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 .

complete verse (Revelation 8:6)

Following are a number of back-translations of Revelation 8:6:

  • Uma: “Those seven angels earlier, they were ready holding their trumpets to blow them.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Then the seven angels got ready to soon blow one by one the thing like a tabuli’ that had been given to them.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The the seven angels got ready because they will blow their trumpets.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Right after-that those-aforementioned seven angels prepared to blow-their-horns.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Then those seven angels got ready so that they were now prepared to blow those horns which had been given to them.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The seven angels who held the trumpets then got ready to blow them.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Revelation 8:6 – 8:7

The angels take some action—perhaps bringing the trumpets to their lips—that signals to John that they are getting ready to blow their trumpets (verse 6). Who had the seven trumpets: in some languages it will be more natural to say “holding the seven trumpets.”

And there followed: after the trumpet blast the following things happened. Revised Standard Version is a bit awkward (and there followed); it is better to imitate Good News Translation, with a full stop and a new sentence, or to translate “and the following things happened at once.”

Hail and fire, mixed with blood: for hail and fire see the plague described in Exo 9.23-25 (see also Psa 18.12). Hail is frozen rain drops; in some languages a hailstorm is called a rain of rocks or stones. The fire may represent lightning (as lightning was part of the plague). The blood may be an allusion to the first plague (Exo 7.20). Ezek 38.22 speaks of hail, fire, and bloodshed.

Fell on the earth: in Greek the text says “was thrown (or, hurled) to the earth” (so New Revised Standard Version “and they were hurled to the earth”). The same verb occurs in verse 8. This seems to imply that God or an angel threw them down on the earth. In such a case a translator may render this whole clause as “And the angels hurled frozen rocks (or, hail) and fire mixed with blood down upon the earth.” This may be a vivid way of saying “fell suddenly” (also in verse 8).

The destruction caused by this disaster affected one third of the earth’s surface: one third of the trees was destroyed by fire, that is, the trees that grew in that one third part of the earth’s surface. All green grass is probably a way of saying “all plants,” “all vegetation” (since it would be hard to envision only the grass as such being destroyed, but not the smaller plants and shrubs). The text seems to say all the vegetation on earth was burned up, but it is quite certain that in this context the meaning is all the vegetation that grew on that same one third section of the earth’s surface was destroyed. In certain languages the passive expression was burnt up may be avoided by saying something like “suffer burn completely.”

An alternative translation model for the latter part of this verse is:

• The fire burned up a third part of the earth, destroying all the trees and vegetation on that part.

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 .