12for our struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
The Greek that is typically translated as “spiritual” in English is translated in Warao as obojona, a term that “includes the concepts of consciousness, will, attitude, attention and a few other miscellaneous notions.” (Source: Henry Osborn in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 74ff. )
The now commonly-used English idiom “flesh and blood” (meaning one’s family member(s) or the human body with its limitations) was first coined in 1382 in the English translation by John Wycliffe (in the spelling fleisch and blood). (Source: Crystal 2010, p. 290)
For other idioms in English that were coined by Bible translation, see here.
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “world” in English is translated in Mandarin Chinese with shìjiè (世界). While shìjiè is now the commonly used term for “world” in Chinese, it was popularized as such by Chinese Bible translations. (Source: Mak 2017, p. 241ff.)
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, translators typically select the inclusive form (including the addressee).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
Following are a number of back-translations of Ephesians 6:12:
Uma: “For in this war of ours, we do not oppose mankind. We oppose those who have authority and powerful ones that are not visible. We oppose the warchiefs of darkness that have power on the earth. We oppose many kinds of demons and evil-ones that have power in the air/sky.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Because our (dual) enemy is not human but the leader of demons and all his servants and they are all bad/evil; their place is there in air-space. They have (supernatural) power and some of them have authority and they rule over all people in darkness here in this world.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For we are not just fighting against people, but we are fighting against evil supernatural powers that dwell in Heaven and those kings which cannot be seen and bosses and those who are in charge of the evil people who are subject to darkness now here on the earth.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Because it’s not people who are our enemies, but rather the leaders and officials of the demons in the sky and the malicious/naughty/bad spirits (collective plural) and the other powerful unseen-ones who rule the people who are still in the darkness on this earth.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “For those who are fighting against us, they are not just people/humans like us, but rather innumerable evil-beings in the atmosphere, ones entering-and-controlling-the-mind and ones not (doing that) who have great knowledge/skill and authority in their respective area-of-jurisdiction here in the world. They are the ones governing the darkness in which people here under heaven are living.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Because concerning the war that we are in, it is not our fellowmen that we are at war with, rather those we are at war with are the evil spirits who have power, in that they rule the evil there is here in the earth. They go about above everywhere.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
We: so all modern editions of the Greek New Testament; some very good Greek manuscripts (including (P46) and Vaticanus) and some ancient versions (including Old Latin, Syriac) have “you.”
Fighting translates a Greek noun which occurs only here in the New Testament; it means properly “wrestling,” a hand-to-hand fight (see Barth). But in the context, with the picture of a soldier armed for combat, it is inappropriate to use the specific word for “wrestling,” and a more general term is called for: “to struggle, fight, battle against.”
Human beings translates the phrase “blood and flesh” (as in Heb 2.14); the usual order is “flesh and blood” (see 1 Cor 15.50; Gal 1.16). The phrase against human beings may be best rendered as “against other people.”
The rest of the verse in Greek is “but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the evil spiritual beings in the heavenly world” (see a comparable list in 2.2). Good News Translation has changed the order of the various titles so that their evil and otherworldly nature will be apparent at once.
The wicked spiritual forces: these, as the others, were thought of as angels or lesser gods, evil beings who are opposed to God and his will for mankind. In many languages “spirits that do evil things” will be the best way to represent the meaning.
For the heavenly world see 1.3, 20; 2.6; 3.10.
For rulers, authorities see the same two nouns in 3.10 (also Col 2.15).
In a number of languages the closest equivalent of wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world is “wicked demons in the sky.” Then the three classifications the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers may be rendered as “who rule and have authority and are strong.”
Cosmic powers translates a word used only here in the New Testament; Revised Standard Version, Translator’s New Testament “world rulers”; Barth “overlords.” A number of savior gods of other religions had the name “the world ruler”; in most instances this “world ruler” god was identified with the sun (see Beare; Barth, pages 802-803).
Translators should not use a word for cosmic powers which would indicate an earthly ruler. They might say “gods or spirits that rule in this world”; but if “gods” is a problem, they could say “spiritual forces that people worship” or “spiritual forces that rule over people.”
Of this dark age translates the Greek “of this darkness.” This may be rendered as “of this dark time in which we live” or “in these days in which we live, which are like night.”
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1982. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
For: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as For here introduces the basis or reason for the previous statement. What Paul said in 6:12 was the basis for what he told the Ephesians in 6:11, “take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Not all English versions translate this conjunction. Translate For in a way that is natural in your language.
Here are some other ways to translate this in English:
Because
-or-
The reason ⌊I say this is that⌋
our struggle is not against flesh and blood: In this context, struggle refers to a fight or conflict. Paul was saying that we do fight, but that we are not fighting against other people.
You may want to change the noun struggle into a verb. For example:
we are not fighting against human beings (Good News Translation)
But make sure that your translation is clear: Paul was not saying “we are not fighting…” He said that we do fight, but we don’t fight against ordinary people. For example:
⌊For it is like we are in a battle.⌋ But it is not people we are fighting. No, we are fighting…
flesh and blood: The phrase flesh and blood is a figure of speech that refers to human beings or people. See flesh, Meaning 4, in the Glossary for more information.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
people on earth (New Century Version)
-or-
human beings (Good News Translation)
Here is another way to translate all of 6:12a:
The fight we are in, is not a fight with people of the earth, no it’s with…
6:12b–c
against the rulers…the authorities…the powers…the spiritual forces: This list of four terms refers to all ranks of evil spirits that are ruling our world. The list does not refer to earthly rulers. This list is very similar to the list in 1:21a. See how you translated them there.
Also see the notes below for more information on these four terms and for translation advice at the end of this note.
6:12b
against: Paul repeated the word against four times in this sentence: “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers…against the spiritual forces….” This repetition is emphatic. Look for ways to communicate this emphasis in your language. Perhaps you will want to repeat the verb “fight,” for example:
⌊We are fighting⌋ ⌊the invisible⌋ ones who have authority and power. ⌊We are fighting⌋ the chiefs of darkness that rule in this world. ⌊We are fighting⌋ all kinds of evil spirits that control the sky.
Or you could repeat the first clause:
⌊We are fighting⌋ against the rulers, authorities, powers of this dark world, and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. ⌊It is against all these that we are fighting.⌋
rulers…authorities: The first two words Paul used, rulers and authorities, are the same words he used in 1:21a and 3:10b. The words rulers and authorities in this verse refer to all types of evil spirit beings.
powers of this world’s darkness: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates of this world’s darkness is literally “of this darkness.”
There is an interpretation issue here.
(1) Most versions translate this phrase so that “dark/darkness” refers to the world. For example:
against mighty powers in this dark world (New Living Translation (2004))
(Berean Standard Bible, New Living Translation (2004), New International Version, Revised Standard Version. NET Bible, God’s Word, New Century Version, New Jerusalem Bible)
(2) Another interpretation is the darkness refers to “this age.” For example:
this dark age (Good News Translation)
It is recommended that you follow (1) as it is supported by a majority of translations.
The word darkness is a metaphor for evil here, as in 5:8–11. This phrase means “the world-chiefs or powerful spiritual beings who rule this dark (evil) world.” See world, Meaning 2 in the Glossary for more information.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
mighty powers in this dark world (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
the powers who govern this world of darkness (God’s Word)
6:12c
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms: The phrase spiritual forces of evil is another way of saying evil spirits or demons. These evil spirits are in the heavenly realms.
Here are some other ways to translate spiritual forces of evil :
spiritual powers of evil (New Century Version)
-or-
evil spirits (New Living Translation (2004))
in the heavenly realms: The phrase the heavenly realms refer to the area above the earth where the spirits were thought to live. This does not refer to heaven where God is. The term in the heavenly realms also occurs in 3:10b.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
above the earth from the very headquarters of evil (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
In the spiritual world (Contemporary English Version)
General Comment on 6:12a–c
It is not necessary to find an equivalent term in your language for each of these four terms listed above. It is possible to translate these four terms by one, two or three terms. For example:
Because our enemy is not human but the leader of demons and all his servants and they are all bad/evil; their place is there in the sky. They have supernatural power and some of them have authority and they rule over all people in darkness here in this world.
-or-
For we are not fighting against people, but we are fighting against evil supernatural powers that dwell above the earth. These spiritual forces rule over people during these dark days in which we live.
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