The name that is transliterated as “Judah” or “Judea” in English (referring to the son of Jacob, the tribe, and the territory) is translated in Spanish Sign Language as “lion” (referring to Genesis 49:9 and Revelation 5:5). This sign for lion is reserved for regions and kingdoms. (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. and Steve Parkhurst)
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):
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”), 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, 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.”
The name that is transliterated as “Zerubbabel” or “Shealtiel” in English is translated in Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) with a sign that combines “begotten” (the name means “begotten in Babylon”) and a reference that he led the first group that left the city of Babylon to build the second Temple in Jerusalem (see Ezra 3:8). (Source: Missão Kophós )
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Haggai 2:21:
Kupsabiny: “In that twenty-fourth day of that month, God told Haggai another message again to tell to Zerubbabel the king of Judah. He said, ‘It is near for me to shake up/heaven and down/earth.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “‘Tell Zerubbabel, governor of Judah I will shake the heavens and the earth.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “He said, ‘Tell Zerubabel that I will-shake the heavens and the earth.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “He said, ‘Tell Zerubbabel the governor of Judah that I am going to shake the sky and the earth.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
The word of the LORD came a second time to Haggai: The Hebrew expression for The word of the LORD came … to Haggai is the same as in verse 10. See the comments on that verse. In the present context, the phrase a second time is added. In some languages this may be translated simply as “again” (Contemporary English Version).
On the twenty-fourth day of the month: Good News Translation makes it clear that the date of this last message is the same as that of the previous one by saying “On that same day” before repeating the date, “the twenty-fourth of the month” (compare verse 10). This was December 18, 520 B.C.
“Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying…”: We may note that as in verses 10-11, the Hebrew here has a quotation within a quotation. Double quotations of this kind are unnatural in many languages, and Good News Translation has restructured so as to have only a single quotation. Contemporary English Version uses a colon () at the end of verse 20 to avoid any quotes, “20 That same day the LORD spoke to Haggai again and said: 21 Tell Governor Zerubbabel of Judah that….” Either model may be helpful for translators in terms of the structure. However, Good News Translation is not very helpful in its wording “the LORD gave Haggai a second message for Zerubbabel.” As it stands, this suggests that the first message of that day had also been addressed to Zerubbabel, but actually verse 10 does not say this or even suggest it. In fact, verse 14 makes it clear that the earlier message was for the population of Jerusalem and Judah as a whole. It would therefore be better to make two sentences here and say something like “On that same day … the LORD gave Haggai a second message. This time it was for Zerubbabel…” For Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, see the comments on 1.1.
I am about to shake the heavens and the earth: These words translate the same words in Hebrew as those that occurred in verse 6. See the comments there. Again they seem to indicate that Haggai expected the Messianic kingdom to be established before very long. This time he speaks more directly about the position of Zerubbabel in fulfilling the LORD’s purposes (verse 23). The expression I am about to … may be difficult in some languages. Another way to say this could be “It is almost time for me to…” or “Soon I will….” In some translations it may be necessary to make it clear that the LORD is the agent by saying “I, the LORD, am about to shake…,” “I, the LORD, am getting ready to shake…,” or “I, the LORD, am girding up my loins so that I may shake….”
I am about … to overthrow the throne of the kingdoms; I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations: These opening clauses of verse 22 in Hebrew say much the same thing twice in slightly different words. Because this is repetitive, Good News Translation expresses its meaning only once as “I am about to … overthrow kingdoms and end their power.” While this is more natural English, it appears to omit anything equivalent to of the nations. This could be restored by saying “foreign kingdoms” (as in New International Version and New Living Translation). New English Bible and Revised English Bible say the same sort of thing in higher level English with “heathen realms.” Other ways to express these clauses are “I am about to overthrow the authority and power of foreign kingdoms,” “Soon I am going to cause the kings [or, high chiefs] of foreign nations to lose their power,” and “I am getting ready to take away the power of the kings of foreign nations.”
Haggai is here referring to the various revolts and uprisings throughout the eastern parts of the Persian Empire, which Darius had to deal with before he was firmly established as emperor. They were actually taking place around the time of this message, and probably seemed to Haggai to be signs that the time was near when the LORD would step in and set up the kingdom of the Messiah.
And overthrow the chariots and their riders: The rest of verse 22 states in more detail how the LORD will break the power of the foreign kingdoms. Chariots were in those days one of the more advanced forms of military hardware, but even they would not be able to resist the LORD’s power. In some languages chariots will be rendered as “horse-drawn war carts.”
The horses and their riders shall go down, every one by the sword of his fellow: The literal translation of Revised Standard Version makes it sound as if the horses also killed each other with swords. Good News Translation has restructured to avoid this possibility and says “the horses will die, and their riders will kill one another” (similarly Bible en français courant, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). This does not state who kills the horses, but the context makes it fairly clear that the fallen riders do so. The Hebrew does not actually state that the horses will be killed, but the verb go down strongly suggests going down to the place of the dead, not just falling over (compare Isa 5.14; Jer 48.15; 50.27; Ezek 32.19).
There is a further point which is not absolutely clear and that is whether the riders of the chariots and the riders of the horses are the same people or not. The parallel structure of the clauses in Hebrew suggests that they are not. Several versions such as Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible/Revised English Bible, New International Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh and Contemporary English Version also seem to assume that they are not, though none says this directly. Generally speaking, charioteers and horsemen formed separate sections of ancient armies, and it seems more likely that different groups were in Haggai’s mind. A translator could remove the ambiguities of the verse by saying “I will overturn chariots and tip their drivers out of them. The cavalry horses will fall, and their riders will kill each other, and each other’s horses” or “I will cause the chariots to overturn and the drivers to fall out. The war horses will fall down [or, over] and the men who ride them will kill each other and each others’ horses.”
The idea of the enemies of God’s people killing each other is an ancient one (see Jdg 7.22) and became part of the traditional language associated with the LORD’s final intervention in history (compare Ezek 38.21; Zech 14.13; Matt 24.7; Mark 13.8; Luke 21.10).
Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Haggai. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2002. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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