footstool

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is typically translated as “footstool” in English is translated as “(put your enemies) underneath your feet like grass” in Enxet. (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)

In Upper Guinea Crioulo it is “(put your enemies) under your feet so you can rest your feet on them.” (Source: David Frank in this blog post )

In Whitesands is is “door-cloth.” “This would be that rag at the door that you use to wipe your feet after walking in the dirt or mud. Similar to a doormat. The point of comparison would be that a door rag is so low in value/position compared to the one using it.” (Source: Greg Carlson)

right hand of

The Greek and Hebrew that is typically translated as “(to the) right hand of” is often translated much more descriptively in other languages. In Yakan it is translated as “at the right side, here in the greatest/most important/most honored place/seat,” in Mezquital Otomi as “the right hand, at the place of honor,” in Chuj as “exalted at the right hand,” in Chichimeca-Jonaz as “in a high place there at the right,” in Lalana Chinantec as “make great,” in Isthmus Mixe as “given great authority,” in Morelos Nahuatl as “placed big” or “heart-strengthens me,” in Isthmus Mixe as “stays with me,” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August, 1966, p. 86ff), and in Teutila Cuicatec as “in all authority at the right side” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.).

In Lamnso’, the seat on the right-hand side signifies that the person seated there would have a higher position than the one to his left (vs. just being a seat of honor). To circumvent any misunderstanding of the biblical text, the translation here refers to the “highest seat next to God.” (Source: Karl Grebe in Holzhausen 1991, p. 52)

For Old Testament examples of blessing and power associated with God’s right hand, see Gen 48:14, 48:17, Exodus 15:6, 15:12, Psalm 48:10, 80:15, 80:17, 89:13.

complete verse (Hebrews 1:13)

Following are a number of back-translations of Hebrews 1:13:

  • Uma: “Never has God spoken to any angel like he spoke to his Child, it sounds like this: ‘Sit at my right side, until I make all your enemies submit to you.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “God has never spoken to (even) one of his angels as he spoke to his Son, he said, ‘Come sit down here at my right side, here in the greatest/most-important seat and I will place your enemies under the sole of your feet.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “There is no angel of God whom He said, ‘Sit here on my right side until the time when I make your enemies kneel before you.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Neither also is there even one angel to whom God said what he told his Child saying, ‘Sit down at my right-side while I cause-you (sing.) -to-step-on all your (sing.) enemies.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But really not even once was there any angel to whom he said, ‘Now/today sit down now on my right side until, as for those enemies of yours, I will cause (them) to surrender in which they are just the stool/putting-place of your feet.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “God said to no angel like what he said to his Son when he said: ‘Sit here at my right while I bring about that you rule over all your enemies,’ he said.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Hebrews 1:13

The last quotation in this chapter, like the first, is introduced by a rhetorical question which is equal to a strong negative statement. The quotation is from Psalm 110.1, the Old Testament text most often quoted in the New Testament. Translators may wish to check the other places where this text is quoted (see Psa 110.1 reference footnote in Good News Bible) and avoid variations not made necessary by the context in which it is quoted. The first readers of Hebrews would remember that in the psalm, the verse begins “The LORD [God] said to my Lord [understood as Christ].” The rhetorical question therefore calls for the answer “To Christ, not to any angel.”

The literal translation is clumsy in most languages: “Sit on my right, until I put your enemies (as) a footstool of your feet.”

My right side: as in verse 3, it may be necessary again to indicate by some marginal note that the right side was a position of honor and dignity.

Sit here at my right side must be expressed in some languages as “Sit here beside me at my right side,” since the emphasis is upon both the association and the honor.

Until I put: it is not certain whether the writer of Hebrews thinks of Christ as continuing to “sit” even after God has conquered his enemies. The Hebrew leaves this possibility open, as in Isaiah 42.4, quoted in Matthew 12.20. However, this is not the most natural meaning of the Greek, and it is possible that the writer of Hebrews thought of Christ as having a further period of activity in the last days (see 10.13, where Sit is replaced by waits; also 9.28).

Some translations avoid the repetition footstool … feet by using a word like “stool” which is not related to feet, although the Greek words are related; for example, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Revised Standard Version. Other translations remove the first part of the metaphor and translate “until I put your enemies under your feet” (Bijbel in Gewone Taal, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). The metaphor is based on an old custom: there are ancient pictures of kings with their feet resting on the heads or necks of conquered enemies.

In some languages it may seem rather strange that God would say to anyone that he should sit at the right side, while God went about putting enemies as a footstool under someone’s feet. The relationship, of course, is not that of a direct agent but that of a causative agent. Therefore one may render until I put your enemies as a footstool under your feet as “until I cause your enemies to become, as it were, a footstool beneath your feet.”

In some cultures people normally sit on an object which is formally more or less equivalent to what is in the western world regarded as a footstool. A functional equivalent of a footstool in such a culture is therefore often spoken of as a “foot stick” or a “footboard,” a low-lying object made of wood which keeps a person’s feet off what is frequently the cold, damp floor.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Letter of the Hebrews. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .