Elijah was a human being like us

The Greek that is translated as “Elijah was a human being like us” or similar in English is translated as “Do you remember the prophet Elijah formerly? He was a man just like us.” in Kinaray-A. The rhetorical question here functions as an introduction to a new theme which is about earnest prayer. Without the rhetorical question the translation would sound too abrupt. (Source: Balbina Abadiano in Notes on Translation 1988, p. 40ff.)

pray / prayer

The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “pray” (or “prayer”) in English is often translated as “talking with God” (Central Pame, Tzeltal, Chol, Chimborazo Highland Quichua, Shipibo-Conibo, Kaqchikel, Tepeuxila Cuicatec, Copainalá Zoque, Central Tarahumara).

Other solutions include:

  • “to beg” or “to ask,” (full expression: “to ask with one’s heart coming out,” which leaves out selfish praying, for asking with the heart out leaves no place for self to hide) (Tzotzil)
  • “to cause God to know” (Huichol)
  • “to raise up one’s words to God” (implying an element of worship, as well as communication) (Miskito, Lacandon) (source of this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Shilluk: “speak to God” (source: Nida 1964, p. 237)
  • Mairasi: “talk together with Great Above One (=God)” (source: Enggavoter, 2004)
  • San Blas Kuna: “call to one’s Father” (source: Claudio and Marvel Iglesias in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 85ff. )
  • Ik: waan: “beg.” Terrill Schrock (in Wycliffe Bible Translators 2016, p. 93) explains (click or tap here to read more):

    What do begging and praying have to do with each other? Do you beg when you pray? Do I?

    “The Ik word for ‘visitor’ is waanam, which means ‘begging person.’ Do you beg when you go visiting? The Ik do. Maybe you don’t beg, but maybe when you visit someone, you are looking for something. Maybe it’s just a listening ear.

    When the Ik hear that [my wife] Amber and I are planning trip to this or that place for a certain amount of time, the letters and lists start coming. As the days dwindle before our departure, the little stack of guests grows. ‘Please, sir, remember me for the allowing: shoes, jacket (rainproof), watch, box, trousers, pens, and money for the children. Thank you, sir, for your assistance.’

    “A few people come by just to greet us or spend bit of time with us. Another precious few will occasionally confide in us about their problems without asking for anything more than a listening ear. I love that.

    “The other day I was in our spare bedroom praying my list of requests to God — a nice list covering most areas of my life, certainly all the points of anxiety. Then it hit me: Does God want my list, or does he want my relationship?

    “I decided to try something. Instead of reading off my list of requests to God, I just talk to him about my issues without any expectation of how he should respond. I make it more about our relationship than my list, because if our personhood is like God’s personhood, then maybe God prefers our confidence and time to our lists, letters, and enumerations.”

In Luang it is translated with different shades of meaning (click or tap here to read more):

  • For Acts 1:14, 20:36, 21:5: kola ttieru-yawur nehla — “hold the waist and hug the neck.” (“This is the more general term for prayer and often refers to worship in prayer as opposed to petition. The Luang people spend the majority of their prayers worshiping rather than petitioning, which explains why this term often is used generically for prayer.”)
  • For Acts 28:9: sumbiani — “pray.” (“This term is also used generically for ‘prayer’. When praying is referred to several times in close proximity, it serves as a variation for kola ttieru-yawur nehla, in keeping with Luang discourse style. It is also used when a prayer is made up of many requests.”)
  • For Acts 8:15, 12:5: polu-waka — “call-ask.” (“This is a term for petition that is used especially when the need is very intense.”)

Source: Kathy Taber in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 9-16.

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Jas. 5:17)

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 (“just like is” in English) (including the reader).

Source: SIL International Translation Department (1999).

complete verse (James 5:17)

Following are a number of back-translations of James 5:17:

  • Uma: “Remember the account of the prophet Elia long ago. This prophet Elia, he was just a man/human too like us. He prayed with his real heart that it wouldn’t rain. Rain didn’t fall for three years and six months.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Nabi Eliyas was simply human like we (incl.) are. In old times he prayed whole-heartedly to God that it should not rain and it really did not rain for three and one half years.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “As for Elijah long ago, he was just a human like we are. But in spite of that, his praying was strong that it might not rain. And it really did not rain for three and a half years.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Think-about Elias. He was a person just like us, but when he persisted in praying that it not rain, it truly didn’t-rain for three and a half years.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Consider this, that as for that Elias of long ago, he was a person like us indeed. When he prayed that it wouldn’t rain, isn’t it so that for three and a half years it truly didn’t rain?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The prophet Elias also was just a person like us. But he earnestly prayed from the heart, he asked that it wouldn’t rain. And it didn’t rain for three and a half years.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Elijah

The name that is transliterated as “Elijah” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language as “whirlwind” (according to 2 Kings 2:11) (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )


“Elijah” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

Click or tap here to see how other sign languages are translating “Elijah”

In American Sign Language it is translated with a depiction of being taken up to heaven with a chariot of fire. (Source: ASL Sign Language Directory )


“Elijah” in American Sign Language (source )

Likewise in Estonian Sign Language, but with a different sign (source: Liina Paales in Folklore 47, 2011, p. 43ff.)


