Lord

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The Hebrew adonai in the Old Testament typically refers to God. The shorter adon (and in two cases in the book of Daniel the Aramaic mare [מָרֵא]) is also used to refer to God but more often for concepts like “master,” “owner,” etc. In English Bible translations all of those are translated with “Lord” if they refer to God.

In English Old Testament translations, as in Old Testament translations in many other languages, the use of Lord (or an equivalent term in other languages) is not to be confused with Lord (or the equivalent term with a different typographical display for other languages). While the former translates adonai, adon and mare, the latter is a translation for the tetragrammaton (YHWH) or the Name of God. See tetragrammaton (YHWH) and the article by Andy Warren-Rothlin in Noss / Houser, p. 618ff. for more information.

In the New Testament, the Greek term kurios has at least four different kinds of use:

  • referring to “God,” especially in Old Testament quotations,
  • meaning “master” or “owner,” especially in parables, etc.,
  • as a form of address (see for instance John 4:11: “Sir, you have no bucket”),
  • or, most often, referring to Jesus

In the first and fourth case, it is also translated as “Lord” in English.

Most languages naturally don’t have one word that covers all these meanings. According to Bratcher / Nida, “the alternatives are usually (1) a term which is an honorific title of respect for a high-ranking person and (2) a word meaning ‘boss’, ‘master’, or ‘chief.’ (…) and on the whole it has generally seemed better to employ a word of the second category, in order to emphasize the immediate personal relationship, and then by context to build into the word the prestigeful character, since its very association with Jesus Christ will tend to accomplish this purpose.”

When looking at the following list of back-translations of the terms that translators in the different languages have used for both kurios and adonai to refer to God and Jesus respectively, it might be helpful for English readers to recall the etymology of the English “Lord.” While this term might have gained an exalted meaning in the understanding of many, it actually comes from hlaford or “loaf-ward,” referring to the lord of the castle who was the keeper of the bread (source: Rosin 1956, p. 121).

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Following are some of the solutions that don’t rely on a different typographical display (see above):

  • Navajo (Dinė): “the one who has charge”
  • Mossi: “the one who has the head” (the leader)
  • Uduk: “chief”
  • Guerrero Amuzgo: “the one who commands”
  • Kpelle: “person-owner” (a term which may be applied to a chief)
  • Central Pame: “the one who owns us” (or “commands us”)
  • Piro: “the big one” (used commonly of one in authority)
  • San Blas Kuna: “the great one over all” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Guhu-Samane: Soopara (“our Supervisor”) (source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.)
  • Balinese: “Venerated-one” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Yanesha’: “the one who carries us” (source: Nida 1952, p. 159)
  • Northern Emberá: Dadjirã Boro (“our Head”)
  • Rarotongan: Atu (“master or owner of a property”)
  • Gilbertese: Uea (“a person of high status invested with authority to rule the people”)
  • Rotuman: Gagaja (“village chief”)
  • Samoan: Ali’i (“an important word in the native culture, it derives from the Samoan understanding of lordship based on the local traditions”)
  • Tahitian: Fatu (“owner,” “master”)
  • Tuvalu: Te Aliki (“chief”)
  • Fijian: Liuliu (“leader”) (source for this and six above: Joseph Hong in The Bible Translator 1994, p. 329ff. )
  • Bacama: Həmə miye: “owner of people” (source: David Frank in this blog post )
  • Hopi: “Controller” (source: Walls 2000, p. 139)
  • Iyansi: Mwol. Mwol is traditionally used for the “chief of a group of communities and villages” with legal, temporal, and spiritual authority (versus the “mfum [the term used in other Bantu languages] which is used for the chief of one community of people in one village”). Mwol is also used for twins who are “treated as special children, highly honored, and taken care of like kings and queens.” (Source: Kividi Kikama in Greed / Kruger, p. 396ff.)
  • Ghomala’: Cyəpɔ (“he who is above everyone,” consisting of the verb cyə — to surpass or go beyond — and pɔ — referring to people. No human can claim this attribute, no matter what his or her social status or prestige.” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn )
  • Binumarien: Karaambaia: “fight-leader” (Source: Oates 1995, p. 255)
  • Warlpiri: Warlaljamarri (owner or possessor of something — for more information tap or click here)

    We have come to rely on another term which emphasizes God’s essential nature as YHWH, namely jukurrarnu (see tetragrammaton (YHWH)). This word is built on the same root jukurr– as is jukurrpa, ‘dreaming.’ Its basic meaning is ‘timelessness’ and it is used to describe physical features of the land which are viewed as always being there. Some speakers view jukurrarnu in terms of ‘history.’ In all Genesis references to YHWH we have used Kaatu Jukurrarnu. In all Mark passages where kurios refers to God and not specifically to Christ we have also used Kaatu Jukurrarnu.

    New Testament references to Christ as kurios are handled differently. At one stage we experimented with the term Watirirririrri which refers to a ceremonial boss of highest rank who has the authority to instigate ceremonies. While adequately conveying the sense of Christ’s authority, there remained potential negative connotations relating to Warlpiri ceremonial life of which we might be unaware.

    Here it is that the Holy Spirit led us to make a chance discovery. Transcribing the personal testimony of the local Warlpiri pastor, I noticed that he described how ‘my Warlaljamarri called and embraced me (to the faith)’. Warlaljamarri is based on the root warlalja which means variously ‘family, possessions, belongingness’. A warlaljamarri is the ‘owner’ or ‘possessor’ of something. While previously being aware of the ‘ownership’ aspect of warlaljamarri, this was the first time I had heard it applied spontaneously and naturally in a fashion which did justice to the entire concept of ‘Lordship’. Thus references to Christ as kurios are now being handled by Warlaljamarri.” (Source: Stephen Swartz, The Bible Translator 1985, p. 415ff. )

  • Mairasi: Onggoao Nem (“Throated One” — “Leader,” “Elder”) or Enggavot Nan (“Above-One”) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Obolo: Okaan̄-ene (“Owner of person(s)”) (source: Enene Enene)
  • Angami Naga: Niepu (“master,” “owner”)
  • Lotha Naga: Opvui (“owner of house / field / cattle”) — since both “Lord” and YHWH are translated as Opvui there is an understanding that “Opvui Jesus is the same as the Opvui of the Old Testament”
  • Ao Naga: Kibuba (“human master,” “teacher,” “owner of property,” etc.) (source for this and two above: Nitoy Achumi in The Bible Translator 1992 p. 438ff. )
  • Seediq: Tholang, loan word from Min Nan Chinese (the majority language in Taiwan) thâu-lâng (頭儂): “Master” (source: Covell 1998, p. 248)
  • Thai: phra’ phu pen cao (พระผู้เป็นเจ้า) (divine person who is lord) or ong(kh) cao nay (องค์เจ้านาย) (<divine classifier>-lord-boss) (source: Stephen Pattemore)
  • Arabic often uses different terms for adonai or kurios referring to God (al-rabb الرب) and kurios referring to Jesus (al-sayyid الـسـيـد). Al-rabb is also the term traditionally used in Arabic Christian-idiom translations for YHWH, and al-sayyid is an honorary term, similar to English “lord” or “sir” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin).
  • Tamil also uses different terms for adonai/kurios when referring to God and kurios when referring to Jesus. The former is Karttar கர்த்தர், a Sanskrit-derived term with the original meaning of “creator,” and the latter in Āṇṭavar ஆண்டவர், a Tamil term originally meaning “govern” or “reign” (source: Natarajan Subramani).
  • Burunge: Looimoo: “owner who owns everything” (in the Burunge Bible translation, this term is only used as a reference to Jesus and was originally used to refer to the traditional highest deity — source: Michael Endl in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 48)
  • Yagaria: Souve, originally “war lord” (source: Renck, p. 94)
  • Aguacateco: Ajcaw ske’j: “the one to whom we belong and who is above us” (source: Rita Peterson in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 49)
  • Konkomba: Tidindaan: “He who is the owner of the land and reigns over the people” (source: Lidorio 2007, p. 66)
  • Chichewa: Ambuye Ambuye comes from the singular form Mbuye which is used to refer to: (1) someone who is a guardian or protector of someone or group of people — a grandparent who has founded a community or village; (2) someone who is a boss or master over a group of people or servants and has absolute control over them; (3) owner of something, be it a property, animals and people who are bound under his/her rule — for people this was mostly commonly used in the context of slaves and their owner. In short, Mbuye is someone who has some authorities over those who call him/her their “Mbuye.” Now, when the form Ambuye is used it will either be for honorific when used for singular or plural when referring to more than one person. When this term is used in reference to God, it is for respect to God as he is acknowledged as a guardian, protector, and ruler of everything. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation).
  • Hdi uses rveri (“lion”) as a title of respect and as such it regularly translates adon in the Old Testament. As an address, it’s most often with a possessive pronoun as in rvera ɗa (“my lion” = “my lord” or “sir”). So, for example, Genesis 15:2 (“O Lord God”) is Rvera ɗa Yawe (“My lion Yahweh”) or Ruth to Boaz in Ruth 2:13: “May I find your grace [lit. good-stomach] my lion.” This ties in nicely with the imagery of the Lord roaring like a lion (Hosea 11:10; Amos 3:8; Joel 3:16). Better still, this makes passages like Revelation 5:5 even richer when we read about rveri ma taba məndəra la Yuda, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah”. In Revelation 19:16, Jesus is rveri ta ghəŋa rveriha “the lion above lions” (“lord of lords”). (Source: Drew Maust)

Law (2013, p. 97) writes about how the Ancient Greek Septuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew adonai was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments: “Another case is the use of kurios referring to Jesus. For Yahweh (in English Bibles: ‘the Lord‘), the Septuagint uses kurios. Although the term kurios usually has to do with one’s authority over others, when the New Testament authors use this word from the Septuagint to refer to Jesus, they are making an extraordinary claim: Jesus of Nazareth is to be identified with Yahweh.”

See also Father / Lord.

Translation commentary on Luke 2:24

Exegesis:

kai tou dounai thusian ‘and in order to make an offering’; the articular infinitive tou dounai is co-ordinate with the final infinitive parastēsai ‘in order to present’ in v. 22; both are dependent upon anēgagon ‘they brought up.’ V. 24 is the continuation of v. 22. thusia (also 13.1) ‘sacrifice,’ ‘offering,’ either the act or the thing that is sacrificed; here the latter. didonai thusian ‘to give, or, make an offering’ is often translated ‘to offer a sacrifice’ (cf. Revised Standard Version) but the offering of sacrifices was the task of the priest (cf. Lev. 12.8) and didonai thusian is used nowhere to denote this priestly task. The purification-offering was handed over to the priest at one of the temple-gates (cf. Strack-Billerbeck II, 119f). It is to this act that didonai thusian refers, not to the actual sacrificing on the altar.

kata to eirēmenon en tō nomō kuriou ‘in accordance with what is said in the law of the Lord.’ Quotations from the Old Testament are often introduced by this or a related formula. There is no difference in usage between expressions derived from the verb erō ‘to say’ or related verbs and those derived from graphō ‘to write.’

zeugos trugonōn ē duo nossous peristerōn ‘a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.’ Syntactically the phrase is an apposition to thusian ‘offering,’ but separated from it by kata to eirēmenon en tō nomō kuriou (see preceding note) which marks it as a quotation. Lev. 12.8 names two turtledoves or two young pigeons as the purification-sacrifices for those who cannot afford a lamb. The turtledove is a smaller migratory species of the pigeon. Pigeons and turtledoves were the only species of poultry allowed by the law as sacrificial gifts. Since the idea of an Old Testament offering was that of a gift, spent from the property of the donor, pigeons and turtledoves must have been domesticated birds in Bible times and land. That two species are mentioned is due to the fact that turtledoves were fit for sacrifice as soon as they were full grown, but doves only as long as they were young, cf. Strack-Billerbeck II, 123. Doves were considered very clean and peaceful animals. (Communication of Dr. Jordt Jørgensen, Denmark.)

zeugos (also 14.19) ‘yoke,’ ‘pair,’ here not of male and female but simply equivalent to the numeral ‘two,’ cf. Lev. 5.11.

trugōn ‘turtledove.’

nossos ‘the young (of a bird).’ Most translations render it by means of the adjective ‘young.’

peristera (also 3.22) ‘dove.’

Translation:

If v. 23 has not been rendered as a parenthesis, one has to make it clear that v. 24 is a continuation of v. 22, e.g. by saying, “They also went to offer a sacrifice” (Good News Translation).

Offer a sacrifice. In some languages one can use an expression that does not specify whether the worshipper himself performs the cultic act, or the priest does so in his behalf. Elsewhere it is better to be more specific as to the role of the agent, e.g. ‘give to be sacrificed to God’ (cf. Tboli), ‘hand over the sacrifice to the priest,’ ‘bring the sacrifice to the temple.’ When the usual rendering is some descriptive phrase, e.g. ‘slain offering,’ ‘killed gift,’ the form will have to be adapted here, e.g. ‘gifts/offerings to be killed/slain.’ Some receptor languages, on the other hand, are rich in specific terms forming part of an elaborate sacrificial system, which may include purification sacrifices. Then a translator naturally will try to use such a term, which shares the principal components of meaning with the Biblical sacrifice, i.e. (1) performed not for a community, but for its individual members, (2) the performer a temple priest, (3) implying the slaughter of an animal and the shedding of blood, and (4) offered in order to worship a good, celestial deity, not to exorcize demons or bad spirits. On investigation, however, it may become clear that the sacrificial vocabulary, however rich it may be, does not yield an acceptable specific term and that the translator, therefore, has to use a rather generic term, such as ‘tribute-of-homage’ (Tae,’ Balinese).

According to what is said in serves to introduce a quotation from Scripture in much the same way as does “as it is written in”; hence the renderings may closely resemble each other, or may coincide.

A pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. If no two acceptable distinctive names can be found, one may say something like, ‘two small pigeons or two children of (i.e. young) pigeons of another kind,’ making use of the fact that difference in size is one of the distinctive features.

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 2:24

2:24a

Luke 2:24a explains the second reason why Joseph and Mary went to Jerusalem. They went to offer a sacrifice for purification. The first reason is in 2:22b. Then 2:23 gives background information. It may be good to begin a new sentence at 2:24. For example:

Mary and Joseph also went to… (New Century Version)
-or-
They also ⌊came to Jerusalem⌋ to…

and to offer the sacrifice: The phrase to offer the sacrifice refers to the sacrifice that Joseph and Mary offered in Jerusalem for Mary’s purification. They gave two birds to a priest, who then killed the birds during a ceremony.

They gave this type of sacrifice so that Mary would become clean according to their religious customs. Then she could worship God publicly with other people again.

the sacrifice: A sacrifice is something that is offered/given to God or an idol. A sacrifice is often an animal that is killed in a ceremony. Another way to say this is:

that which is given to God

specified in the Law of the Lord: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as specified is literally “according to what is said.” Joseph and Mary gave this sacrifice according to what the Lord required in his law. This means that they did what God’s law said they should do. Another way to translate this is:

The Law of the Lord also says that parents have to offer a sacrifice…. So that is what Mary and Joseph did. (Contemporary English Version)

2:24b

A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons: This is a citation from Leviticus 12:8, which names two kinds of birds that can be used for the sacrifice. Both of these birds are in the same family of birds that are referred to in English as either “doves” or “pigeons.”

The first pair of birds, translated as turtledoves in the Berean Standard Bible, are sometimes translated more generally as “doves” in English versions. These turtledoves are migratory, have brownish wings and a blue-gray neck and head, and are 24–29 centimeters in length.

The Greek word for the second pair of birds, translated as pigeons in the Berean Standard Bible, can refer to several different species of birds. In English, these birds are sometimes called “doves” and sometimes called “pigeons.” The dove/pigeon described here is probably similar to a common pigeon today. Doves/pigeons are medium-sized birds (30–36 centimeters long). They are usually gray or blue-gray with more color on their necks. They are found all around the world. In the case of these doves/pigeons, unlike for turtledoves, the law required that only young ones could be used for sacrifices.

If you have more than one word that describes birds from this family, choose two different words here.

If you only have one word to describe birds of this type, you could:

• Use your common word for dove/pigeon for the first, and then describe the second as another kind of dove/pigeon. For example:

a pair of young doves/pigeons or two doves/pigeons of another kind
-or-
two young doves/pigeons or two other birds that are like doves/pigeons

• Describe one as domestic doves/pigeons and the other as wild doves/pigeons, even though in ancient Israel probably only domestic birds were used for sacrifice.

A pair of turtledoves: The phrase A pair of turtledoves refers to two birds that were turtledoves. It does not necessarily mean a male and a female turtledove.

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