a new heaven and a new earth

The Hebrew and Greek that is typically translated as “a new heaven and a new earth” in English is translated in Mandarin Chinese with a proverb-like 4-character expression: xīntiān xīndì (新天新地), lit. “new heaven, new earth.” (Source: Zetzsche)

complete verse (Revelation 21:1)

Following are a number of back-translations of Revelation 21:1:

  • Uma: “After that I saw a new sky and a new earth. The first sky and earth had passed-on [i.e., to use an English idiom, ‘were history’], and there was no longer any sea.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “After this, I saw a new sky and a new earth. The first sky and the first earth and including the sea had vanished.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth because the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared and there was no longer any sea.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “After-that I saw a new sky and a new earth, because the preceding sky and earth had already disappeared, and the ocean also was-no-more.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “And then as I watched, (I saw) new heaven/sky and new world/land also. This old heaven/sky and world/land were no more. There was also no more ocean.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Afterwards, I saw the new heavens and the new earth. Concerning the heavens which had been before and the land which had been before, they were gone. Concerning the seas which had been, also they were all gone.” (Source: Tenango Otomi 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.”

sea / lake

The various Greek, Aramaic, Latin and Hebrew terms that are translated as “sea,” “ocean,” or “lake” in English are all translated in Chichewa with one term: nyanja. Malawi, where Chichewa is spoken, has a lot of lakes but does not share a border with the ocean. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Revelation 21:1

Then I saw: this marks a new vision (see 20.1, 4, 11). Then: as with the initial verses of other chapters, translators may include information from verses 11-14 of the previous chapter and say, for example, “After the vision of the final judgment, I saw…” or “After the vision of God judging everyone, I saw….”

A new heaven and a new earth: the words emphasize the fact that the old universe has not been renewed but has been replaced. A new creation has taken place (see Isa 65.17; 2 Peter 3.13). In some languages it will be more natural to say something like “a new sky and a new earth,” or even “a new universe.”

The first heaven and the first earth had passed away: see 20.11. Good News Translation “disappeared” is wrong; it should be “had disappeared.”

The sea was no more: in 20.11 nothing is said or implied about the sea. In other passages (see 5.13; 10.6; 14.7) the sea is explicitly mentioned, together with heaven and earth, but not in 20.11. There is no sea (new or old) in the new universe. The translation can be “the sea no longer exists,” “there is no more sea (or, ocean).”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• After the vision of God judging everyone, I saw a new universe, for the first universe had disappeared, and the sea (or, ocean) no longer existed.

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 21:1

Section 21:1–8

John saw the new heaven and earth

In this section, John saw a new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem. John also heard someone explain that God now lives with his people. The person also spoke about those who did not follow God.

Other examples of headings for this section are:

The new heaven and earth descended, and God began living with his people
-or-
All things made new (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

Paragraph 21:1–4

21:1a

Then: The Greek word here is the usual word that indicates that the story continues. However, here it introduces a new part of the story. Use a natural way to introduce a new part of the story in your language.

a new heaven and a new earth: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as heaven can also mean “sky” as in 20:11b. Here it probably refers to everything in the universe that surrounds the earth. So the phrase heaven…and…earth probably refers to all of creation.

In some languages a literal translation would wrongly refer only to the place where God lives and the place where people live. If that is true in your language, you may want to:

• Translate the correct meaning in your translation. For example:

a new earth and sky ⌊and everything else that God newly made⌋
-or-
a new earth and a new sky ⌊and all that is in them⌋

• Translate the literal meaning and explain its meaning in a footnote. For example:

This saying refers to a whole new universe.

a new earth: The word earth refers to the whole world here: the land and sea.

21:1b

for: This conjunction introduces the reason that there was a new heaven and earth.

the first heaven and earth had passed away: This clause indicates that the first heaven and earth no longer existed. For example:

the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist (NET Bible)

the first heaven and earth: This phrase probably refers to the same things as in 20:11b. But there are some English translations that use the English word “sky” instead of heaven. In both verses, the phrase refers to all of creation. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

all that God created/made first
-or-
the first earth and sky ⌊and all that is in them⌋
-or-
the first universe

the first heaven: The word heaven here probably has the same meaning as in 21:1a.

21:1c

and the sea was no more: The Greek clause is literally “no sea existed anymore.” The new earth did not have a sea. In Jewish culture, the sea was a symbol of chaos and evil. So John probably used the sea as a symbol for chaos and evil.

You should translate following the Greek or English. But you may want to explain the implied information in a footnote. For example:

In Jewish culture, the sea was a symbol of chaos and evil.

sea: The word sea refers to a large body of water. A sea is often so large that someone standing on one side cannot see the other side. Here the word sea refers to seas and oceans in general. See how you translated this word in 5:13 or 20:13.

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