heaven

Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, 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 record (“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)
  • Kupsabiny: “up” for “sky” vs. “God’s Homestead” for “heaven” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)

In some languages, such as Yagaria, a term that was originally used as “sky” (gokudana) was adopted by the Christian community as “heaven.” This resulted in a language shift so that now all communities uses “empty space / air” (galogina or hakalogina) as “sky” and gokudana is exclusively used for the Christian concept of heaven. (Source: Renck 1990, p. 133)

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.)

Under the auspices of the Dhama Mate Swe Association , a new Burmese translation of the New Testament was published in 2024 which uses terminology that attempts to overcome “insurmountable barriers to the Buddhist world.” One term that this version uses is ရွှေမြို့တော် (shway myahoettaw) or “Golden City” for “heaven,” referring it to the golden city described in Revelation 21 but at the same time using a Buddhist term for a desired destination that does not have the Buddhist connotation of ကောင်း ကင် (kaungg kain) as being the Trāyastriṃśa (တာဝတိံသာ) heaven, home of Śakra/Indra. This Burmese translation formed the basis of translations of parts of the New Testament into other languages spoken in Burma, including Sumtu Chin, Ekai Chin, Songlai Chin, Danau, Kadu, Kanan, Khün, Lahta Karen, Rakhine, Marma (Northern Rakhine), Riang Lai, Samtao, Shwe Palaung, Tai Laing, Taungyo, and Chak (Thet). (Source: Jay Pratt)

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.”

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.

pronoun for "God"

God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).

Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.

In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.

While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”

In Kouya, Godié, Northern Grebo, Eastern Krahn, Western Krahn, and Guiberoua Béte, all languages of the Kru family in Western Africa, a different kind of system of pronouns is used (click or tap here to read more):

In that system, one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and others for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.

Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”

In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)

Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”

In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )

In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)

The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.

Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are Twents as well as the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In the latter two languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).

See also first person pronoun referring to God.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Gender of God .

Translation: Chinese

在现代汉语中，第三人称单数代词的读音都是一样的（tā），但是写法并不一样，取决于性别以及是否有生命，即男性为“他”，女性为“她”，动物、植物和无生命事物为“它”（在香港和台湾的汉语使用，动物则为“牠”）。这些字的部首偏旁表明了性别（男人、女人、动物、无生命事物），而另一偏旁通常旁提示发音。

到1930年为止，基督教新教《圣经》经过整整一百年的翻译已经拥有了十几个译本，当时的一位圣经翻译者王元德新造了一个“神圣的”代词“祂”，偏旁“礻”表示神明。一般汉语读者会立即知道这字的发音是tā，而这个偏旁表示属灵的事物，因此他们明白这个字指出，三位一体的所有位格都没有性别之分，而单单是上帝。

然而，最重要的新教圣经译本（1919年的《和合本》）和天主教圣经译本（1968年的《思高圣经》）都没有采用“祂”；虽然如此，许多其他的圣经译本采用了这个字，另外还广泛出现在赞美诗和其他基督信仰的书刊中。（资料来源：Zetzsche）

《吕振中译本》的几个早期版本也使用“祂”来指称“上帝”；这个译本的《新约》于1946年译成，整部《圣经》于1970年完成。克拉默斯（Kramers）指出：“‘他’的这种新写法（即‘祂’）产生了一个小问题，就是在指称耶稣的时候，是否一律使用这个敬语代词？《吕振中译本》遵循的原则是，在称呼耶稣这个人的时候，用一般的‘他’，而在称呼耶稣神性的时候，特别是升天之后的耶稣，则用尊称‘祂’。”

Translator: Simon Wong

Translation commentary on Luke 3:21 – 3:22

Exegesis:

egeneto de ‘and it happened,’ cf. on 1.8.

hapanta ton laon ‘all the people,’ often in Luke in a context describing the reaction of the people upon, or attitude towards, John the Baptist (here) or Jesus (elsewhere). In these phrases laos is used not in a strictly religious sense. pas or hapas is not to be taken too literally; it expresses that a great number or a majority of those present takes the attitude which the clause describes. For laos cf. on 1.10.

aneōchthēnai ton ouranon ‘that the heaven was opened.’ The underlying picture may be that of a veil being rent (cf. Mk. 1.10) or of a door of a temple or palace being opened (cf. Rev. 4.1), preferably the latter. It is to be noted that Luke describes the opening of the heaven and the coming down of the Spirit as something which everybody saw or could see, whereas Mark represents them as something which only Jesus saw.

katabēnai to pneuma to hagion … ep’ auton ‘that the Holy Spirit came down upon him.’ Nowhere else is katabainō ‘to come down’ used in connection with the Holy Spirit and it may well be that the verb is used here because of the fact that the Spirit shows the outward appearance of a dove. For katabainō cf. on 2.51.

sōmatikō eidei hōs peristeran ‘in bodily form like a dove.’ The addition sōmatikō eidei which is not in Mark stresses the fact that the Holy Spirit was in the appearance of a dove. The ambiguity of the Greek text in Mk. 1.10 is avoided by Luke, peristera, cf. on 2.24.

sōmatikos ‘bodily’ with the connotation of ‘real.’

eidos (also 9.29) ‘outward appearance.’

phōnēn ex ouranou genesthai ‘that a voice came from heaven.’ For phōnē cf. on 1.44. Here the voice is the voice of God.

su ei ho huios mou ho agapētos ‘you are my son, the beloved one,’ a public proclamation, not only for the sake of the person addressed but also for those present. ho agapētos may be interpreted as attributive to ho huios mou “my beloved Son” (Revised Standard Version), or as an apposition to it, “My son, the Beloved One” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation), or “my Son, my Beloved” (New English Bible). The latter interpretation is preferable since it brings out the two parts of the clause: su ei ho huios mou ‘you are my son’ (Ps. 2.7) a formula pertaining to the enthroning of a king, and ho agapētos reflecting Is. 42.1 (not a literal quotation!), which refers to the suffering servant.

agapētos (also 20.13) ‘beloved,’ tending toward the meaning ‘only-beloved.’ Hence several commentators advocate the rendering ‘only,’ but the great majority of translators favours ‘beloved,’ which also fits the thought of Is. 42.1 better. This is to be preferred.

en soi eudokēsa ‘in thee I am well pleased.’ The aorist is best rendered as a present.

eudokeō (also 12.32) ‘take delight,’ especially of God’s delight in somebody, with the connotation of favour (cf. New English Bible) and choice (cf. An American Translation).

Translation:

The verses link up with v. 18, not with vv. 19f, which are a kind of parenthesis. Consequently it may be necessary to use a transitional that suggests the resuming of the thread of the narrative, such as, ‘it-is-told’ (Javanese), “meanwhile” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation), ‘now.’ For the same reason one may have to add a reference to the agent of the baptising, where necessary shifting to active forms, e.g. ‘at the time that all the people were baptised by John, Jesus was baptised also. Now, when Jesus was praying (afterwards), the heaven….’ Where a co-ordinating sentence structure is preferable one may say e.g., ‘It is told further, Jesus received baptism/was baptised with all other people (or, John had baptised all the people and Jesus also). After that he (or, Jesus) was praying. At that very moment…’ (cf. Chinese, Kituba).

All the people, where necessary qualified, e.g. ‘all those people,’ ‘all people there (or, which came to him),’ ‘all those present.’

The heaven was opened, intransitive, cf. “heaven opened” (New English Bible), or, ‘the door of heaven opened’ (Chuj for Acts 7.56, in which language a literal rendering would merely indicate a clearing away of the clouds).

(V. 22) Descended upon him, or, ‘alighted upon him,’ as said of birds, ‘came down … on top of his head’ (Sranan Tongo).

Him. In some languages the use of a pronoun in referring to a person to whom reverence is due sounds impolite, vulgar, or is simply unidiomatic. Then one may have to substitute the name, or a title, such as ‘the Lord’ (which the Greek often employs of Jesus, e.g. in 7.13, cf. also on 1.6), or use some other device, such as a verbal form with implicit subject, or with a pronominal suffix (which in some languages is acceptable where the free form of the pronoun is not). Cf. also above on 1.8.

In bodily form as a dove. Possible alternatives are, ‘having-form like the body of a dove’ (Tae’), or, since the bodily form may be taken to be implied in the comparison, ‘its shape like (that of) a dove,’ ‘in the form of a dove’ (Hindi, similarly Balinese), ‘appearing to-have-a-form as a dove’ (Javanese), ‘looking like a dove,’ ‘just like a dove.’ When using the last mentioned rendering one should take care that the phrase does not qualify the process but the agent. — Dove, see above on 2.24; here probably symbolizing purity, innocence, peace.

A voice came from heaven cf. ‘there-was/happened a voice from on-high’ (Batak Toba), ‘they heard a voice which originated in heaven’ (Manobo), ‘there-was a saying-in the ether’ (Balinese, using an idiomatic phrase for a message of supernatural origin), ‘someone called/spoke from heaven.’

Thou art my beloved son, with thee I am well pleased. In some honorific languages (e.g. Hindi, Marathi) the terms used, especially the pronouns, are the intimate, non-honorific ones that any father, royal or other, would use to his son, but others (e.g. Balinese) model their use of honorifics on the case of a royal father addressing his son in public. My beloved son, preferably, ‘my son, the beloved (one),’ as in ‘my Son, the Chosen’ in 9.35. For beloved, or, ‘(the one) whom I love,’ see on 6.27. In Ekari the best rendering turned out to be ‘own,’ which carries the meaning of especially one’s own and beloved.

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 3:22

3:22a

the Holy Spirit descended on Him: The clause the Holy Spirit descended on Him indicates that the Holy Spirit came down from heaven and perched/sat upon Jesus. The New Century Version has translated this is as:

the Holy Spirit came down on him

Holy Spirit: You should translate the term Holy Spirit here in the same way as you did in 3:16d.

in a bodily form like a dove: There are two ways to interpret the phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as in a bodily form like a dove:

(1) The Holy Spirit took the bodily form of a dove and came down on Jesus. This is why people often use a picture of a dove to represent the Holy Spirit. For example:

in the form of a dove (New Century Version)

(Berean Standard Bible, God’s Word, New Century Version, New Living Translation (1996); probably King James Version, New American Standard Bible, New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Good News Translation, Revised English Bible)

(2) The Holy Spirit came down upon Jesus in the same way that a dove would come down. God’s Spirit took some bodily form, but it was not necessarily the form of a dove. For example:

in bodily form, descended on him like a dove (New Living Translation (2004))

(footnote in NET Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Living Translation (2004), probably Revised Standard Version)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1).

dove: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates here as dove refers to several different species of birds. In English, these birds are sometimes called “doves” and sometimes called “pigeons.” The dove here refers to the same kind of bird that the Berean Standard Bible calls a “pigeon” in 2:24b. (See the note there.) It is recommended that you translate it in the same way here as you did there.

For Jews, doves/pigeons were a symbol of something that is gentle and peaceful. Doves/pigeons that we know today are often not gentle. They can be aggressive and attack other birds. It is important to consider this here where the Holy Spirit is described like a dove.

Here are some ways to translate this word:

• If your readers know doves/pigeons and they are considered good birds, you should use your word for a dove/pigeon.

• If doves/pigeons are unknown, or if they are considered bad, you may want to use the general word for “bird.”

3:22b

a voice came from heaven: The voice was the voice of God the Father. God spoke from heaven and talked to Jesus. The words in 3:22c are what God said to Jesus.

Some other ways to say a voice came from heaven are:

a voice spoke from heaven
-or-
they heard a voice speaking from heaven
-or-
God spoke from heaven

heaven: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as heaven is also used in 3:21b. It can have two different meanings, depending on the context:

(a) heaven, the place where God dwells;

(b) the sky.

Here the word heaven refers to the place where God dwells. In some languages, you may need to use a different word than the word you used for “heaven” in 3:21b.

See heaven in the Glossary.

3:22c

You are My beloved Son: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as You are My beloved Son is literally “You are my son, the loved-one.” The words “the loved-one” indicate that Jesus was God the Father’s dear son. Be sure that it is clear in your translation that the word You refers to Jesus. Other ways to translate this part of the verse are:

You are my own dear Son. (Good News Translation)
-or-
You are my Son. I love you.

beloved: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates here as beloved refers to the concern and affection that God the Father has for God the Son, Jesus.

Consider the most appropriate term to describe this type of love. In some languages there may be an idiom for it. It is possible that you may need to use different expressions to refer to God’s love and human love.

3:22d

in You I am well pleased: There is a textual issue here:

(1) Some Greek manuscripts have “with you I am well pleased.” Almost all English versions follow this reading. For example:

I am pleased with you (Good News Translation)

(2) Other Greek manuscripts have “I today have fathered you.” For example:

today have I fathered you (New Jerusalem Bible)

It is recommended that you follow option (1). It has the earliest and most widespread manuscript support, and the majority of English versions follow these manuscripts.

The phrase in You I am well pleased means “I approve of you” and “I am very happy with you.” God the Father was expressing his joy that he receives from his Son. Many English versions say “with you” rather than “in you.” For example:

I am pleased with you (Good News Translation)

© 2009, 2010, 2013 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.