the sky and the earth,’ in other words, all of physical existence, but not the dwelling place of God, for the latter would not be included in what is destined to pass away.’ In my opinion, English itself is one of the languages where the word ‘heaven’ will be interpreted as referring only to the dwelling place of God himself, and translations into English should not use ‘heaven’ in these passages. It is probably because these passages are so very familiar that translators do not realize the meaning they are giving their readers when they use the expression ‘heaven and earth’ here. In modern English we might talk about a rocket ‘soaring into the heavens,’ but we would certainly not describe it as ‘soaring into heaven,’ because ‘heaven’ is not another way of referring to the sky or to outer space.
“In fact, it is surely important in all languages to have some way of distinguishing the concept of ‘sky’ from the concept of ‘dwelling place of God.’ In these passages translators should never use a term meaning ‘the dwelling place of God.’ It may not be necessary to use a term meaning ‘sky’ either, if there is some other expression in the language which gives the correct meaning of ‘everything that has been created’ or ‘the universe.’ There are of course places in the New Testament where Heaven, as the place where God lives, is contrasted with the earth. In these passages, translators should be careful to give the correct meaning. A good example of this is in the Lord’s Prayer, in Matt 6:10: ‘Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’ Similarly, 1 Cor 15:47 says that ‘the first man [a reference to Adam] was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.’ Passages like these are referring to Heaven, not to the sky. Other NT passages where heaven refers to God’s dwelling place, in contrast with earth, are Matt 5:34-35, 16:19, 18:18, Acts 7:49, James 5:12, and Rev 5:3.
“Sometimes in the New Testament, the word ‘heaven’ is used because of the Jewish reluctance to use the name of God. ‘Heaven’ in these cases is used in place of ‘God’ and refers to God himself. This is the case in the many references in Matthew to ‘the kingdom of heaven’ where other gospels have ‘the kingdom of God’ (e.g., compare Matt 4:17 with its parallels in Mark 1:15 and Luke 10:9). It is also most likely the case in references like Matt 16:1, Luke 20:4, 5, John 3:27, and even perhaps Col 1:5.
“There are some places, such as Matt 11:25, where God is called ‘Lord of heaven and earth.’ Since God is of course the Lord of Heaven as well as of the universe, it may not matter so much which interpretation is given in these passages (others are Luke 10:21 and Acts 17:24). Nevertheless, the intended meaning here is likely to be ‘the universe.’ This is because this expression in Greek, as Louw and Nida say, is a set expression referring to everything that has been created. Acts 17:24 in fact combines the idea of the creation of the universe with the idea of God as Master or Lord of the universe. (…)
“Old Testament background The use of ‘heaven and earth’ in the New Testament is very similar to what we find in the Old Testament, because it is largely based on the Old Testament.
“The Old Testament begins with the story of creation, which is presented as the creation of the heavens and the earth, with lights to shine in the heavens and give light to the earth. Birds are created to live in the heavens, animals to live on earth, and fish to live in the sea (Gen 1:1-2:4).
“As we can see from the way the creation story is told, it is meant to be understood as the creation of the universe. Although in English the regions above the earth have traditionally been called ‘the heavens’ in the story of creation, they cannot be called ‘Heaven,’ in the sense of the place where God dwells. In terms of modern English, it would probably be better to say ‘the sky and the earth’ or ‘the earth and the sky.’ The story of creation then becomes an important theme throughout the Old Testament. (…)
“In most passages, whether in the Old Testament or the New Testament, when ‘heaven and earth’ or ‘the heavens and the earth’ are mentioned, the meaning is the created universe. It is not a reference to Heaven, as the dwelling place of God. In English, translators have not been careful to keep this distinction clear, and this is probably true in many other languages as well. However, as we have seen, this can lead to real confusion for ordinary Bible readers. It is better if translators find ways to make the meaning clear in these passages. ‘Heaven’ should be mentioned only in passages which clearly mean the dwelling place of God. In other passages, an expression should be used which means only ‘sky.’ Or else, the whole expression ‘heaven and earth’ can be translated in a way to show that the whole universe is meant.”
Other languages that have a semantic distinction similar to English include (click or tap here to see more):
Mossi: saase — “sky”; nyingeri — “the up above”(source for Loma and Mossi: Bratcher/Nida)
Roviana: mamaṉa — “sly”; maṉauru — “heaven” (an old word, meaning “empty, open space of the sky”) (source: Carl Gross)
Kayaw: mô̄la or “canopy-under”/mô̄khû̄la or “canopy-above-under” — “sky” (atmosphere where there is just air); mô̄khû̄ or “canopy-on/above” — “heaven” (invisible abode of God and angels)
Mairasi: Sinyavi — an indigenous term that is used for both “sky” and heaven”; Surga — loanword from Sanskrit via Indonesian referring to “heaven” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Kupsabiny: “up” for “sky” vs. “God’s Homestead” for “heaven” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
In some languages, such as Yagaria, a term that was originally used as “sky” (gokudana) was adopted by the Christian community as “heaven.” This resulted in a language shift so that now all communities uses “empty space / air” (galogina or hakalogina) as “sky” and gokudana is exclusively used for the Christian concept of heaven. (Source: Renck 1990, p. 133)
Many languages follow the original biblical languages in not making that distinction, such as (click or tap here to see more):
Cherokee: galaladi (ᎦᎸᎳᏗ) or “up” — Bender / Belt (2025, p. 23) note that there is a related term — galvlohi (ᎦᎸᎶᎯ) — that is used “for the upperworld of Cherokee cosmology, [but] was not used, possibly to communicate a sharp distinction.
In some languages, such as Wandala, the vocabulary for terms for either “heaven” or “sky” is much richer than just to include those two distinction. While zhegela, the term that is specifically used for the physical sky was only used in early translations of the New Testament for “sky,” other terms such as samaya (used for both “sky” and “heaven” — employed for instance in Matthew 10:32f.), zlanna (specifically used for the perfect abode of God and the goal of the faithful, as in Matthew 8:11), kwárá (a locational term used to speak of a chief’s rule [lit., “voice”] such as Matthew 3:2), or sleksire (“chieftaincy,” “kingship,” or “royalty” [originally from slekse “chief”] and used where there are no locational overtones, such as in Matthew 16:28) are used. (Source: Mona Perrin in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 51ff.)
Under the auspices of the Dhama Mate Swe Association , a new Burmese translation of the New Testament was published in 2024 which uses terminology that attempts to overcome “insurmountable barriers to the Buddhist world.” One term that this version uses is ရွှေမြို့တော် (shway myahoettaw) or “Golden City” for “heaven,” referring it to the golden city described in Revelation 21 but at the same time using a Buddhist term for a desired destination that does not have the Buddhist connotation of ကောင်း ကင် (kaungg kain) as being the Trāyastriṃśa (တာဝတိံသာ) heaven, home of Śakra/Indra. This Burmese translation formed the basis of translations of parts of the New Testament into other languages spoken in Burma, including Sumtu Chin, Ekai Chin, Songlai Chin, Danau, Kadu, Kanan, Khün, Lahta Karen, Rakhine, Marma (Northern Rakhine), Riang Lai, Samtao, Shwe Palaung, Tai Laing, Taungyo, Intha, Danu, Tavoyan (Dawei), and Chak (Thet). (Source: Jay Pratt)
The English translation by Sarah Ruden (2021) uses “sky” throughout. Ruden explains (p. li): “The Greek word ouranos refers evenhandedly to the physical sky and the place—often pictured as a royal court — where supreme divinity resides. ‘Sky’ seems generally better, first of all in avoiding the wackier modern imagery that comes with the English ‘heaven.’ And even when a supernatural realm is meant, ‘sky’ will often do, because the divine realm was thought to be located there, in addition to the weather and the heavenly bodies, whereas ‘heaven’ to us is fundamentally a religious term, and the ancients did not tend to separate linguistic domains in this way. I have retained the plural ‘skies’ where I see it in the Greek, because it is a Hebraism familiar in English translations of scripture and (I hope) not too archaic or jarring.”
