angel

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The Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic that is translated as “angel” in English versions is translated in many ways:

  • Pintupi-Luritja: ngaṉka ngurrara: “one who belongs in the sky” (source: Ken Hansen quoted in Steven 1984a, p. 116.)
  • Tetela, Kpelle, Balinese, and Mandarin Chinese: “heavenly messenger”
  • Shilluk / Igede: “spirit messenger”
  • Mashco Piro: “messenger of God”
  • Batak Toba: “envoy, messenger”
  • Navajo: “holy servant” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida 1961; Igede: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
  • Central Mazahua: “God’s worker” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.)
  • Saramaccan: basia u Masa Gaangadu köndë or “messenger from God’s country” (source: Jabini 2015, p. 86)
  • Mairasi: atatnyev nyaa or “sent-one” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “word bringer” (source: James Lauriault in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 32ff. )
  • Apali: “God’s one with talk from the head” (“basically God’s messenger since head refers to any leader’s talk”) (source: Martha Wade)
  • Michoacán Nahuatl: “clean helper of God” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Noongar: Hdjin-djin-kwabba or “spirit good” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Wè Northern (Wɛɛ): Kea ‘a “sooa or “the Lord’s soldier” (also: “God’s soldier” or “his soldier”) (source: Drew Maust)
  • Iwaidja: “a man sent with a message” (Sam Freney explains the genesis of this term [in this article): “For example, in Darwin last year, as we were working on a new translation of Luke 2:6–12 in Iwaidja, a Northern Territory language, the translators had written ‘angel’ as ‘a man with eagle wings’. Even before getting to the question of whether this was an accurate term (or one that imported some other information in), the word for ‘eagle’ started getting discussed. One of the translators had her teenage granddaughter with her, and this word didn’t mean anything to her at all. She’d never heard of it, as it was an archaic term that younger people didn’t use anymore. They ended up changing the translation of ‘angel’ to something like ‘a man sent with a message’, which is both more accurate and clear.”)

See also angel (Acts 12:15) and this devotion on YouVersion .

Translation commentary on Job 33:23

If there be for him an angel, a mediator, one of the thousand: Revised Standard Version translates verse 23 as an “if” clause, with the consequence of verses 23 and 24 coming in verse 26. Good News Translation, which has shorter sentences, uses quite different sentence relations. The wording of Revised Standard Version is rather literal and may be expressed “If an angel comes to him.” In 5.1 a different word for angel was used, where Good News Translation translated “Is there any angel to whom you can turn?” In both cases the reference is to someone who comes to help in a difficult situation. In apposition with angel is a second term, mediator, which translates a Hebrew word referring to one who interprets or comes between opposing parties to resolve their differences. Good News Translation avoids mediator as a technical term and says “comes to his aid.” One of the thousand makes it appear that there are exactly one thousand such beings. Good News Translation is clearer with “One of God’s thousands of angels.” Daniel 7.10 refers to the vast numbers of heavenly servants as “a thousand thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand.”

To declare to man what is right for him is literally “to declare for man his uprightness.” The purpose of the angel is to recall to the person what he should do, and so Good News Translation “remind men of their duty.” Bible en français courant may serve as a translation model for verse 23: “But an angel, one of the thousands of God’s mediators close to this man, is enough to make him know the right way.” This may also be expressed “But one of the thousands of God’s messengers (or, persons) who come to help someone is enough to show him what is right.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .