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 8:8)

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

  • Uma: “The second angel blew his trumpet, there was something like a big mountain, flaming with fire. That mountain was thrown into the sea. One third of the water of the sea changed turning to blood.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Then the next angel blew (the thing) like a tabuli’ that had been given to him. When he blew it, immediately there was something big like a mountain that was burning thrown into the sea. Then one part of the sea turned into blood. Two parts did not.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Then the second angel blew his trumpet, and there fell into the sea what seemed like a great blazing mountain.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “After-that the second angel also blew-his-horn, and there was like a large flaming mountain which was thrown into the ocean. A third of the ocean, it became blood,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When the second angel blew his horn, something was thrown down into the ocean which one could say was a big mountain including flames of fire. The third part of the ocean became blood.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The second angel blew the trumpet. What I saw thrown into the sea then, was like a big mountain when it is burning. There in the sea where it landed the water became blood. But it didn’t come to half that became blood.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Revelation 8:8 – 8:9

The destruction that follows the second trumpet blast affects one third of the earth’s water mass.

Something like a great mountain: this describes a huge solid object, the size and shape of a mountain. John cannot identify with precision this huge burning mass. The verb was thrown may be used in the general sense of “fell”; but it may be that the passive is used as a way of indicating that God or an angel hurled this burning mass into the sea. Another way of rendering this clause in languages that do not use the passive is “Then they (or, someone) threw something that looked like a huge burning mountain into the sea (or, oceans).”

If it is asked which sea the text is talking about, the obvious answer is the Mediterranean Sea. In this context, however, the word stands for all bodies of salt water on earth—inasmuch as one third of all fish in the seas died, and one third of the ships were destroyed (see “the sea” in 5.13).

A third of the sea: this means that one third of the water of the oceans was changed into blood; the other two thirds were not affected.

Became blood: the Greek text says the sea water turned into blood. Some believe the meaning is that the color of the water became red, like blood (as in the case of the moon, in 6.12); but it is better to translate quite literally. This disaster is reminiscent of the plague described in Exo 7.17-19. Translators in languages that do not use the passive may imitate Revised Standard Version and say “became blood.”

Revised Standard Version (and New Revised Standard Version) and Good News Translation differ as to where verse 9 begins. Good News Bible follows the numbering of the Greek text, as do all other translations. Revised Standard Version seems to be a mistake, as both King James Version and American Standard Version begin verse 9 where Good News Bible begins it.

Living creatures in the sea: the biblical classification of marine animals sometimes distinguished between fishes and the huge sea monsters. Here all marine life is meant. Another way of rendering this is “the things that have life in the sea” or “the things living in the sea.”

A third of the ships were destroyed: these ships were on the one third of the ocean that was turned into blood. Care must be taken that the word used for ships does not mean modern steamships but sailing vessels. In land-bound cultures where only small boats are known, one may say, for example, “boats of all sizes” or “all kinds of boats.”

An alternative rendering for verses 8b-9 is the following:

• The water in one-third of the seas was turned into blood, and all the living creatures and ships (or, vessels) found in that part were destroyed.

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 .