synagogue, temple (inner), temple (outer)

In many English translations the Greek terms “hieron” (the whole “temple” in Jerusalem or specifically the outer courts open to worshippers) and “naos” (the inner “shrine” or “sanctuary”) are translated with only one word: “temple” (see also for instance “Tempel” in German [for exception see below] and “tempel” in Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans).

Other languages make a distinction: (Click or tap here to see more)

  • Navajo (Dinė): “house in which worship is carried out” (for naos)
  • Balinese: “inner part of the Great Temple” (“the term ‘inner part’ denoting the hindmost and holiest of the two or three courts that temples on Bali usually possess”) vs. “Great Temple”
  • Telugu: “womb (i.e. interior)-of-the-abode” vs. “abode”
  • Thai: a term denoting the main audience hall of a Buddhist temple compound vs. “environs-of-the-main-audience-hall”
  • Kituba: “place of holiness of house-God Lord” vs. “house-God Lord”
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “deep in God’s house” vs. “God’s house” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • German das Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022): “inner court of the temple” (Tempelinnenhof) vs. “temple”

Languages that, like English, German, Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans, don’t make that distinction include:

  • Mandarin Chinese: “聖殿 Shèng diàn” (“holy palace”)
  • Loma: “the holy place”
  • Pular: “the sacred house” (source for this and the one above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Zarma: “God’s compound”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “big church of the Jews”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “big house on top (i.e. most important)”
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: “house that is looked upon as holy, that is sacred, that is taboo and where one may not set foot” (lit. “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” — because taboo is violated — using a term that is also applied to a Muslim mosque) (source for this and the three above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Mairasi: Janav Enggwarjer Weso: “Great Above One’s (God’s) House” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Noongar: Maya-maya-Kooranyi: “Sacred House” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “the big church of the Israelites”
  • Aguaruna: “the house for talking to God” (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Guhu-Samane: “festival longhouse of God” (“The biiri, ‘festival longhouse’, being the religious and social center of the community, is a possible term for ‘temple’. It is not the ‘poro house’ as such. That would be too closely identified with the cult of poro. The physical features of the building, huge and sub-divided, lend it further favor for this consideration. By qualifying it as ‘God’s biiri’ the term has become meaningful and appropriate in the context of the Scriptures.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. )
  • Enga: “God’s restricted access house” (source: Adam Boyd on his blog )

Another distinction that tends to be overlooked in translations is that between hieron (“temple” in English) and sunagógé (“synagogue” in English). Euan Fry (in The Bible Translator 1987, p. 213ff. ) reports on this:

“Many older translations have simply used transliterations of ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ rather than trying to find equivalent terms or meaningful expressions in their own languages. This approach does keep the two terms separate; but it makes the readers depend on explanations given by pastors or teachers for their understanding of the text.

“Translators who have tried to find meaningful equivalents, for the two terms ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ have usually made a distinction between them in one of two ways (which focus on the contrasting components of meaning). One way takes the size and importance of the Temple to make a contrast, so that expressions such as ‘sacred meeting/ worship house of the Jews’ and ‘big sacred meeting/worship house of the Jews’ are used. The other way focuses on the different nature of the religious activity at each of the places, so that expressions such as ‘meeting/worship house of the Jews’ and ‘sacrifice/ceremony place of the Jews’ are used.

“It is not my purpose in this article to discuss how to arrive at the most precise equivalent to cover all the components of meaning of ‘temple’. That is something that each translator really has to work through for himself in the light of the present usage and possibilities in his own language. My chief concern here is that the basic term or terms chosen for ‘temple’ should give the reader of a translation a clear and correct picture of the location referred to in each passage. And I am afraid that in many cases where an equivalent like ‘house of God’ or ‘worship house’ has been chosen, the readers have quite the wrong picture of what going to the Temple or being in the Temple means. (This may be the case for the word ‘temple’ in English too, for many readers.)”

Here are some examples:

  • Bambara: “house of God” (or: “big house of worship”) vs. “worship house” (or: “small houses of worship”)
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” (see above) vs. “meeting house for discussing matters concerning religious customs” (and “church” is “house where one meets on Sunday”)
  • Navajo (Dinė): “house in which worship is carried out” vs. “house of gathering” (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida)

    • Bangandu: “the great house of God” vs. “house of prayer” (Source: Ervais Fotso Noumsi in Le Sycomore, 16/1, 2022 )

Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Herod’s temple (source: Bible Lands 2012)

Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing synagogues in New Testament times (source: Bible Lands 2012)

See also this devotion on YouVersion .

complete verse (Luke 1:21)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 1:21:

  • Noongar: “Now the people stood waiting for Zechariah. They were wondering because he was a long time inside the Temple.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “While Zakharia was in the House of God, the people were waiting and waiting outside. They were confused because he was [inside] such a long time.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “During this, the people were waiting for Jakariya and they wondered as to why-on-earth he was so long inside the temple.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then the people who were still waiting outside the church, the House of God, they were surprised because why was Zechariah so long there inside.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “The many-people who were waiting for Zekarias were surprised, because he was-very-long inside the Temple.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “As for those people outside, they were still waiting for Zacarias who had gone to burn incense. They were amazed as to why he was a long time there inside the Templo.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

The Angel Appears to Zechariah

Artwork by Sister Marie Claire , SMMI (1937–2018) from Bengaluru, India.

(Note that supernatural beings are always portrayed by Sister Marie Claire with this type of upraised scarf and white circle.)

For more information about images by Sister Marie Claire and ways to purchase them as lithographs, see here .

For other images of Sister Marie Claire paintings in TIPs, see here.

Translation commentary on Luke 1:21

Exegesis:

kai ēn ho laos prosdokōn ‘and the crowd was waiting.’ kai here introduces the description of what happened parallel with the meeting of Zechariah and the angel; hence New English Bible, Phillips, Willibrord render “meanwhile”. The translation of laos depends upon the decision taken in v. 10, cf. “congregation” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation) and “people” (New English Bible). The periphrastic construction ēn … prosdokōn ‘was waiting’ has a durative meaning.

prosdokaō ‘to wait’ (for something to happen), ‘to wait for,’ ‘to expect.’

kai ethaumazon ‘and they wondered,’ in the plural because laos suggests the idea of many people. The imperfect expresses duration.

en tō chronizein … auton either (1) causal, ‘at his staying away for a long time,’ hence “at his delay” (Revised Standard Version), or (2) temporal, ‘during his staying away for a long time,’ hence “while he tarried” (Plummer, Grundmann), or “during his tarrying” (Klostermann, Weiss), preferably the latter. But (1) is not impossible here. The Talmud states that the priest prays only a short prayer inside the temple in order to keep the people from anxiety, cf. Strack-Billerbeck II, 77f.

chronizō (also 12.45) ‘to stay for a long time,’ ‘to take a long time in doing.’

Translation:

Were waiting for Zechariah, i.e. remaining standing outside till Z. came back from the sanctuary, expecting some benefit, probably Z.’s blessing. The durative aspect is expressed in several ways, e.g. by reduplication of the verbal root (Bahasa Indonesia), by a temporal adverb expressing duration, or by the meaning of the introductory word, e.g. ‘meanwhile.’

They wondered at his delay. Aspect, see above. To the figurative expressions mentioned there may be added, ‘to listen quietly’ (Central Tarahumara in Mk. 5.20, formally the opposite of the San Miguel El Grande Mixtec expression, ‘to feel like dying’ (Tzeltal, in Mk. 1.27, expressing high degree), ‘to weigh heavily upon’ (Sranan Tongo, with Jesus’ astonishing teaching as subject, in Lk. 4.32), ‘to cease to think with the heart’ (Bulu, in Acts 2.7), ‘to become like mute’ (Sranan Tongo, in Lk. 8.56). Toraja-Sa’dan can use an expression (no longer felt to be figurative) that is related to the phrase ‘the hair-on-the-body stays on end.’ Where necessary the concept may be described, e.g., ‘considered very strange’ (Tzeltal, in Mk. 5.20), ‘never having heard/seen/experienced anything like…,’ ‘to say in his mind, “Is it really true that…?” ’ (Tabasco Chontal, in Mk. 15.44). Navajo uses a similar rendering in the present verse, ‘and he having-gone-into the sanctuary some-time-ago they thought, “What could have happened!” ’ In such a case the causal interpretation, i.e. ‘that/because/why he stayed so long’ may become more attractive because it makes for better idiom and/or a less over-loaded message; hence renderings such as, ‘they said (which includes thinking), “Why does he delay in the house?” ’ (Shipibo-Conibo), ‘thinking why does he not come out yet’ (Apache).

Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Luke 1:21

Paragraph 1:21–22

1:21a

Meanwhile: In this verse Luke told what the people in the courtyard were doing while Zechariah was in the temple. Languages have different ways to connect events that happened at the same time. In English, such events are often connected with the word Meanwhile (as in the Berean Standard Bible). The Greek text uses the common conjunction that is often translated as “and.” Another way to translate this is to focus on the place where the other event happened. For example:

Outside, the people were still waiting for Zechariah

Use a natural way in your language to indicate that the events in this verse happened at the same time when Zechariah was in the temple.

the people were waiting for Zechariah: The phrase the people refers to the worshipers who were mentioned in 1:10b. They were standing outside the temple praying to God. Zechariah was inside the temple, and they were waiting for him to come out. Refer to them here in a clear way in your language.

1:21b

wondering why he took so long in the temple: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as wondering indicates that the people were “surprised” or “amazed.” For example:

and were surprised that he was staying so long in the Temple (New Century Version)

Zechariah stayed inside the temple longer than other priests usually did. The people were surprised at the delay and tried to think of what might be causing him to be late.

temple: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as temple refers to the innermost building of the temple in Jerusalem. This is the same word as in 1:9b. See temple, Meaning 2, in the Glossary.

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