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 .

complete verse (Hosea 12:4)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Hosea 12:4:

  • Kupsabiny: “(He) wrestled with an angel until he was victorious,
    and then he begged to be blessed.
    He met with God at Bethel
    and they talked together in that place.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Jacob fought with an angel and won.
    He wept and made entreaty for a blessing.
    He met with Him at Bethel,
    and he spoke with Him.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “through fighting against the angel, and he won. He was-crying while asking for a blessing from the angel. He saw God at Betel, and there God spoke with him.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “He struggled with the one who had appeared to him in the form of an angel, and Jacob defeated him,
    but then he cried and asked the angel to bless him.
    Later, God came to Jacob at Bethel
    and talked with him there.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

pronoun for "God"

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 Kouya, Godié, Northern Grebo, Eastern Krahn, Western Krahn, and Guiberoua Béte, all languages of the Kru family in Western Africa, a different kind of system of pronouns is used (click or tap here to read more):

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. ).

See also first person pronoun referring to God.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Gender of God .

Translation: Chinese

在现代汉语中，第三人称单数代词的读音都是一样的（tā），但是写法并不一样，取决于性别以及是否有生命，即男性为“他”，女性为“她”，动物、植物和无生命事物为“它”（在香港和台湾的汉语使用，动物则为“牠”）。这些字的部首偏旁表明了性别（男人、女人、动物、无生命事物），而另一偏旁通常旁提示发音。

到1930年为止，基督教新教《圣经》经过整整一百年的翻译已经拥有了十几个译本，当时的一位圣经翻译者王元德新造了一个“神圣的”代词“祂”，偏旁“礻”表示神明。一般汉语读者会立即知道这字的发音是tā，而这个偏旁表示属灵的事物，因此他们明白这个字指出，三位一体的所有位格都没有性别之分，而单单是上帝。

然而，最重要的新教圣经译本（1919年的《和合本》）和天主教圣经译本（1968年的《思高圣经》）都没有采用“祂”；虽然如此，许多其他的圣经译本采用了这个字，另外还广泛出现在赞美诗和其他基督信仰的书刊中。（资料来源：Zetzsche）

《吕振中译本》的几个早期版本也使用“祂”来指称“上帝”；这个译本的《新约》于1946年译成，整部《圣经》于1970年完成。克拉默斯（Kramers）指出：“‘他’的这种新写法（即‘祂’）产生了一个小问题，就是在指称耶稣的时候，是否一律使用这个敬语代词？《吕振中译本》遵循的原则是，在称呼耶稣这个人的时候，用一般的‘他’，而在称呼耶稣神性的时候，特别是升天之后的耶稣，则用尊称‘祂’。”

Translator: Simon Wong

Translation commentary on Hosea 12:4

He strove with the angel: The Hebrew verb rendered strove is not the same one used in the previous verse, although most versions use the same word to translate it. The Hebrew root for strove is slightly different from the one used in verse 4 and has a different meaning. In verse 4 the root means “to strive,” but the root here means “to see.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends using the verb “strove” here.

This clause substitutes the angel for “God” in the previous verse. The Hebrew is literally “an angel” (Good News Translation), which we recommend here.

And prevailed simply means that Jacob won, he overcame the angel with whom he had been wrestling.

He wept and sought his favor: The idea of Jacob weeping is not mentioned in Gen 32, but translators should retain it here. Even though he won as he wrestled with the angel of God, he still cried as he asked for a blessing. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh assumes that it was the angel who wept, since the Hebrew verb for wept does not state who wept. But the flow of the Hebrew favors Jacob as both weeping and asking a favor.

Sought his favor refers to Jacob refusing to free the angel from his grasp until the angel would bless him (Gen 32.26). Rather than calling it a blessing, the Hebrew text refers to it here as a favor, a kind act or deed.

He met God at Bethel: This line moves abruptly to Gen 35.1-15. The Hebrew is literally “[In] Bethel he found him.” Bethel was first given that name many years earlier, when Jacob first met God there (Gen 28.19). It means “house of God.” The Hebrew text does not appear to make clear whether Jacob found God or God found Jacob. At first glance, the flow of the text seems to favor Jacob finding God, since Jacob has been the actor in the previous lines. However, there is no convincing evidence for this interpretation. In the present context this line can also be read as a first step of God talking to Jacob (so Good News Translation) and still doing so “to us” (the people of Israel and Judah) in the next line. This interpretation also resolves the textual problem that is discussed in the next paragraph.

And there God spoke with him refers to Gen 35.10-12. However, the Hebrew text has “and there he spoke with us.” It is possible that the prophet understood God’s statements to apply to all Israelites, or even that this place of worship continued to be a place of opportunity for people to worship God and to learn from God. This interpretation is followed at the end of the previous paragraph. The Septuagint has “with him.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project favors “with us,” but it is a somewhat weak {C} decision. Most modern translations use “with him,” often with a footnote saying that the Hebrew text has “with us.” According to this Handbook, both readings are acceptable.

A translation model for this verse is:

• He struggled with an angel and won.
He wept and asked him for a favor.
In Bethel God met him,
there he spoke to us.

Quoted with permission from Dorn, Louis & van Steenbergen, Gerrit. A Handbook on Hosea. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2020. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Hosea 12:4

12:4a

Yes, he struggled with the angel and prevailed: Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won. (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
he fought against an angel and won (Good News Translation)

he struggled: The Hebrew word means “persist” or “persevere.” It is similar to the word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as “wrestled” in 12:3b.

with the angel: The Hebrew word for with is a preposition that means “with” or “against.” The Hebrew word for angel is made explicit here, although it does not occur in Genesis 32.

prevailed: In Hebrew, this word means to “overcome” or “be victor.”

12:4b

he wept and sought His favor: The pronoun referents in this clause are left implicit in Hebrew. The clause probably refers back to Genesis 32:26. In that verse, Jacob asked the angel to bless him.

12:4c

he found Him at Bethel and spoke with Him there: In this sentence, Hosea probably refers back to the events found in Genesis 35:1–15. There are no explicit pronoun referents, so it is not clear who found whom or who talked with whom at Bethel.

he found Him at Bethel: There are two ways to interpret the referents of he and Him :

(1) Jacob found God at Bethel. For example:

At Bethel he met God (New American Bible)

(2) God found Jacob at Bethel. For example:

God met him at Bethel (Revised English Bible)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1) along with most versions. According to Genesis 35:2 Jacob told his household that they were going to Bethel, and that he planned to build an altar there to God. It is there that God spoke to him and promised to make him into the mighty nation of Israel.

Bethel: Elsewhere, Hosea refers to Bethel as Beth Aven “house of wickedness.” Here, however, Hosea uses the actual name of Bethel.

and spoke with Him there: There is a textual issue here concerning the pronoun that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Him :

(1) The Masoretic Text has “he spoke with us.” For example:

and there God spoke with us— (English Standard Version)

(2) The Syriac Peshitta and some LXX traditions have “he spoke with him.” For example:

And there he spoke with him (NET Bible)

The Display will follow option (1). There is no evidence of an error in the MT. Hosea may have used the inclusive pronoun “us” to indicate that God’s promises to Jacob in Genesis 35:9–12 also applied to himself and his fellow-Israelites, all of whom were descendants of Jacob.

However, you may also follow option (2). This option better fits the wording of the historical context in Genesis 35. In that chapter, God speaks to “him,” not to “us.”

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