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 .

Translation commentary on Zechariah 4:1

The angel who talked with me came again: This angel is the same figure as appeared in earlier visions (1.9, 13, 14, 19; 2.3). The fact that he came again suggests he had been absent during the previous vision. This may possibly be a reference back to 2.4. If the interpreting angel was the person addressed there, then he had departed to speak to the young man with the measuring line. Another way to express this is “The angel who had been explaining the visions to me came back.”

And waked me, like a man that is wakened out of his sleep: At first sight it may not be clear whether Zechariah had actually been asleep or not. But the use of the simile like a man … strongly suggests that he had not. Since the word waked in English conveys the sense that he had, it would be better not to use it. In all probability, the prophet was absorbed in his own thoughts, meditating on the meaning of the previous visions. The angel is merely rousing him from his meditation and calling his attention to a new vision. This sense is conveyed more clearly in Good News Translation, “roused me as if I had been sleeping” (similarly New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). However, if the use of the equivalent of words such as wakened and sleep would in some languages signal that Zechariah was actually sleeping, then translators may express this verse in a similar way to the following: “The angel who had talked with me returned and brought me out of my deep thoughts” or “The angel who had been speaking with me returned, interrupted my thoughts, and attracted my attention.” Another possible restructuring is “The angel who had talked with me returned and shook me like someone waking a sleeper.”

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Zechariah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2002. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .