The Greek that is usually translated as “the whole land” in English is translated in
Uma as “all over the village” (source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan as “that whole place/country” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo as “the whole world” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi as “all the earth” (source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Catholic translations that rely on the LatinVulgate‘s ambiguous totam terram (which, just as the Greek, could refer to the terrestrial globe or a particular place of land) tend to also stay ambiguous. The SpanishReina Valera has toda la tierra and the EnglishDouay Rheims likewise reads the whole earth. (Source: Knox 1949, p. 20)
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 23:44:
Noongar: “About mid-day, the sun stopped shining and darkness covered all the country until afternoon; ” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “At noon, suddenly the sun no longer shone. Suddenly it was dark all over that town, until three o’clock.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “When it was noon already the sun became dark and it was dark in that whole country until three o’clock in the afternoon.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when it was noon, then suddenly the whole world got dark for three hours.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “When it was about twelve o’clock, the sun suddenly-stopped shining and the entire country became dark until three o’clock.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “And then just at noon (lit. as the sun passed its zenith), for the space of three hours the whole land/world became dark, lasting until mid-afteroon (about 3 pm).” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Greek, Hebrew, Latin and Aramaic all have one term only that refers to what can be expressed in English as “sky” or “heaven(s)” (as a physical and spiritual entity). While there is a slight overlap between the meaning of the two English terms, “sky” (from Old Norse sky meaning “cloud”) typically refers to the physical entity, and “heaven” (from Old English heofon meaning “home of God”) typically refers to the spiritual entity. While this enriches the English lexicon, it also forces English Bible translators to make decisions that can be found only in the context in the Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic texts. Most versions tend to use “heaven(s)” even if the meaning is likely “sky,” but the Contemporary English Version (NT: 1991, OT: 1995, DC: 1999) is an English translation that attempted to be more specific in the separation of the two meanings and was used as the basis for the links to verses used for this and this record (“heaven”).
Norm Mundhenk (in The Bible Translator 2006, p. 92ff. ) describes the difficulty that English translations face (click or tap here to see more):
“A number of years ago an old lady asked me a question. What did Jesus mean when he said, ‘Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away’? I do not remember what answer I gave, but I was surprised at how concerned she seemed to be about the verse. It was only later, after I had left her, that I suddenly realized what it was that she was so concerned about. She knew that death could not be far away, and all her life she had looked forward to being with God in heaven. But this verse said that ‘heaven will pass away’! What did that mean for her hopes? In fact, of course, in this verse Jesus was talking about the skies or the heavens, not about Heaven as the place of God’s presence. If I had realized the problem in time, I could easily have set the lady’s mind at rest on this question that was troubling her so much. However, I suspect that she is not the only person to be misled by the wording of this verse. Therefore, it is very surprising to find that even today many English versions (including the New International Version, New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, Good News Translation) still say ‘heaven and earth’ in verses like Matt 24:35 and its parallels (Mark 13:31 and Luke 21:33). The Contemporary English Version (CEV) and Phillips’ translation seem to be aware of the problem, and in Mark 13:31 both of these have ‘earth and sky’ instead of ‘heaven and earth.’ But in some other passages (such as Matt 5:18) the traditional wording is still found in both of those translations. The New Century Version (NCV) does have ‘earth and sky’ more consistently, and the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) has ‘sky and earth’ in these passages. (Although ‘sky and earth’ is closer to the Greek, it seems more natural in English to say ‘earth and sky’; but either way, at least the meaning is correct.)
“Louw and Nida’s Lexical Semantics of the Greek New Testament (publ. 1992) suggests that the Greek expression being translated here, ho ouranos kai he ge is ‘a more or less fixed phrase equivalent to a single lexical unit’ and that it means everything that God created, that is, the universe. They then quote Mark 13:31 as an example, using ‘heaven and earth’ in their translation of it. However, they go on to say that there ‘may be certain complications involved in rendering ho ouranos kai he ge as ‘heaven and earth,’ since ‘heaven’ might be interpreted in some languages as referring only to the dwelling place of God himself. The referents in this passage are ‘the sky and the earth,’ in other words, all of physical existence, but not the dwelling place of God, for the latter would not be included in what is destined to pass away.’ In my opinion, English itself is one of the languages where the word ‘heaven’ will be interpreted as referring only to the dwelling place of God himself, and translations into English should not use ‘heaven’ in these passages. It is probably because these passages are so very familiar that translators do not realize the meaning they are giving their readers when they use the expression ‘heaven and earth’ here. In modern English we might talk about a rocket ‘soaring into the heavens,’ but we would certainly not describe it as ‘soaring into heaven,’ because ‘heaven’ is not another way of referring to the sky or to outer space.
“In fact, it is surely important in all languages to have some way of distinguishing the concept of ‘sky’ from the concept of ‘dwelling place of God.’ In these passages translators should never use a term meaning ‘the dwelling place of God.’ It may not be necessary to use a term meaning ‘sky’ either, if there is some other expression in the language which gives the correct meaning of ‘everything that has been created’ or ‘the universe.’ There are of course places in the New Testament where Heaven, as the place where God lives, is contrasted with the earth. In these passages, translators should be careful to give the correct meaning. A good example of this is in the Lord’s Prayer, in Matt 6:10: ‘Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’ Similarly, 1 Cor 15:47 says that ‘the first man [a reference to Adam] was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.’ Passages like these are referring to Heaven, not to the sky. Other NT passages where heaven refers to God’s dwelling place, in contrast with earth, are Matt 5:34-35, 16:19, 18:18, Acts 7:49, James 5:12, and Rev 5:3.
“Sometimes in the New Testament, the word ‘heaven’ is used because of the Jewish reluctance to use the name of God. ‘Heaven’ in these cases is used in place of ‘God’ and refers to God himself. This is the case in the many references in Matthew to ‘the kingdom of heaven’ where other gospels have ‘the kingdom of God’ (e.g., compare Matt 4:17 with its parallels in Mark 1:15 and Luke 10:9). It is also most likely the case in references like Matt 16:1, Luke 20:4, 5, John 3:27, and even perhaps Col 1:5.
“There are some places, such as Matt 11:25, where God is called ‘Lord of heaven and earth.’ Since God is of course the Lord of Heaven as well as of the universe, it may not matter so much which interpretation is given in these passages (others are Luke 10:21 and Acts 17:24). Nevertheless, the intended meaning here is likely to be ‘the universe.’ This is because this expression in Greek, as Louw and Nida say, is a set expression referring to everything that has been created. Acts 17:24 in fact combines the idea of the creation of the universe with the idea of God as Master or Lord of the universe. (…)
“Old Testament background The use of ‘heaven and earth’ in the New Testament is very similar to what we find in the Old Testament, because it is largely based on the Old Testament.
“The Old Testament begins with the story of creation, which is presented as the creation of the heavens and the earth, with lights to shine in the heavens and give light to the earth. Birds are created to live in the heavens, animals to live on earth, and fish to live in the sea (Gen 1:1-2:4).
“As we can see from the way the creation story is told, it is meant to be understood as the creation of the universe. Although in English the regions above the earth have traditionally been called ‘the heavens’ in the story of creation, they cannot be called ‘Heaven,’ in the sense of the place where God dwells. In terms of modern English, it would probably be better to say ‘the sky and the earth’ or ‘the earth and the sky.’ The story of creation then becomes an important theme throughout the Old Testament. (…)
“In most passages, whether in the Old Testament or the New Testament, when ‘heaven and earth’ or ‘the heavens and the earth’ are mentioned, the meaning is the created universe. It is not a reference to Heaven, as the dwelling place of God. In English, translators have not been careful to keep this distinction clear, and this is probably true in many other languages as well. However, as we have seen, this can lead to real confusion for ordinary Bible readers. It is better if translators find ways to make the meaning clear in these passages. ‘Heaven’ should be mentioned only in passages which clearly mean the dwelling place of God. In other passages, an expression should be used which means only ‘sky.’ Or else, the whole expression ‘heaven and earth’ can be translated in a way to show that the whole universe is meant.”
