Lord

Click here to view graphically

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:

  • referring to “God,” especially in Old Testament quotations,
  • meaning “master” or “owner,” especially in parables, etc.,
  • as a form of address (see for instance John 4:11: “Sir, you have no bucket”),
  • or, most often, referring to Jesus

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).

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight

Following are some of the solutions that don’t rely on a different typographical display (see above):

  • Navajo (Dinė): “the one who has charge”
  • Mossi: “the one who has the head” (the leader)
  • Uduk: “chief”
  • Guerrero Amuzgo: “the one who commands”
  • Kpelle: “person-owner” (a term which may be applied to a chief)
  • Central Pame: “the one who owns us” (or “commands us”)
  • Piro: “the big one” (used commonly of one in authority)
  • San Blas Kuna: “the great one over all” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Guhu-Samane: Soopara (“our Supervisor”) (source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.)
  • Balinese: “Venerated-one” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Yanesha’: “the one who carries us” (source: Nida 1952, p. 159)
  • Northern Emberá: Dadjirã Boro (“our Head”)
  • Rarotongan: Atu (“master or owner of a property”)
  • Gilbertese: Uea (“a person of high status invested with authority to rule the people”)
  • Rotuman: Gagaja (“village chief”)
  • Samoan: Ali’i (“an important word in the native culture, it derives from the Samoan understanding of lordship based on the local traditions”)
  • Tahitian: Fatu (“owner,” “master”)
  • Tuvalu: Te Aliki (“chief”)
  • Fijian: Liuliu (“leader”) (source for this and six above: Joseph Hong in The Bible Translator 1994, p. 329ff. )
  • Bacama: Həmə miye: “owner of people” (source: David Frank in this blog post )
  • Hopi: “Controller” (source: Walls 2000, p. 139)
  • Iyansi: Mwol. Mwol is traditionally used for the “chief of a group of communities and villages” with legal, temporal, and spiritual authority (versus the “mfum [the term used in other Bantu languages] which is used for the chief of one community of people in one village”). Mwol is also used for twins who are “treated as special children, highly honored, and taken care of like kings and queens.” (Source: Kividi Kikama in Greed / Kruger, p. 396ff.)
  • Ghomala’: Cyəpɔ (“he who is above everyone,” consisting of the verb cyə — to surpass or go beyond — and pɔ — referring to people. No human can claim this attribute, no matter what his or her social status or prestige.” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn )
  • Binumarien: Karaambaia: “fight-leader” (Source: Oates 1995, p. 255)
  • Warlpiri: Warlaljamarri (owner or possessor of something — for more information tap or click here)

    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. )

  • Mairasi: Onggoao Nem (“Throated One” — “Leader,” “Elder”) or Enggavot Nan (“Above-One”) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Obolo: Okaan̄-ene (“Owner of person(s)”) (source: Enene Enene)
  • Angami Naga: Niepu (“master,” “owner”)
  • Lotha Naga: Opvui (“owner of house / field / cattle”) — since both “Lord” and YHWH are translated as Opvui there is an understanding that “Opvui Jesus is the same as the Opvui of the Old Testament”
  • Ao Naga: Kibuba (“human master,” “teacher,” “owner of property,” etc.) (source for this and two above: Nitoy Achumi in The Bible Translator 1992 p. 438ff. )
  • Seediq: Tholang, loan word from Min Nan Chinese (the majority language in Taiwan) thâu-lâng (頭儂): “Master” (source: Covell 1998, p. 248)
  • Thai: phra’ phu pen cao (พระผู้เป็นเจ้า) (divine person who is lord) or ong(kh) cao nay (องค์เจ้านาย) (<divine classifier>-lord-boss) (source: Stephen Pattemore)
  • Arabic often uses different terms for adonai or kurios referring to God (al-rabb الرب) and kurios referring to Jesus (al-sayyid الـسـيـد). Al-rabb is also the term traditionally used in Arabic Christian-idiom translations for YHWH, and al-sayyid is an honorary term, similar to English “lord” or “sir” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin).
  • Tamil also uses different terms for adonai/kurios when referring to God and kurios when referring to Jesus. The former is Karttar கர்த்தர், a Sanskrit-derived term with the original meaning of “creator,” and the latter in Āṇṭavar ஆண்டவர், a Tamil term originally meaning “govern” or “reign” (source: Natarajan Subramani).
  • Burunge: Looimoo: “owner who owns everything” (in the Burunge Bible translation, this term is only used as a reference to Jesus and was originally used to refer to the traditional highest deity — source: Michael Endl in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 48)
  • Yagaria: Souve, originally “war lord” (source: Renck, p. 94)
  • Aguacateco: Ajcaw ske’j: “the one to whom we belong and who is above us” (source: Rita Peterson in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 49)
  • Konkomba: Tidindaan: “He who is the owner of the land and reigns over the people” (source: Lidorio 2007, p. 66)
  • Chichewa: Ambuye Ambuye comes from the singular form Mbuye which is used to refer to: (1) someone who is a guardian or protector of someone or group of people — a grandparent who has founded a community or village; (2) someone who is a boss or master over a group of people or servants and has absolute control over them; (3) owner of something, be it a property, animals and people who are bound under his/her rule — for people this was mostly commonly used in the context of slaves and their owner. In short, Mbuye is someone who has some authorities over those who call him/her their “Mbuye.” Now, when the form Ambuye is used it will either be for honorific when used for singular or plural when referring to more than one person. When this term is used in reference to God, it is for respect to God as he is acknowledged as a guardian, protector, and ruler of everything. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation).
  • Hdi uses rveri (“lion”) as a title of respect and as such it regularly translates adon in the Old Testament. As an address, it’s most often with a possessive pronoun as in rvera ɗa (“my lion” = “my lord” or “sir”). So, for example, Genesis 15:2 (“O Lord God”) is Rvera ɗa Yawe (“My lion Yahweh”) or Ruth to Boaz in Ruth 2:13: “May I find your grace [lit. good-stomach] my lion.” This ties in nicely with the imagery of the Lord roaring like a lion (Hosea 11:10; Amos 3:8; Joel 3:16). Better still, this makes passages like Revelation 5:5 even richer when we read about rveri ma taba məndəra la Yuda, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah”. In Revelation 19:16, Jesus is rveri ta ghəŋa rveriha “the lion above lions” (“lord of lords”). (Source: Drew Maust)

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.

