The Greek that is translated as “the Alpha and the Omega” in English, referring to the first and the last letter of the Greek alphabet is translated in German as “das A und O.” Even though the German alphabet does not end with the letter O, “das A und O” has become an idiom, that — like the Greek — refers to the end and the beginning.
Language-specific Insights
both soul and body
The Hebrew that is translated in English as “both soul and body” or similar is translated in the German Luther translation (all editions) with the commonly used alliteration mit Stumpf und Stiel or “completely” (verbatim: “root and branch”).
out of the belly of Sheol I cried
The Hebrew that is translated as “out of the belly of Sheol I cried” or similar into English is translated in the German Luther translation as Ich schrie aus dem Rachen des Todes or “I cried from the throat of death.” This is both an interesting literary construct (“crying” out of a “throat”) and it uses “death” for the Hebrew word translated as “Sheol” which likely is its meaning here.
wisdom of the wise - discernment of the discerning
The parallelism of the Greek text sofían tón sofón — sýnesin tón synetón can be maintained by a number of languages, including English with wisdom of the wise — discernment of the discerning or wisdom of the wise — intelligence of the intelligent, Spanish with sabiduría de sus sabios — entendimiento de sus entendidos, German with Weisheit der Weisen — Verstand der Verständigen, or French with sagesse des sages, intelligence des intelligents. (Source: Roy Ciampa)
deal - dealings
The parallelism of the Greek text chrómenoi — katachrómenoi: can be maintained by a number of languages, including English with deal — dealings or wisdom of the wise — intelligence of the intelligent, Spanish with disfrutan — disfrutaran, or German with gebrauchen — mißbrauchen. (Source: Roy Ciampa)
virgins (Revelation 14:4)
The Greek that is translated as “virgin” in English (but refers to men) is translated in Igbo “they are pure like maidens who don’t know a man,” following the neologism that was created for “virgin” that relates only to women in Igbo (see virgin), despite the fact that it is possible to follow the same rules and create a neologism for male virgins. (Source: Uchenna Oyali in Sociolinguistic Studies Vol. 17 No. 1-3 (2023): Special Issue: Gender and sexuality in African discourses )
In German (and similarly in some other Germanic languages) the term for “virgin” is Jungfrau (literally “young woman”). This passage that refers to male virgins still uses the term jungfräulich (“virginal,” lit. “like a young woman”) in most traditional German Bible translations (Luther, Einheitsübersetzung, Zürcher Bibel).
wild ox (unicorn)
The Hebrew that is translated in most English versions as “wild ox” was translated by the Ancient Greek Septuagint translation as μονόκερως (monókeros) or “unicorn.”
Bibles in the Protestant tradition also used an equivalent of that translation up into the early 20th century. This includes translations like the English King James Version/Authorised Version (unicorn), the German translation by Luther (up to and including the revision of 1912) (Einhorn), or the Swedish Charles XII Bible of 1686 (enhörningen).
Since translations of the Orthodox traditions tend to follow the Septuagint (see above), they also use an equivalent of “unicorn,” such as the Russian Synod translation with единорог (yedinorog).
Translations in the Catholic tradition tended to use an equivalent of “rhinoceros,” going back to the Latin Vulgate’s rinoceros. Modern Catholic translations that follow the Hebrew text now also use “wild ox” or an equivalent.
The influential Literary / Classical Chinese Delegates Version (publ. 1854) used sì (兕), a mythological Chinese creature that also only had one horn (see here ).
mandrake
The Hebrew that is translated in English typically as “mandrake” is translated in various French translations (Traduction Œcuménique de la Bible, Nouvelle Français courant, Parole de Vie) as pommes d’amour or “love apples” which indicates the function as an aphrodisiac (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin). Likewise, in a number of German translations (Luther, Gute Nachricht Bibel), Liebesäpfel with the same meaning is used. Incidentally, in both German and French the respective terms also refer to candy apples .