The Greek that is translated in English as “devil” is sometimes translated with indigenous specific names, such as “the avaricious one” in Tetelcingo Nahuatl, “the malicious deity” in Toraja-Sa’dan (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel), or in Yoruba as èṣù. “Èṣù is thought of as bringing evil, but also as giving protection. The birth of a child may be attributed to him, as the names given to some babies show, Èṣùbiyi (Èṣù brought this forth), and Èṣùtoyin (Èṣù is worthy of praise).” (Source: John Hargreaves in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 39ff. )
Other translations include:
Muna: Kafeompu’ando seetani or “Master of the evil-spirits” (source: René van den Berg)
Mairasi: owe er epar nan or “headman of malevolent spirits” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Ojitlán Chinantec: as “head of the worldlings” (source for the last two: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125).
Mandarin Chinesemóguǐ (魔鬼), literally “magical ghost.” This is a term that was adopted from Buddhist sources into early Catholic writings and later also by Protestant translators. (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 32)
In Lak and Shughni it is translated with terms of feminine gender. Vitaly Voinov tells this story (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):
“In the Lak language of Dagestan, the names ‘Iblis’ and ‘sheytan’ (referring to Satan and his minions, respectively) in this language were borrowed from the Arabic Islamic tradition, but they entered Lak as feminine nouns, not masculine nouns. This means that they grammatically function like nouns referring to females in Lak; in other words, Laks are likely to think of Iblis as a woman, not a man, because of the obligatory grammatical patterning of Lak noun classes. Thus, when the team explained (in Russian) what the Lak translation of Jesus’ wilderness temptation narrative at the beginning of Matthew 4 said, it sounded something like the following: ‘After this, the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by Iblis… .The temptress came to Jesus, and she said to Him…’
“Since this information (that the devil is a female spirit) is part of the very name used for Satan in Lak, nothing can really be done about this in the translation. The Lak translator did not think that the feminine gender of Iblis should cause any serious misunderstandings among readers, so we agreed to leave it in the translation. Prior to this, I had never heard about languages in which the devil is pictured as a woman, but recently I was told by a speaker of the Shughni language that in their language Sheytan is also feminine. This puts an interesting spin on things. The devil is of course a spirit, neither male nor female in a biologically-meaningful sense. But Bible translators are by nature very risk-aversive and, where possible, want to avoid any translation that might feed misleading information to readers. So what can a translator do about this? In many cases, such as the present one, one has to just accept the existing language structure and go on.”
The Greek that is often translated in English as “end of the age” or “end of the world” is translated in Amele as “the end of the world time,” in Dobel as “the end of the world as it is now,” and in Luwo as” Day of God’s judgement” (in Matt. 13:39-40) or “as the end of the present world/earth” (in Matt. 13:49; 24:3 and 28:20). (Sources: Joseph Modesto (Luwo), John Roberts (Amele), Jock Hughes (Dobel).)
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.”)
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 13:39:
Uma: “The enemy who sowed the grass, he is the King of Evil-ones. The time of harvest stands-for the Kiama Day. And the harvesters stand-for angels.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “The enemy of the man who scattered the weeds, he is the leader of demons. The harvest time means the end of the world. The ones harvesting are the angels.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And the enemy of the person is Satan. And the harvest is the end time. And those who harvest, they are the angels of God.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “The enemy who broadcast the weed seeds is the Diablo. The harvest-season is the end of the world, and those moreover who harvest are the angels.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Well, that opponent of mine who scatter-planted these poisonous weeds, this is none other that Satanas. As for the harvest-time, the end of the world is meant and the angels are the harvesters.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “That enemy of the owner of the field who planted the seed which appeared like wheat in the field is the devil. When the wheat was harvested, that means when the world is ended. The workers who harvest the wheat are the angels.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Devil is first used in 4.1; then in 4.5, 8, 11; and once again in 25.41. It is the term used in the Septuagint to translate Satan, which is a Hebrew word.
Harvest must be understood as the gathering in of the crops rather than of the gathered crop itself. One may translate “the gathering of the crop stands for…” or “the time of the harvest stands for….”
The close of the age represents a Jewish and early Christian thought that time is divided into two ages: the present evil age and the future glorious age. Therefore “the end of the age” (Good News Translation) is equivalent to “the end of the world” (New Jerusalem Bible, Barclay, New American Bible) or “the end of time.” Closely allied to this thought is the belief that the world is proceeding in a direction determined by God, and the real understanding of the present may be known only as one understands the future. Matthew is the only New Testament writer to use this expression (13.39-40, 49; 24.3; 28.20).
Reapers (Good News Translation “harvest workers”): many languages, especially where life is based upon an agricultural economy, will have specialized terms that will be immediately understood. New American Bible renders “harvesters,” which itself is not widely used in American English. Most translators of modern English Bibles have subconsciously limited themselves to a single-word translation. “The workers who do the harvesting” or “… who gather in the crops when they’re ready” may in fact be the simplest renderings.
It may be advisable to translate angels as “God’s angels” (Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition); this should not cause confusion when in verse 41 the Son of Man sends out “his angels.” Angels itself was discussed at 1.20. “God’s messengers,” “God’s heavenly messengers,” or “God’s servants from heaven” may be appropriate here.
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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