complete verse (Revelation 11:9)

Following are a number of back-translations of Revelation 11:9:

  • Uma: “People from the whole world, from every country, every tribe and every kind of language, see those corpses of theirs lying on the path for three and a half days, because no one was allowed to bury their corpses.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Many people from all places/countries and tribes and all different languages and kingdoms will go there and look at their corpses for three and a half days and they will tell/command (the people) not to bury them.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “All kinds of people of every language and race and kingdom will go there to see the bodies of these two for three and a half days, and they will not permit that they be buried.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “in the street of the large town in which indeed also their Lord was nailed to the cross. That town, it can be compared to Sodoma and Egipto. Then three days and a half will go-by while (lit. and) their bodies will be left in that-aforementiond street while people from all nations and groups whose languages and skin are mutually-different spectate. And they won’t permit that they be buried.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For the space of three and a half days, those bodies of theirs which are just thrown down will continue to be stared-at-in-fascination by people coming from all nations, no matter who they are descended from or what language they speak. Those people don’t want them to be buried.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Three and a half days the corpses laid there. They weren’t buried because the people wanted to look at them, these people from everywhere, speaking all the different languages.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Revelation 11:9

Men from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations: see the same list in 5.9, in which the same four words appear, but not in the same order.

Gaze: the word means simply “look at,” “see.” As Revised Standard Version shows, the Greek text has the verb in the present tense; this continues through verse 10a, and at “they will exchange presents” the future tense appears once more. At verse 11 the past tense is used. It is difficult to account for these changes of verb tense; the main thing for a translation to do is to use the appropriate tense in the context of the narrative as a whole.

Be placed in a tomb: a dead person was usually buried the same day that death occurred, or within twenty-four hours at the most. Where a burial does not involve a grave or a tomb, the normal way to refer to being buried should be used. If cremation is the normal way of disposing of dead bodies, it seems advisable to say something that fits better the biblical context. Another way of expressing this clause is “and will not let anyone take the corpses and bury them.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Revelation to John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Revelation 11:9

11:9a–10b

The Greek uses the present tense for the verbs “view,” “permit,” “gloat,” and “celebrate.” The Greek grammar indicates that people will do those things throughout the three and a half days. Many English versions use the future tense. They use the phrase “For three and a half days” to indicate the continuous action.

11:9a

three and a half days: Some languages do not usually refer to half a day. If that is true in your language, you may want to explain it in your translation. For example:

three ⌊whole⌋ days and ⌊part of⌋ another day
-or-
three ⌊whole⌋ days and the next day ⌊until noon⌋

all peoples and tribes and tongues and nations: The word all applies to each of the four kinds of groups. For example:

from every tribe, every language, every people, and every nation

See how you translated this phrase in 5:9 or 7:9. But note that the order of the groups is different here.

peoples: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as peoples here refers to a large group of people. But it is sometimes used to refer to a whole country, which may have many people groups in it.

See how you translated this word in 5:9 or 7:9.

tribes: This word can refer to a whole people group like “tribe” or to subgroups within the people group like “clan.”

See how you translated this word in 5:9 or 7:9.

tongues: This word refers to all the people that speak one language as a group.

nations: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as nations here refers to groups of people who share a common culture. But it is sometimes used to refer to whole countries, which may have many people groups in them. It is similar in meaning to “peoples” above, but probably it here refers to groups of people each under one government.

See how you translated this word in 5:9 or 7:9.

will view their bodies: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as view is the normal word for “look at (something).” The people looked at the bodies because they were happy that the two witnesses were now dead. The word or phrase that you use should not imply that the people were sad that the two witnesses were dead. For example:

will stare at their corpses (New Jerusalem Bible)

11:9b

will not permit them to be laid in a tomb: The people will be very upset because the two witnesses caused much suffering. So they will not let anyone bury the two witnesses. Preventing anyone to bury them shows that the people reject them. The people do not honor them in any way. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

they will refuse to bury them (New Century Version)
-or-
will not allow them to be buried (Good News Translation)

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