Following are a number of back-translations of Colossians 1:16:
Uma: “For he is the one used-as-a-hand by God to create all that is, both in heaven and on earth, that which is seen and that which is not seen. All the angels and karampua [type of supernatural being, like a "god"], all that are powerful and have authority–he created everything with his power and according to his will.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “All things in the sky and here on earth, all things seen by human beings and the things which are not seen, all those who are ruling including the angels and the various kinds of evil spirits (lit. ones-who-tempt) were created by Almasi from the command of God and so that Almasi will be honored/made great.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “for by means of the Son of God, God created everything in Heaven and here on earth; those things which people can see and also those unseen supernatural beings that have authority and jurisdiction and rule. As for the Son, His Father God caused Him to make everything so that He might use everyone of these things He created.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Because he of course is the one whom-God -caused-to-create all that exists in heaven and on the earth that can-be-seen and can-not -be-seen along with all the leaders and officials of the angels and other unseen-ones. Even anything that exists, it was created because of him and for him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Because Cristo really is the one who created all these in heaven/sky and here in the world, those which we can see and those which, although they can’t be seen, have big strength and authority in their areas-of-jurisdiction. Really as for all things, he indeed is their origination and they are all the means-of-his -being-praised.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “On account of Jesus Christ there came to be all that has been made in heaven and all that there is on earth. These are all the things we see and also what we do not see. On account of him there live those who govern, and there live all those who are bosses. Because it was Christ who made all that there is. And it is he who rules all things.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The Greek that is translated in English as the singular “heaven” but is actually a plural form in the original Greek is translated in that plural form in the Greek original (ouranōn or ouranois instead of the singular ouranos) are translated in the German translation by Fridolin Stier (1989) as the plural form “heavens” ((die) Himmel). Note that this is particularly often used in the Gospel of Matthew (see the referenced verses). The German translation of Walter Jens (publ. 1998) translates likewise.
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. ).
For through him: the Greek “in” is probably instrumental (as “in whom” in verse 14), “by means of” (GoodspeedPhillips “through”); Barclay “the agent by whom”; but Translator’s New TestamentMoffattNew International Version have “by.” But the preposition normally used to convey the meaning “through” is dia (as in the last line of this verse; compare Heb 1.2; John 1.3, 10; 1 Cor 8.6). In light of this, some see “in him” here as the sphere in which creation took place; so Beare and Moule, who combine the two: “by means of him and within him.” But this spatial concept is unusual, to say the least. It could be “in union with him,” but this is not expressed in any translation.
The problem of primary and secondary agency expressed in the phrase through him God created everything must often be rather radically restructured to communicate the same set of relations. In some instances, this is best expressed by a set of causative relationships, for example, “God caused Christ to create everything.” In other instances, the relationship is expressed by a somewhat idiomatic syntactic structure “God created everything; Christ did it.” Some languages, however, prefer to introduce a secondary agency with the verb “to help,” for example, “God created everything with Christ helping him.” None of these expressions are to be taken in a strictly literal sense; they are only different ways in which one may refer to the primary agent and the secondary agent of an action.
Everything in heaven and on earth must be expanded, in some instances, to read “everything which exists in heaven and everything which exists on earth.” A literal rendering of this expression might mean those things which exist at the same time both in heaven and on earth, which is obviously not the meaning of the Greek phrase.
In choosing an equivalent expression for everything, it is important not to restrict the meaning to inanimate objects, for as the rest of the sentence clearly indicates, the spiritual powers are regarded as having certain aspects of personality.
The seen and the unseen things may be rendered as “what can be seen and what cannot be seen” or “what people can see and what people cannot see.”
The rest of the sentence (Good News Translation) expresses the totality of creation, the whole universe, as we would say today, including all supernatural powers. Four terms are used in Greek with no precise distinction intended; see comparable lists in Rom 8.38; 1 Cor 15.24; Eph 1.21, 3.10, 6.12; Col 2.10, 15; 1 Peter 3.22. They denote supernatural creatures, conceived of as angels (in their various ranks) in Jewish thought, or as lesser gods or powers, in Greek philosophy. In this passage, they are treated as existing and as morally neutral (whether good or bad is not in question), but they are included among created beings, that is, without independent existence apart from God. As with all other created beings, they are dependent on and subordinate to God.
A translation need not use four separate titles to describe these beings; compare Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “the unseen Powers and Authorities.”
It may be practically impossible to translate literally spiritual powers, lords, rulers, and authorities. The term powers normally expresses a quality of something else while the adjective spiritual really refers to “spirit beings.” It may, therefore, be important to reverse the attributive relationships and talk about “including spirits which are powerful, govern, rule, and exercise authority.” In some instances, it may be important to indicate something of the realm in which such spirits function. Therefore, one may say “in the region between heaven and earth,” since in ancient times such spirit beings were regarded as having their realm of authority over the earth.
The last sentence summarizes the thought of the first part of the verse. God created here represents the perfect passive of the verb, whereas in the first part of the verse, it is the aorist passive; it is possible that a distinction is intended, that is, “created” and “has created” (but see Turner Moulton III, 68-70). In both instances, the passive voice in Greek is used to expresses divine activity. The new element is for him (also PhillipsNew International VersionTranslator’s New TestamentNew English BibleJerusalem BibleNew American Bible, etc.), which is not an entirely adequate representation of the preposition eis, which indicates purpose or goal. The whole line is better represented by Barclay, “He is the agent and goal of all creation.” That is, creation finds its purpose, its goal, its finality in Christ. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “God has created everything through him, and everything has its goal in him.”
The rendering of God created the whole universe through him must be expressed in essentially the same way as the similar statement at the beginning of verse 16. The phrase the whole universe may be rendered simply as “everything that exists” or, as in some languages, “the earth and the heavens.”
The phrase for him may be simply rendered as “for his benefit.” To say literally that “everything has its goal in him” is extremely difficult to express in some languages. One might approximate this meaning by employing a phrase such as “Christ is the purpose for which everything exists,” but this likewise may be relatively meaningless. Perhaps the closest equivalent would really be “the purpose of everything is to honor Christ.”
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Colossians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
For: In this clause Paul explains the reason why Christ has supreme authority over all that has been created. It is because he is the creator of all things.
in Him all things were created: Here Paul says that all things were created in him. Later in 1:16e, Paul said that all things were created through him. Both imply that God created all things by means of Christ. However, the Bible never explains exactly how this happened. The important thing is that Christ was present when God created the world and played an active role in that event. You could translate it like this:
God created all things by means of Christ.
Another possible way to express this is:
God caused him ⌊Christ⌋ to create all things.
in Him: In the Greek text, Paul placed the phrase in Him at the beginning of the clause to emphasize it. You should emphasize this phrase in your translation, too.
were created: This is often a difficult word to translate. It means, “to cause something to begin to exist.” It means more than “to make something from existing materials.” If the verb your language uses for “to make” can include both meanings of “to create” listed above, then you can use it here.
1:16b
things in heaven and on earth: In 1:16a Paul said that God created “all things” by means of Christ. The expression here, things in heaven and on earth, is another way to say “all things.”
1:16c
visible and invisible: This refers to the things people can see and those they cannot see. There are two ways to understand how this part of the verse connects to 1:16b:
(1) When Paul said visible and invisible, he again meant all things. Everything that God created belongs to the group of things we can see or to the group of things we cannot see.
(2) When Paul said visible and invisible, he was restating 1:16b in the opposite order (this is called a chiastic structure). Therefore, invisible things is equivalent to “things in heaven,” and visible things is equivalent to “things on earth.”
Both these options are possible and have strong support among the commentaries. The Display follows the first option (1). If you wish to follow the second option (2), you could say:
He created the things in heaven that we cannot see, and the things on earth that we can see.
Whichever option you choose, the important thing is to clarify that God, by means of Christ, created everything.
1:16d
thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities: Most Biblical scholars believe this is a specific list of the “invisible” things Paul mentioned in 1:16c, but no one is certain about the identity of each of these groups. Paul was not teaching here about the different types of leaders among the angels and spirits. He simply wanted to emphasize that all of them, even the most powerful and important ones, were created by means of Christ.
1:16e
All things: Here in 1:16e, Paul put the words All things at the beginning of this clause to emphasize them. Try to emphasize these words in a natural way in your translation.
through Him: Although the Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates through in this phrase is different from the word “in” in 1:16a, the meaning is the same.
for Him: This means that Christ is the goal of all creation. In other words, God created all things “for his benefit.” You could also translate this, “to honor him” or “to serve him.”
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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