widow

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “widow” in English is translated in West Kewa as ona wasa or “woman shadow.” (Source: Karl J. Franklin in Notes on Translation 70/1978, pp. 13ff.)

The etymological meaning of the Hebrew almanah (אַלְמָנָה) is likely “pain, ache,” the Greek chéra (χήρα) is likely “to leave behind,” “abandon,” and the English widow (as well as related terms in languages such as Dutch, German, Sanskrit, Welsh, or Persian) is “to separate,” “divide” (source: Wiktionary).

See also widows.

complete verse (Revelation 18:7)

Following are a number of back-translations of Revelation 18:7:

  • Uma: “That villagers of Babel are like a woman who makes her body beautiful and does what she wants. That’s why I request that you torture them and make it difficult for them now. They hearts are so high [arrogant] they say: ‘I am a queen. I am not a widow, I will not undergo saddness/suffering.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Her boasting and her indulging whatever kind of desire she had was over-much therefore the suffering and grief sent to her shall also be over-much. Because she always boasted to herself, she said, ‘I am a queen reigning. I am not a widow. I will not experience grief.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “To excess she improved her situation, and now she will be repaid with grief and a situation of torment. For she never stops boasting, she says in her mind, ‘I am a queen and no widow. It is impossible for me to be overtaken by hardship.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “The quantity of her wealth and her pride/arrogance (lit. making-high her body), that also will be the quantity of her hardship/suffering and sorrow. She says to herself (lit. says with her mind), ‘Here I am a queen who rules. Is it indeed-the-case (RQ implying of course not) that I will mourn as if I have been widowed?'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For to the extent to which she caused herself to go in celebrating and being important, like that indeed is the extent to which she will experience being caused suffering and grief. Because in her mind she thinks, ‘I am really sitting in kingship. I’m not a widow. Till forever, really far from me is anything to grieve over.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Overflowingly they have had pleasures and they have been proud of all the money they had. So overflowingly will be the suffering they have now. Because they think in their hearts: ‘It is like we are rulers here where we are, nothing is lacking and never will come the day when we will have sadness’ they think.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Revelation 18:7

She glorified herself: this means “to boast”: “she boasted of her greatness,” “she was very vain,” or “she boasted, ‘I am very great.’ ”

Played the wanton: this is a rather quaint expression in English; the Greek means “indulged her lust,” “enjoyed luxury” (see the related noun “wealth” in Rev. 18.3). New Revised Standard Version has “lived luxuriously.” The verb appears here and in verse 9, and nowhere else in the New Testament. These first two clauses may also be expressed as “Just as she boasted, ‘I am very great,’ and lived a life full of luxury (or, good things).”

A like measure of torment and mourning: for the noun translated torment see “torture” at 9.5; 14.11. The more general idea of “suffering” or “pain” fits the context here. The Revised Standard Version sentence structure, As she … so give her, may not be the best way to translate this part of the verse; something like the Good News Translation restructuring may be easier to follow. New Jerusalem Bible has “Every one of her pomps and orgies is to be matched by a torture or an agony”; Revised English Bible “Measure out torment and grief to match her pomp and luxury.” Another way of expressing this is “You must cause her to receive extreme pain and sorrow that equals her luxurious life (or, way of life) and her pride in herself.”

Since: this statement of reason will be followed by the result in verse 8, “so….” It may be better to restructure, as Good News Translation has done, and say here “She tells herself,” “She keeps on saying to herself,” “She keeps reassuring herself,” or “She keeps thinking to herself.”

A queen I sit: “I am a queen, sitting on my throne.” Queen normally refers to the wife of a king, but in this context it means “a woman ruler” who has complete control over her subjects. In certain languages it will sound strange to bring in a feminine subject into the first sentence. In such a case one may say “Here I sit on my throne, ruling with complete authority.”

I am no widow, mourning I shall never see: it may not be natural to speak of “(never) seeing mourning,” so something like “I shall never mourn,” “I shall never be in mourning” may be better. This mourning is the sorrow a woman feels when her husband dies. This boast may be stated as follows: “I am not a widow, and I will never know the sorrow of widowhood,” or “Since I have no husband, I will never be a widow mourning her husband’s death,” or “I have no husband who will die, so I will never have to weep for him.” See similar language in Isa 47.7-9.

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 .