Other languages that have a semantic distinction similar to English include:
Mossi: saase — “sky”; nyingeri — “the up above”(source for Loma and Mossi: Bratcher/Nida)
Roviana: mamaṉa — “sly”; maṉauru — “heaven” (an old word, meaning “empty, open space of the sky”) (source: Carl Gross)
Kayaw: mô̄la or “canopy-under”/mô̄khû̄la or “canopy-above-under” — “sky” (atmosphere where there is just air); mô̄khû̄ or “canopy-on/above” — “heaven” (invisible abode of God and angels)
Mairasi: Sinyavi — an indigenous term that is used for both “sky” and heaven”; Surga — loanword from Sanskrit via Indonesian referring to “heaven” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
In some languages, such as Yagaria, a term that was originally used as “sky” (gokudana) was adopted by the Christian community as “heaven.” This resulted in a language shift so that now all communities uses “empty space / air” (galogina or hakalogina) as “sky” and gokudana is exclusively used for the Christian concept of heaven. (Source: Renck 1990, p. 133)
Many languages follow the original biblical languages in not making that distinction, such as:
Kamo: yamba, which, when capitalized (Yamba), means “God” (source: David Frank)
In some languages, such as Wandala, the vocabulary for terms for either “heaven” or “sky” is much richer than just to include those two distinction. While zhegela, the term that is specifically used for the physical sky was only used in early translations of the New Testament for “sky,” other terms such as samaya (used for both “sky” and “heaven”), zlanna (specifically used for the perfect abode of God and the goal of the faithful, as in Matthew 8:11), kwárá (a locational term used to speak of a chief’s rule [lit., “voice”] such as Matthew 3:2), or sleksire (“chieftaincy,” “kingship,” or “royalty” [originally from slekse “chief”] and used where there are no locational overtones, such as in Matthew 16:28) are used. (Source: Mona Perrin in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 51ff.)
The English translation by Sarah Ruden (2021) uses “sky” throughout. Ruden explains (p. li): “The Greek word ouranos refers evenhandedly to the physical sky and the place—often pictured as a royal court — where supreme divinity resides. ‘Sky’ seems generally better, first of all in avoiding the wackier modern imagery that comes with the English ‘heaven.’ And even when a supernatural realm is meant, ‘sky’ will often do, because the divine realm was thought to be located there, in addition to the weather and the heavenly bodies, whereas ‘heaven’ to us is fundamentally a religious term, and the ancients did not tend to separate linguistic domains in this way. I have retained the plural ‘skies’ where I see it in the Greek, because it is a Hebraism familiar in English translations of scripture and (I hope) not too archaic or jarring.”
Barclay Newman, a translator on the teams for both the Good News Bible and the Contemporary English Version, translated passages of the New Testament into English and published them in 2014, “in a publication brief enough to be non-threatening, yet long enough to be taken seriously, and interesting enough to appeal to believers and un-believers alike.” The following is the translation of Luke 23:44-49:
The sun stopped shining and shadowy darkness
spread like a shroud from noon to mid afternoon.
The temple curtain split down the middle,
as the final words of Jesus thundered,
“Father, I trust myself to you!”
A Roman soldier witnessed the events and exclaimed,
“Today I’ve seen a truly good man!”
The crowd that had gathered to gape at the gruesome sight,
dispersed and disappeared with broken hearts.
But the close friends of Jesus — especially the women
who had accompanied him from Galilee —
stood at a distance as solemn witnesses.
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®).
kai ēn ēdē hōsei hōra hektē ‘by now it was about the sixth hour,’ i.e. ‘noon.’
skotos egeneto eph’ hōlēn tēn gēn ‘darkness came over the whole land.’ gē may denote the earth, or the country of Palestine, preferably the latter.
heōs hōras enatēs ‘(lasting) till the ninth hour,’ i.e. three o’clock in the afternoon.
(V. 45) tou hēliou eklipontos ‘after the sun had failed,’ i.e. ‘grown dark.’ It is possible, though less probable to render, ‘after the sun had been eclipsed,’ cf. Plummer.
eschisthē de to katapetasma tou naou meson ‘and the veil of the temple was rent down the middle.’ No material or chronological connexion with what precedes is indicated. It may have taken place during, or after the three hour period of darkness, presumably after. For schizō cf. on 5.36; for naos cf. on 1.9. meson lit. ‘(in the) middle,’ goes with katapetasma and indicates where the rending took place.
Translation:
The sixth hour … the ninth hour. Where the Jewish way of indicating the hours of the day is unknown one may use a literal rendering and add the explanatory phrase ‘after sunrise,’ or shift to the equivalent receptor language idiom. In Bali the period of daylight was traditionally divided into eight parts (dauh); hence, ‘dauh four … dauh six’; nowadays, however, a rendering in accordance with modern Western terminology is probably preferable, ‘twelve (at noon) … three o’clock (in the afternoon).’
There was darkness over the whole land or, ‘the whole country became dark, or, was darkened.’
(V. 45) While the sun’s light failed (or, ‘was lost,’ Ekari). The phrase is sometimes better placed before the reference to ‘darkness over the whole land,’ cf. Good News Translation. Possible rewordings are, “the sun stopped shining” (Good News Translation), ‘the sun/day became-dark’ (Toraja-Sa’dan).
For the curtain of the temple (preferably “before the sanctuary”, An American Translation) was torn in two.
Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.
While Jesus was on the cross, it became dark. The curtain in the temple ripped into two pieces. Jesus gave his spirit up to God his Father and died. One of the Roman soldiers saw and heard all that happened. As a result, he believed that Jesus was a righteous man. When the people saw that, they were sorry that Jesus was crucified. The way Jesus lived and the way he died showed many people that he was an innocent man. Examples of other headings for this section are:
The Death of Jesus (Good News Translation) -or-
Jesus died
Parallel passages for this section are in Matthew 27:45–56, Mark 15:33–41, and John 19:28–30.
Paragraph 23:44–49
23:44a
It was now: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as It was now is literally, “And it was already.” It implies that some time had gone by. It also introduces a phrase that indicates the time when the events in this paragraph began. Introduce that phrase in a natural way in your language. Some ways to introduce it in English are:
By now it was (Revised English Bible) -or-
By this time it was (New Living Translation (2004))
the sixth hour: The first hour of daylight was about six o’clock in the morning, so the sixth hour would be about noon (twelve o’clock midday). Do not translate this literally unless the people you are writing for would understand that the sixth hour means midday. Instead, use the time reference that is natural in your language. Some other ways to translate this are:
midday -or-
the sun was high in the sky -or-
Around noon (God’s Word)
23:44b
darkness came over all the land until the ninth hour: This clause indicates that from noon until about three o’clock, it was dark. Some other ways to translate the clause are:
darkness came over the entire land and lasted until three in the afternoon (God’s Word) -or-
the entire country became dark until three o’clock
all the land: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as land can refer to a region, a country, or to the whole earth. In this context it probably refers to the land or country where Jesus was dying on the cross. No one knows exactly how much land was affected by the darkness. It is not clear if the entire land of Israel became dark, or if other countries were also affected. It is good to use a general term in your language.
until the ninth hour: The phrase the ninth hour refers to about three o’clock in the afternoon. It is the time about halfway between noon and sunset. Many languages have idiomatic ways to refer to different times of day. Refer to this time in a natural way in your language. Some other ways to translate the phrase are:
until the middle of the afternoon (Contemporary English Version) -or-
until about three hours before sunset -or-
until three o’clock in the afternoon
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