12for our struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
The Greek that is typically translated as “spiritual” in English is translated in Warao as obojona, a term that “includes the concepts of consciousness, will, attitude, attention and a few other miscellaneous notions.” (Source: Henry Osborn in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 74ff. )
The now commonly-used English idiom “flesh and blood” (meaning one’s family member(s) or the human body with its limitations) was first coined in 1382 in the English translation by John Wycliffe (in the spelling fleisch and blood). (Source: Crystal 2010, p. 290)
For other idioms in English that were coined by Bible translation, see here.
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “world” in English is translated in Mandarin Chinese with shìjiè (世界). While shìjiè is now the commonly used term for “world” in Chinese, it was popularized as such by Chinese Bible translations. (Source: Mak 2017, p. 241ff.)
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, translators typically select the inclusive form (including the addressee).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
Following are a number of back-translations of Ephesians 6:12:
Uma: “For in this war of ours, we do not oppose mankind. We oppose those who have authority and powerful ones that are not visible. We oppose the warchiefs of darkness that have power on the earth. We oppose many kinds of demons and evil-ones that have power in the air/sky.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Because our (dual) enemy is not human but the leader of demons and all his servants and they are all bad/evil; their place is there in air-space. They have (supernatural) power and some of them have authority and they rule over all people in darkness here in this world.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For we are not just fighting against people, but we are fighting against evil supernatural powers that dwell in Heaven and those kings which cannot be seen and bosses and those who are in charge of the evil people who are subject to darkness now here on the earth.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Because it’s not people who are our enemies, but rather the leaders and officials of the demons in the sky and the malicious/naughty/bad spirits (collective plural) and the other powerful unseen-ones who rule the people who are still in the darkness on this earth.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “For those who are fighting against us, they are not just people/humans like us, but rather innumerable evil-beings in the atmosphere, ones entering-and-controlling-the-mind and ones not (doing that) who have great knowledge/skill and authority in their respective area-of-jurisdiction here in the world. They are the ones governing the darkness in which people here under heaven are living.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Because concerning the war that we are in, it is not our fellowmen that we are at war with, rather those we are at war with are the evil spirits who have power, in that they rule the evil there is here in the earth. They go about above everywhere.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
We: so all modern editions of the Greek New Testament; some very good Greek manuscripts (including (P46) and Vaticanus) and some ancient versions (including Old Latin, Syriac) have “you.”
Fighting translates a Greek noun which occurs only here in the New Testament; it means properly “wrestling,” a hand-to-hand fight (see Barth). But in the context, with the picture of a soldier armed for combat, it is inappropriate to use the specific word for “wrestling,” and a more general term is called for: “to struggle, fight, battle against.”
Human beings translates the phrase “blood and flesh” (as in Heb 2.14); the usual order is “flesh and blood” (see 1 Cor 15.50; Gal 1.16). The phrase against human beings may be best rendered as “against other people.”
The rest of the verse in Greek is “but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the evil spiritual beings in the heavenly world” (see a comparable list in 2.2). Good News Translation has changed the order of the various titles so that their evil and otherworldly nature will be apparent at once.
The wicked spiritual forces: these, as the others, were thought of as angels or lesser gods, evil beings who are opposed to God and his will for mankind. In many languages “spirits that do evil things” will be the best way to represent the meaning.
For the heavenly world see 1.3, 20; 2.6; 3.10.
For rulers, authorities see the same two nouns in 3.10 (also Col 2.15).
In a number of languages the closest equivalent of wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world is “wicked demons in the sky.” Then the three classifications the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers may be rendered as “who rule and have authority and are strong.”
Cosmic powers translates a word used only here in the New Testament; Revised Standard Version, Translator’s New Testament “world rulers”; Barth “overlords.” A number of savior gods of other religions had the name “the world ruler”; in most instances this “world ruler” god was identified with the sun (see Beare; Barth, pages 802-803).
Translators should not use a word for cosmic powers which would indicate an earthly ruler. They might say “gods or spirits that rule in this world”; but if “gods” is a problem, they could say “spiritual forces that people worship” or “spiritual forces that rule over people.”
Of this dark age translates the Greek “of this darkness.” This may be rendered as “of this dark time in which we live” or “in these days in which we live, which are like night.”
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1982. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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