one stroke of a letter

The Greek that is translated as “one stroke of a letter” or similar in English is translated in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) with ein i-Punkt or “one dot on the i.”

In Matthew 5:18, the Greek that is translated as “not one letter, not one stroke of a letter” in English is translated as kein Punkt und kein Komma or “no period and no comma.”

complete verse (Luke 16:17)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 16:17:

  • Noongar: “‘The Law of Moses and the writings of the Prophets were working long ago and worked to the day of John the Baptist. After that day, the Good News of the Kingdom of God was told and many people force their way in.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “But every word that was written in the Law of God definitely must happen. It is easier for the sky and the world to be-destroyed than for one word in the Law of the Lord not to happen.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But the law of Musa, it’s authority does not change. It is easier that earth and sky be rolled up than that one vowel-mark in the law should be changed.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “However, it’s not possible that the Law left behind by Moses be changed. Heaven and earth will cease to exist, but not even a small bit of the teaching of the Law can be changed.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But it is nonetheless easier for earth and heaven to cease-to-exist than the shortest word in the law.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But it doesn’t mean that the strength has been removed from that which God commanded. For it’s true, the sky/heaven and world/land may be removed, but definitely not one point (of meaning) of what was said in these laws.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

heaven

Greek, Hebrew, Latin, 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 story (“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):

  • Hungarian: ég — “sky”; menny — “heaven”
  • Tagalog: kalawakan — “sky”; langit/kalangitan — “heaven”
  • Swedish: sky — “sky”; Himmel — “heaven”
  • Loma: “up” — “sky”; “God’s place” — heaven”
  • 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)
  • Burmese: မိုး ကောင်း ကင်/moe kaungg kain — “sky”; ကောင်း ကင်/kaungg kain — “sky” or “heaven”; ကောင်း ကင်ဗုံ/kaungg kain bone — “heaven”
  • 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)
  • Noongar: worl — “sky”; Boolanga-Yirakang Boodjer — “Country of God” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)

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.)

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.”

law

The Greek that is translated in English as “Law” or “law” is translated in Mairasi as oro nasinggiei or “prohibited things” (source: Enggavoter 2004) and in Noongar with a capitalized form of the term for “words” (Warrinya) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

In Yucateco the phrase that is used for “law” is “ordered-word” (for “commandment,” it is “spoken-word”) (source: Nida 1947, p. 198) and in Central Tarahumara it is “writing-command.” (wsource: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

See also teaching / law (of God) (Japanese honorifics).

Translation commentary on Luke 16:17

Exegesis:

eukopōteron de estin ton ouranon kai tēn gēn parelthein ‘but it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away.’ de ‘but’ implies a contrast with v. 16, and suggests probably that the new situation to which v. 16 refers does not imply that the law is no longer valid. parerchomai means here ‘to come to an end,’ ‘to disappear.’

ē tou nomou mian keraian pesein lit. ‘than that one hook of the law falls down.’ tou nomou is emphatic by position.

keraia lit. ‘hook’ as part of a letter, i.e. some insignificant part, dot, stroke, comma.

piptō lit. ‘to fall,’ here ‘to become invalid.’

Translation:

For easier cf. 5.23; for heaven and earth see 10.21.

To pass away, or, ‘to be destroyed,’ ‘to go to ruin,’ ‘to die’ (used metaphorically), ‘to become dead, as it were’ (as simile), ‘to cease to exist.’

Dot. The rendering should preferably be the name of a small item in the script best known in the culture, cf. e.g. “dotting of an i” (An American Translation), “comma” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation), ‘period’ (Thai 1967, Fulah), ‘tilde’ (Tzeltal), ‘dash,’ indicating a vowel (in Arabic script, Zarma), ‘dot,’ indicating the ng (in Balinese script). Other versions use a descriptive rendering, e.g. ‘part of a letter’ (Kituba), ‘tiniest word’ (Ekari), ‘small (thing) written’ (Lomwe), ‘small mark’ (Pohnpeian), “smallest detail” (Good News Translation); cf. also, ‘were it only something very small (lit. like the dirt in a nail)’ (Toraja-Sa’dan).

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 16:17

16:17a–b

But: In the Greek text this verse connects to the previous verse with a conjunction that introduces a contrast: The good news is now being preached, but/nevertheless the Law and the Prophets remain valid. The Berean Standard Bible (like the Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation) translates this conjunction as But. Other versions, such as the Contemporary English Version, God’s Word, and New International Version, do not translate this conjunction. You should indicate this contrast in a way that is natural in your language.

it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law: The phrase heaven and earth refers to the universe as a whole. The universe was considered to be a symbol of permanence. So this comparison means that God’s word will not lose any of its authority. It is even more permanent than heaven and earth. In some languages it may be necessary to translate this comparison in other ways. For example:

The sky and the earth will come to an end, but even the smallest letter in God’s Law will remain unchanged.

It may be necessary to reorder the clauses of 16:17a–b. See the General Comment on 16:17a–b at the end of 16:17b for further suggestions.

In translating this verse, be careful not to imply that:

(a) it is easy for heaven and earth to disappear;

(b) heaven and earth will never disappear.

Although many people thought that the universe would last almost forever, other verses teach that it will be destroyed in the future. See Matthew 5:18, Mark 13:31, 2 Peter 3:7, 3:10.

16:17a

heaven and earth: In some languages it may be more natural to say “earth and heaven.” You may use whatever order is more natural in your language.

heaven: The word heaven in this context refers to the sky and the physical universe beyond the earth. It includes the sun, moon, and stars. See heaven, Meaning 1, in the Glossary.

pass away: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as pass away means to end, to cease to exist.

16:17b

a single stroke of a pen: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as a single stroke of a pen is more literally “one projection/stroke.” It refers to the smallest part of a letter in the Hebrew alphabet. It would be like the cross on the “t” in English or one of the lines on the letter “m.” Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

the smallest part of a letter (New Century Version)
-or-
one letter (Revised English Bible)
-or-
the smallest detail (Good News Translation)

drop out: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as drop out is literally “fall.” In this context it has a figurative meaning. Some other ways to translate this are:

become void (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
cease to be valid/authoritative
-or-
lose its force (Revised English Bible)
-or-
to be changed (New Century Version)

the Law: In 16:16a, Jesus used the term “the Law and the Prophets” to refer to the Old Testament as a whole. Here the word Law alone is also used to refer to the whole Old Testament. In some languages a literal translation may imply that Jesus is excluding the writings of the prophets and the rest of the Old Testament. If that is true in your language, consider using a more general term, such as “God’s Book” or “the words of God.”

General Comment on 16:17a–b

In some languages it may be necessary to reorder the clauses of 16:17a–b. For example:

Even the smallest part of God’s Word is more permanent than the sky and the earth.

Use a natural order in your language.

In some languages it may be necessary to state the main point about the Law before giving the comparison about the heaven and earth. For example:

But that doesn’t mean that the law has lost its force. It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the smallest point of God’s law to be overturned. (New Living Translation (2004))

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