house of Jacob

The Greek that is translated as “house of Jacob” in English is translated in Elhomwe as “the people of Israel.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

Annunciation to Mary (icon)

Following is a Serbian Orthodox icon of the Annunciation to Mary from the 14th century (found in the Church of Theotokos the Perivleptos, Ohrid, today in the National Museum of Serbia).

 

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 )

Tibbs (2025, p. 51ff.) writes about the annunciation icon: “The archangel is seen entering from the left, moving toward the right, which is the typical direction of narrative action in icons. One reason for this is that the icon is read similarly to the Greek text in the New Testament, from left to right.

“The are no walls in the icon to suggest that Gabriel had entered an indoor space, as would have been presser in naturalistic art. The absence of enclosing walls in iconography is also intentional since the icon has no dimension or physical boundaries. There is no light source, and therefore, there are no shadows. The absence of both walls and light sources serves to convey that the event itself expands beyond its natural earthbound limits. Evdokimov writes that the icon is ‘never a window on nature,’ not even on a specific place, ‘but rather an opening onto the beyond.’

“It is the red drape that sets the scriptural event within its actual indoor historical setting, with the color red representing the earthly setting of this event. The red drape affirms that this event took place at a specific moment in history, in a specific indoor space in Nazareth, between a specific angel, Gabriel, and a specific young woman, Mary, in the ‘sixth month’ after Elizabeth conceived (Luke 1:26-27, 36). Yet the icon goes beyond the historical setting to encompass the cosmic significance of this event: the eternal God enters human history.”

eternity, forever, forever and ever

The Greek, Hebrew and Ge’ez that is typically translated as “eternity,” “forever,” or “forever and ever” in English are translated in Mairasi as “mashed out infinitely.” Lloyd Peckham explains: “Bark cloth required pounding. It got longer and wider as it got pounded. Similarly, life gets pounded or mashed to lengthen it into infinity. Tubers also get mashed into the standard way of serving the staple food, like the fufu of Uganda, or like poi of Hawaii. It spreads out into infinity.” (Source: Lloyd Peckham)

In Lisu the phrase “forever and ever” is translated as ꓕꓲꓽ ꓞꓲꓼ ꓕꓲ ꓑ — thi tsi thi pa, verbatim translated as “one – lifetime – one – world.” This construction follows a traditional four-couplet construct in oral Lisu poetry that is usually in the form ABAC or ABCB. (Source: Arrington 2020, p. 57f.)

In Makonde it is often translated as navyaka or “years and years.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)

See also forever, eternal life and salvation.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Concepts of Eternity .

complete verse (Luke 1:33)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 1:33:

  • Noongar: “And he will be King of the descendants of Jacob for ever. His Kingdom will stand for ever.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “He will become a king who rules all the descendants of Yakub forever, and his government has no end.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “And he will be king over the tribe of Isra’il forever. His being king will have no end.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And as for this offspring of yours, there will be no end to his rule over you who are descendents of Jacob. There will be no end of his rule!'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “and he will be the one to rule the descendants of Jacob forever, for his ruling will have absolutely no end.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For he will reign without ending over his people who are the descendants of Jacob. There really will be no end to his reigning.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Annunciation

Image taken from the Wiedmann Bible. For more information about the images and ways to adopt them, see here . For other images of Willy Wiedmann paintings in TIPs, see here.

Following is a contemporary tempera / gouache on leather painting by an unknown Ethiopian artist:

Source: Sacred Art Pilgrim website .

Following is a painting (“Annunciation”) by He Qi:

He Qi © 2021 All Rights Reserved.

Image taken from He Qi Art . For purchasing prints of this and other artworks by He Qi go to heqiart.com . For other images of He Qi art works in TIPs, see here.

Following is an artwork by Sister Marie Claire , SMMI (1937–2018) from Bengaluru, India:

(Note that supernatural beings are always portrayed 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.

The following is a contemporary stained glass window from Our Lady of Pity in Swaffham, United Kingdom:

Source: Art in the Christian Tradition , a project of the Vanderbilt University Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. Original source: Wikimedia

Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )

Jacob

The Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Greek that is transliterated as “Jacob” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign that signifies “lentil,” referring to the soup he gave his brother in exchange for his birthright (see Genesis 25:34). Note that another Spanish Sign Language sign for Jacob also users the sign for Jewish. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


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

In German Sign Language it is a sign that shows the touching of the hip, described in Genesis 32:25:


“Jacob” in German Sign Language (source: Taub und katholisch )

In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the signs signifying “smooth arm” (referring to the story starting at Genesis 27:11). (Source: Tarja Sandholm)


“Jacob” in Finnish Sign Language (source )

In Hungarian Sign Language it is translated with a sign signifying Jacob grabbing the heel of Esau during their birth (referring to Genesis 25:26). (Source: Jenjelvi Biblia )


“Jacob” in Hungarian 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 .

See also Esau.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Jacob .

kingdom (of God / heaven) (presence of God's rule)

In the German Gute Nachricht (Good News) translation of 1982, this occurrence of the Greek term which is translated in most English versions of “kingdom (of God or heaven)” is translated with a form of “God establishes his rule” (Gott richtet seine Herrschaft auf) or “God’s rule” (Herrschaft). For an explanation of the differentiated translation in German as well as translation choices in a number of languages, see Kingdom (of God / heaven).

age / (for)ever / eternity / eternal / permanent / of old / long ago

The Greek in the referenced verses that is typically translated as “age,” “(for)ever / eternity / eternal / permanent,” “of old / long ago” in English is translated in the German translation by Fridolin Stier (1989) consistenty as “world (or: “cosmic”) time” (Weltzeit).

Sarah Ruden (2021, p. lxii) explains the complexities of the translation of aiōn: “Trickiest of all [the words relating to time] is aion, most simply an ‘age’ or ‘era’ but sometimes denoting either the whole present world or the whole world to come. The same word can allude to all the limits of material existence (or to dangerous worldly distractions in particular), or to their absence in the eternal age to come. Looking forward, especially to ‘ages of ages’ (in the pattern of ‘King of Kings’), the meaning is ‘eternity.’”