blaspheme, blasphemy

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is translated as “blasphemy” or “blaspheme” is translated in various forms:

complete verse (Revelation 17:3)

Following are a number of back-translations of Revelation 17:3:

  • Uma: “[So] the Holy Spirit controlled me and the angel took me going to an empty field. There I saw a woman who was riding an animal. The animal that she rode was bright red, all over its body were written words disparaging to God; it had seven heads and ten horns.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “After this, I was entered by the Spirit of God and was taken by the angel to a lonely-place/desert. Then I saw there a woman riding on a red creature. That creature had seven heads and ten horns. His body was covered with writing of bad names as far as God is concerned.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And by means of the power of the Holy Spirit, I was led by the angel to a place where no people live. There I saw the woman, She is riding upon a red beast, and written on the body of that beast are many titles which transgress God. The beast has seven heads and ten horns.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Then God’s Spirit again caused-me-to-dream, and the angel took me to a place with no inhabitants. I saw there a woman riding on a terrible/fearsome red animal with seven heads and ten horns. Its body also, it was written-on with names of God which it had no authority to use.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “And then through the control of the Espiritu Santo who is indwelling me, I was taken by an angel to a wilderness place. There I saw a woman riding a red monster/man-eating-animal which had seven heads branching out and ten horns. The body of that animal was covered with writing. What were written were words which were far-from-ordinary insults to God.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The Holy Spirit changed my seeing. Then the angel took me to a wild place. There I saw the woman seated on the terrible animal which was red and had come out of the sea. On the body of the terrible animal it was covered with names which displease God. This terrible animal had seven heads and ten horns.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Spirit (of God) (Japanese honorifics)

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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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) can be used, as in mi-tama (御霊) or “Spirit (of God)” in the referenced verses.

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

See also Holy Spirit

Translation commentary on Revelation 17:3

He carried me away in the Spirit: in 1.10 and 4.2 John says “I was in the Spirit”; here and in 21.10 he describes how one of the seven angels who had the bowls carried him away in the Spirit (or, “spirit”). John is describing an ecstatic experience (like the one Paul talks about in 2 Cor 12.1-3). An American Translation and Barclay use the expression “in a trance.” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy has “Then, in the vision that the Spirit made me see, the angel took me to the desert.” This is better than “in a trance.” Or a translation may choose to follow Good News Translation and Translator’s New Testament and say “The Spirit possessed me, and the angel carried me off.” If a translation prefers to say “in the spirit” (as New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible have it), care must be taken not to say that the angel carried John’s spirit off. John is talking about a vision. See 1.4, 10 for comments on the translation of Spirit. In many languages translators may say “God’s Spirit” if readers are likely to misunderstand.

A wilderness: in 12.6, 14 the word is used of the desert to which the woman fled from the dragon; here it is not the same desert but some deserted place, not identified.

A scarlet beast: this beast, with seven heads and ten horns, is the first beast, the one that came up out of the sea (13.1). Only here is it said to be scarlet (in 12.3 the dragon is said to be red). Some languages distinguish between scarlet, which is a vivid red color, and ordinary red; others may not have such distinctions.

Full of blasphemous names: as in 13.1, these are words and titles that should be used only of God. Here it is not said that these names are on the beast’s heads. The translation can say “it had all over it (or, over its body) names that are insulting to God.”

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 17:3

Paragraph 17:3–6b

17:3a

carried me away in the Spirit: In English Bibles, the titles and names of God normally begin with an uppercase (capital) letter. But ancient Greek writers used only one style of letters. So the Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Spirit can refer to either the human spirit or God’s Spirit. There are two ways to interpret it:

(1) It indicates that the Holy Spirit took John places during the following experience. For example:

Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit (Revised Standard Version)

(2) It indicates that John’s spirit (as opposed to his physical body) experienced the following event. For example:

He took me in spirit (New Jerusalem Bible)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), because it is probably used in the same way as in 1:10. See how you translated the phrase in the Spirit there. The clause implies that John’s experience in 1:10 continues, but at a new location.

wilderness: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as wilderness refers to a place that is empty, desolate, or uninhabited. See how you translated this word in 12:6 or 12:14.

17:3b

a woman: This woman was referred to as “the great prostitute” in 17:1. In some languages a literal translation would wrongly refer to a different woman. If that is true in your language, you may want to:

• Clearly indicate in your translation that it is the same woman. For example:

that woman

• Explain who she is in a footnote. An example footnote is:

This is a vision of the great prostitute (17:1).

sitting: The woman was sitting on the beast’s back or shoulders.

scarlet: This word refers to a bright red color.

beast: The word beast probably refers to the first beast (13:1). See how you translated this word in 13:1 or 16:13.

17:3c

that was covered with blasphemous names: This clause indicates that the body of the beast had many blasphemous names on it. For example:

that had names insulting to God written all over it (Good News Translation)

blasphemous names: The word blasphemous here means “a saying that is against God.” The beast was perhaps using the names and titles that are rightfully God’s alone. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

names that dishonored God
-or-
names that belong to God alone

See how you translated the phrase “blasphemous name” in 13:1.

17:3d

had seven heads and ten horns: You should translate this phrase as you did in 13:1.

horns: This word refers to horns like animal horns. These verses do not say what kind of animal horn it was.

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