“Elijah” in Estonian Sign Language (source )

In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “fire” (referring to 1 Kings 18:38). (Source: Tarja Sandholm)


“Elijah” in Finnish Sign Language (source )

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

Following is a Russian Orthodox icon of Elijah from the late 13h century.

 
Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )

See also Moses and Elijah during the Transfiguration.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Elijah .

Translation commentary on James 5:17

Elijah was …: as an example of the effectiveness of fervent prayer, James singles out Elijah (see 1 Kgs 17.1; 18.1, 42-45). The first thing he mentions about Elijah is that he was a man of like nature with ourselves. The phrase like nature with ourselves is literally “like feelings with us” or “similar suffering with us,” in the sense that he shared the “same limitations as us.” The word is used elsewhere in the New Testament only in Acts 14.15 in adjectival form. There Paul and Barnabas told the crowds at Lystra not to consider them as gods, but as fellow human beings like them. The phrase may be rendered, then, as “a man with human frailties like our own” (New English Bible), “a human being like us” (New Revised Standard Version), “a man every bit as human as we are” (Barclay), “was the same kind of person as we are” (Good News Translation), and “was just as human as we are” (Contemporary English Version); or we may translate “was just like we are; he was a human being.” James is here emphasizing the common nature and therefore the common bond between ordinary Christians and Elijah; Elijah was not superhuman but a man with limitations and weaknesses like all of us. The intended meaning is that any Christian can have the same power if he or she is that kind of “righteous person.”

He prayed fervently that it might not rain: this is what Elijah had done. The clause he prayed fervently is literally “in prayer he prayed.” This usage reflects the influence of the Hebrew idiom, and its function is to intensify the force of the statement. In addition to the Revised Standard Version rendering, the force of the clause may be rendered “He prayed earnestly” (Goodspeed, Good News Translation), “He prayed and prayed” (Laws), “he prayed constantly,” or “he prayed again and again.”

And for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth: God answered the fervent prayer of Elijah. The same length of time is mentioned in Luke 4.25, where the example of Elijah is cited. In 1 Kgs 18.1 it only says, “in the third year.” It is not known how this figure was calculated. It is quite possible that this is taken from a stock phrase that had symbolic associations with a period of judgment (Dan 7.25; 12.7; compare also Rev 11.2, 3). In any case the uncertainty of the origin and of the meaning of the phrase will not in any way affect the translation. The expression on the earth can mean “in the land of Israel.” But it does not seem necessary to give a location like this. It is quite possible that the expression is simply meant to fill up or to complete the idea of did not rain. If so, it is all right to leave the phrase on the earth untranslated in some languages, as it would sound awkward and redundant (so Japanese Franciscan Translation, Today’s Chinese Version). Even in English it is good style to omit it; Contemporary English Version has “kept the rain from falling.”

Alternative translation models for this verse are:
• Elijah was just like we are; he was a human being. He prayed constantly that no rain would fall. And so for three years and six months no rain fell at all.
• … For three and a half years his constant praying kept the rain from falling.

Quoted with permission from Loh, I-Jin and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Letter from James. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator's Notes on James 5:17

Paragraph 5:17–18

James supported his advice to pray by giving the example of Elijah. Elijah received miracles in answer to his prayers.

5:17

As an example of powerful prayer, James used the story of the prophet Elijah. (See 1 Kings chapters 17–18.) This story was well known to James’ readers. Elijah saw how the people of his country had turned to evil, and so he prayed that God would punish them by sending no rain on their land.

5:17a

Elijah: Elijah was a prophet who lived 900 years before James. In some languages, it may be more natural to make some of this information explicit. For example:

Elijah the prophet
-or-
Elijah the prophet of long ago

was a man: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as man here means “human being.” For example:

was a human being (New Century Version)
-or-
was a mere human

just like us: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as just like us means “has the same kind of desires and feelings as we do.” The Jews thought of Elijah as an extraordinary person, so James reminded them that he was a normal human being.

Some other ways to translate this word are:

as we are (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
with a nature like ours (English Standard Version)
-or-
the same kind of person as we are (Good News Translation)

This word also occurs in Acts 14:15.

5:17b

He prayed earnestly: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as He prayed earnestly is literally “He prayed with prayer.” This double use of the word “pray” intensifies what James was saying. He meant that when Elijah prayed, he was sincere, serious, and eager to receive an answer. Use what is natural in your language to indicate this intensity of prayer. Use an idiom if that is appropriate. For example, some English idioms for this are:

He prayed hard
-or-
He prayed with his whole heart

5:17d

it did not rain on the land: The phrase on the land refers to the land of Israel. The drought that God sent did not affect the whole world, but only the land of Israel.

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