5If you conquer, you will be clothed like them in white robes, and I will not erase your name from the book of life; I will confess your name before my Father and before his angels.
The Hebrew and Greek that is typically translated as “confess” in English in the context of these verses is translated in a variety of ways. Here are some (back-) translations:
Huastec: “to take aim at one’s sin” (“an idiom which is derived from the action of a hunter taking aim at a bird or animal”) (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
Tabasco Chontal: “say, It is true, I’ve done evil” (source: Larson 1998, p. 204)
Central Pame: “pull out the heart” (“so that it may be clearly seen — not just by men, but by God”) (source: Nida 1952, p. 155)
Shipibo-Conibo: “say, It is true I have sinned” (source: Nida 1964, p. 228)
Obolo: itutumu ijo isibi: “speak out sin” (source: Enene Enene).
Tagbanwa: “testify that one would now drop/give-up sin” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
The Greek that is translated as “acknowledge” or “confess” in English is rendered as “say openly … that they have believed” (Tzeltal), “approves” (Chichewa), “declares/mentions (my) name” (Kekchí, Sranan Tongo), “talks (my) good name” (Northern Grebo), “testifies to (me)” (Zarma, Pohnpeian), “takes (my) side” (Shona, translation of 1966), or “speaks for (me)” (Ekari).
The Greek that is translated with the capitalized “Father” in English when referring to God is translated in Highland Totonac with the regular word for (biological) father to which a suffix is added to indicate respect. The same also is used for “Lord” when referring to Jesus. (Source: Hermann Aschmann in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 171ff. )
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated with “clothes” or similar in English is translated in Enlhet as “crawling-in-stuff” (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1971, p. 169ff. ) and in Noongar as bwoka or “Kangaroo skin” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
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 Revelation 3:5:
Uma: “‘Whoever wins, them also I will clothe with white clothes. I will not wipe their names from the Book of Life, the book writing-place of the names of those who receive good life until forever. And in front of my Father and his angels I will confess that they are my followers.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Whoever is not carried-along by temptation/the tempters they will be dressed in white like that and I will not wipe out their names from the book for writing the names of the people who have life without end. And I will make publicly known there in the presence of my Father and his angels that they belong to me.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Everyone who overcomes Satan will be dressed in white, and I will not erase his name out of the book where I have written the names of those who are given eternal life. And before my Father God and His angels, I will own them as My possessions.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “The people who defeat evil, they will also be dressed in white like them. I will absolutely not remove their names from the book in which is written the names of those who have life that has no end, but rather I will admit that they are my people in front of my Father and his angels.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “For whoever is able to have victory over whatever leads to sinning and destruction of believing/obeying, it’s certain that I will cause him to be dressed in white clothes and I will not erase his name from that in which are written the ones who are being given life which has no ending. And I will testify in the presence of my Father and his angels that I really acknowledge him as being mine.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “And now, concerning the person who comes out victorious over the evil there is, he will wear the white clothing and his name will not be removed from the book in which is written the names of the people who have the new live. There where my Father is with the angels who are there with him, I will say that these are my people.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
He who conquers: see the comments at 2.7. To avoid the exclusively masculine sense, the translation can use a plural form, “Those who conquer,” or the indefinite “Whoever conquers.” Revised English Bible has “Anyone who is victorious.”
Shall be clad thus in white garments: the meaning is “will wear white clothes like this” or “like them,” that is, as they do. “They will be dressed in white like them.” The passive form of the verb may indicate that God or Christ will dress them. It seems better, though, to understand it as the Greek middle voice: “they will dress themselves.”
I will not blot his name out of the book of life: the verb blot … out means to delete, to erase, to wipe out, to remove—whatever verb is most naturally applied to the process of removing someone’s name from a list or a book. See Revised English Bible “I shall never strike his name off the roll of the living.” The figure the book of life is a familiar one in the Bible and in scriptures of other religions (see also 13.8; 17.8; 20.12, 15; 21.27). It implies that God keeps a (written) record of those who will enjoy the bliss of eternal life. In 17.8 the additional information is given, that those names were entered into the book of life before the creation of the world. For other references to the book of life, see Exo 32.32-33; Psa 69.28; Dan 12.1; Mal 3.16; Phil 4.3. Instead of the abstract phrase of life, a translator may choose to say “of the living (ones)” (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible). The book of life may be expressed as “the book in which the names of those who really have life (life from God) are written down” or “the book in which God has written down the names of those who will have eternal life.”
I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels: to “confess the name” means to recognize, acknowledge, proclaim a certain relationship with a person. Here the meaning is that at the final Judgment Christ will declare that these people are his, they are his followers, they belong to him (see Matt 10.32; Luke 12.8; 1 John 2.23). An American Translation and Barclay translate “I will acknowledge him as mine”; Bible en français courant has “I will declare before my Father and before his angels that they belong to me.” The literal translation before my Fatherandbefore his angels appears to imply two separate events, whereas only one is meant: “before my Father and his angels” Christ will make this declaration. The phrase before my Father and before his angels may also be rendered as “when I stand before my Father and…,” or in certain languages “as I am before the face of my Father and….”
For angel see comments at 1.20.
An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• The person who conquers the forces of evil will wear white clothes like these do. I will not erase that person’s name from the book in which the names of those who have true life are written down. As I stand before my Father and the beings (angels) who serve him, I will declare that I know this person.
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 .
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