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 31:15

Thus says the Lord GOD: This traditional prophetic formula is repeated as the prophecy against the large cedar tree comes to a climax (see the comments on verse 10).

When it goes down to Sheol refers to the cedar tree dying and going down to the place of the dead. Sheol is the place where the Hebrews believed that dead people went to, although sometimes it can mean “the grave” (New International Reader’s Version, King James Version). It is not the same as the Christian concept of “hell” (New King James Version ) and should not be translated as that. Here Sheol may be rendered “the world of the dead” (Good News Translation), “where the dead are” (International Children’s Bible), or “the underworld.”

I will make the deep mourn for it: For the deep, see Ezek 31.4. Revised Standard Version follows the Septuagint here instead of the Hebrew text, which is literally “I caused to mourn, I covered the deep/great ocean over it.” The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain. Only a few translations try to render it as it stands; for example, International Children’s Bible says “I made people cry loudly. I covered the deep springs,” and New King James Version has “I caused mourning. I covered the deep because of it” (similarly King James Version). The Hebrew expression for “I covered the deep over it” can mean either that God made the underground water flow over the cedar tree and submerge it (so Good News Translation, which renders both clauses here as “I will make the underground waters cover it as a sign of mourning”), or that God covered the underground water with something because of the death of the tree (so New International Version with “I covered the deep springs with mourning for it”).

Other translations take a different approach to this part of the verse. Some take the Hebrew root of the first verb to mean “dry up” instead of mourn; for example, New International Reader’s Version says “On that day I dried up the deep springs of water and covered them.” However, this sense of the verb is so rare that it is best not to use it. Some relate this verb to a similar word in Aramaic and Akkadian that means “gate” and as a verb “shut like a gate”; for example, New English Bible says “I closed the deep over him as a gate” (similarly New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), and Block has “I shut off [the water supply], and I covered it with the deep.” This meaning is basically guesswork. Still others omit the second Hebrew verb “covered” (so Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation, Christian Community Bible, Moffatt, Septuagint), which results in the sense that God made the underground ocean mourn for the fallen cedar tree; for example, Christian Community Bible says “I made the depths mourn for it,” and New Living Translation has “I made the deep springs mourn.” However, there is no textual reason to omit this word (so Hebrew Old Testament Text Project), and a reasonable meaning can be found for this part of the verse in Hebrew, as the following model of the second sentence of this verse shows:

• When that cedar tree went down to the place of the dead, I caused there to be mourning [or, I made the world/people cry and weep]. I covered the underground ocean [with mourning] for it [or, I made the underground ocean mourn for it].

And restrain its rivers refers to God making the streams of the underground ocean stop flowing. These rivers were the currents of water that watered the cedar tree while it was growing (see Ezek 31.4). New Living Translation renders this clause as “I held its streams back” (similarly New International Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Translators may say “I stopped the streams under the earth from flowing.”

And many waters shall be stopped refers to God stopping the flow of the abundant water that had made the tree grow its long, beautiful branches (see verses 5 and 7). New International Reader’s Version says “I shut off its rich supply of water,” and New Century Version has “and the great waters stopped flowing.”

I will clothe Lebanon in gloom for it: Good News Translation says “I will bring darkness over the Lebanon Mountains.” Although the Hebrew verb rendered clothe … in darkness basically refers to physical darkness (compare 32.7-8), here it carries the sense of mourning, so Contemporary English Version says “The mountains in Lebanon will be covered with darkness as a sign of their sorrow.” New Living Translation has “I clothed Lebanon in black,” which personifies Lebanon and effectively combines the physical sense of darkness with the Western custom of dressing in black while in mourning. Translators are encouraged to find similar effective means to convey both senses. For Lebanon see Ezek 31.3. For it means “because of the death of the cedar tree,” as in the first half of the verse.

And all the trees of the field shall faint because of it: God continues to personify nature, here the trees of the field, that is, all the trees in the bush (see Ezek 31.4 and 17.24), saying that they felt faint, as people do when they hear that someone has died. If it is unnatural in a language to personify trees in this way, terms for faint that are more appropriate to trees may be used, for example, “wilt” (New Living Translation, New King James Version , New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible), “wither” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version), “dry up” (New International Reader’s Version, International Children’s Bible), and “droop” (New American Bible, Moffatt). Because of it means “because of the death of the cedar tree.”

The second half of this verse may be translated as follows:

• I stopped the rivers under the earth from flowing; I stopped the streams that watered the tree from flowing. The mountains of Lebanon were covered in darkness as they mourned for the cedar tree. The trees lost their strength because of it.

In Hebrew the tenses of the verbs in this verse are all past. Most translations render them like that, but Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and Contemporary English Version use the future to show that the events had not yet happened (see the comments on verses 11-13). Translators need to choose the tense of their verbs carefully to make sure that the meaning is clear. This applies also in verses 16-17.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .