3Another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; he was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne.
The Greek that is translated as “saint” in English is rendered into Highland Puebla Nahuatl as “one with a clean hearts,” into Northwestern Dinka as “one with a white hearts,” and into Western Kanjobal as “person of prayer.” (Source: Nida 1952, p. 146)
Bura-Pabir: “sacrifice mound” (source: Andy Warrren-Rothlin)
The Ignaciano translators decided to translate the difficult term in that language according to the focus of each New Testament passage in which the word appears (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight
Willis Ott (in Notes on Translation 88/1982, p. 18ff.) explains:
Matt. 5:23,24: “When you take your offering to God, and arriving, you remember…, do not offer your gift yet. First go to your brother…Then it is fitting to return and offer your offering to God.” (The focus is on improving relationships with people before attempting to improve a relationship with God, so the means of offering, the altar, is not focal.)
Matt. 23:18 (19,20): “You also teach erroneously: ‘If someone makes a promise, swearing by the offering-place/table, he is not guilty if he should break the promise. But if he swears by the gift that he put on the offering-place/table, he will be guilty if he breaks the promise.'”
Luke 1:11: “…to the right side of the table where they burn incense.”
Luke 11.51. “…the one they killed in front of the temple (or the temple enclosure).” (The focus is on location, with overtones on: “their crime was all the more heinous for killing him there”.)
Rom. 11:3: “Lord, they have killed all my fellow prophets that spoke for you. They do not want anyone to give offerings to you in worship.” (The focus is on the people’s rejection of religion, with God as the object of worship.)
1Cor. 9:13 (10:18): “Remember that those that attend the temple have rights to eat the foods that people bring as offerings to God. They have rights to the meat that the people offer.” (The focus is on the right of priests to the offered food.)
Heb. 7:13: “This one of whom we are talking is from another clan. No one from that clan was ever a priest.” (The focus in on the legitimacy of this priest’s vocation.)
Jas. 2:21: “Remember our ancestor Abraham, when God tested him by asking him to give him his son by death. Abraham was to the point of stabbing/killing his son, thus proving his obedience.” (The focus is on the sacrifice as a demonstration of faith/obedience.)
Rev. 6:9 (8:3,5; 9:13; 14:18; 16:7): “I saw the souls of them that…They were under the table that holds God’s fire/coals.” (This keeps the concepts of: furniture, receptacle for keeping fire, and location near God.)
Rev. 11:1: “Go to the temple, Measure the building and the inside enclosure (the outside is contrasted in v. 2). Measure the burning place for offered animals. Then count the people who are worshiping there.” (This altar is probably the brazen altar in a temple on earth, since people are worshiping there and since outside this area conquerors are allowed to subjugate for a certain time.)
In the Hebraic English translation of Everett Fox it is translated as slaughter-site and likewise in the German translation by Buber / Rosenzweig as Schlachtstatt.
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 8:3:
Uma: “From there, there was another angel [who] came to stand at the offering burning table. That angel carried bowl [made] of gold for burning incense and he was given much incense to burn along with the prayers of all the people who are God’s portion. He burned the incense and prayers on top of the incense-burning table [made] of gold in front of the Seat of God.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Then there was a different angel carrying a golden censer. He went and stood next to the altar-(for-animal-sacrifice). Much incense was given to him so that the fragrance of the incense would mingle with the prayers of all the people belonging to God while he burnt the incense there on the golden table in front of the throne.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And there was another angel who had a golden bowl filled with sweet smelling stuff, and he came near and stood near the altar of sacrifice. A great amount of sweet smelling incense was given to him so that he might, there on the golden altar, mix it with the prayers of believers.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “After-that another angel arrived who was holding a gold container of incense, and he went and stood by the gold-plated altar where-they -burned incense that was located before the throne. He was given much incense to be added to the prayers of all God’s people to be burned on the altar to be offered to God.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “And then there was another angel who came bringing a gold container of incense. He stood in front of the altar of incense which is in front of that king’s seat. I saw that he was given a large amount of incense to burn there on that gold altar, at the same time as he would cause to go up the prayers of God’s people.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Another angel came there, carrying an incense burner all of gold. He stood at the altar. He was given very much incense to fill the incense burner, so that he would place the incense on the altar of gold. Thus there accompanied it the prayers of the people who are in the hand of God.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Another angel came: as in all instances of verbs of movement, the translator must decide on the point of reference. Here came implies that the point of reference is the altar itself, whereas “went” (Moffatt) makes the point of reference a spectator, such as the author of the book. The latter point of reference is to be preferred.
The altar: it is not certain whether this altar is the same one that appears in 6.9, which seems to be the altar of sacrifice, or is the gold altar of incense, which appears at the end of this verse. The normal rules of language make the altar different from the golden altar before the throne later in the verse; but normal rules of language do not always apply in this book. There are those who maintain that in this verse there are two altars, the altar of sacrifice and the altar of incense; others maintain that there is only one altar in this verse, the altar of incense; and there are others who maintain that this one altar, the altar of incense, is also the altar in 6.9 (the view especially of Charles’ commentary). The translator’s task is to translate quite literally the altar and the golden altar before the throne, without trying to indicate any relation between the two. “At the altar” (Good News Translation) means “in front of the altar.”
A golden censer: a censer was a small metal bowl or pan in which the incense was burned. It had a handle so that the priest could hold it and carry it to the altar. In this instance golden means that the censer was made of gold; 1 Kgs 7.50 states that all such instruments in Solomon’s Temple were made of gold. Instead of saying witha golden censer or “had a…” (Good News Translation), many translators will need to say “held a golden censer,” making it clear that the angel was holding the pan with his hand. So another way of stating the first part of this verse is “Another angel, who held a gold incense container, came….”
He was given much incense: again the passive voice of the verb indicates that God or an angel gave this angel the incense, and many translators will wish to say either “Someone gave him much incense” or “He received much incense.” For comments on incense see 5.8.
To mingle with the prayers: the Greek text says “to give with the prayers”; instead of to mingle with or “to add to” (Good News Translation), it is better to render “to offer with the prayers” (New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible). The prayers of God’s people are regarded as offerings to God. The incense is added to make them acceptable to God, and they are offered on the gold altar of incense.
Saints: see 5.8.
The golden altar before the throne: this altar is the altar of incense (also in 9.13; see Exo 30.1; 1 Kgs 7.48), and the throne is the throne of God, so it may be well to say so, or to indicate by a demonstrative reference; for example, “the chief’s chair where God sits.”
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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