The Greek in Luke 9:8 that is translated as “Elijah had appeared” or similar in English is translated in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) with Elias sei aus seiner Entrückung herabgekommen or “Elijah had come down from his rapture.”
complete verse (Luke 9:8)
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 9:8:
- Noongar: “Other people said they had seen Elijah, and yet other people said a Prophet of long ago had come back to life.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
- Uma: “There were also those who said that Yesus was the prophet Elia long ago appearing again. There were also those who said that Yesus was a long-ago prophet risen/got up again.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “Others also said that he was Prophet Eliyas appearing here on earth. Others still said that Isa was one of the prophets of old who had come to life again, they said.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And there were also some who said that Elijah, the long ago prophet of God, had become a human being again, and that he was Jesus. There were also some who said that Jesus was one of the long ago prophets who had been raised from the dead.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “Others also, they said that Elias had appeared, and still others, they said that there was a prophet long ago who had come-to-life again.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “Some also were saying about Jesus that he was Elias who had emerged again. And as for the suspicions of others, one of the prophets of the past had come alive again.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Elijah
The name that is transliterated as “Elijah” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language as “whirlwind” (according to 2 Kings 2:11) (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )
“Elijah” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España
Click or tap here to see how other sign languages are translating “Elijah”
In American Sign Language it is translated with a depiction of being taken up to heaven with a chariot of fire. (Source: ASL Sign Language Directory )
“Elijah” in American Sign Language (source )
Likewise in Estonian Sign Language, but with a different sign (source: Liina Paales in Folklore 47, 2011, p. 43ff.)
“Elijah” in Estonian Sign Language (source )
In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “fire” (referring to 1 Kings 18:38). (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
“Elijah” in Finnish Sign Language (source )
For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .
Following is a Russian Orthodox icon of Elijah from the late 13h century.
Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )
The following is a stained glass window depicting Elijah by Endre Odon Hevezi and Gyula Bajo from 1965 for the Debre Libanos Monastery, Oromia, Ethiopia:
Photo by Timothy A. Gonsalves, hosted by Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license
Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )
Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Elijah .
prophet
Eugene Nida wrote the following about the translation of the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek terms that are typically translated with “prophet” in English:
“The tendency in many translations is to use ‘to foretell the future’ for ‘prophesy,’ and ‘one who foretells the future’ for ‘prophet.’ This is not always a recommended usage, particularly if such expressions denote certain special native practices of spirit contact and control. It is true, of course, that prophets of the Bible did foretell the future, but this was not always their principal function. One essential significance of the Greek word prophētēs is ‘one who speaks forth,’ principally, of course, as a forth-teller of the Divine will. A translation such as ‘spokesman for God’ may often be employed profitably.” (1947, p. 234f.)
Following is a list of (back-) translations from other languages (click or tap for details):
- San Blas Kuna: “one who speaks the voice of God”
- Central Pame and Vai: “interpreter for God”
- Kaqchikel, Navajo (Dinė), Yaka: “one who speaks for God”
- Northern Grebo: “God’s town crier” (see more about this below)
- Sapo: “God’s sent-word person”
- Shipibo-Conibo, Ngäbere: “one who speaks God’s word”
- Copainalá Zoque: “one who speaks-opens” (a compound meaning “one who discloses or reveals”)
- Sierra Totonac: “one who causes them to know” (in the sense of “revealer”)
- Batak Toba: “foreteller” (this and all the above acc. to Nida 1961, p. 7)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “one who is inspired of God” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Alekano: “the true man who descended from heaven” (source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation June 1986, p. 36ff.)
- Aguaruna: “teller of God’s word” (source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125)
- Ekari: “person who speaks under divine impulse”
- Mandarin Chinese: 先知 xiānzhī — “one who foreknows” (or the 1946/1970 translation by Lü Zhenzhong: 神言人 shényánrén — “divine-word-man”)
- Uab Meto: “holy spokesman” (source for this and two above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
- Kouya: Lagɔɔ gbʋgbanyɔ — “the one who seeks God’s affairs” (source: Saunders, p. 269)
- Kafa: “decide for God only” (source: Loren Bliese)
- Martu Wangka: “sit true to God’s talk” (source: Carl Gross)
- Eastern Highland Otomi: “word passer” (source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation November 1964, p. 1-22)
- Obolo: ebi nriran: “one with power of divine revelation” (source: Enene Enene)
- Mairasi: nonondoai nyan: “message proclaimer” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
- Highland Totonac: “speaker on God’s behalf”
- Central Tarahumara: “God’s preacher” (source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
- Coatlán Mixe: “God’s word-thrower”
- Ayutla Mixtec: “one who talks as God’s representative”
- Isthmus Mixe: “speaker for God” (source for this and two above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
- Mezquital Otomi / Paasaal: “God’s messenger” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff. and Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
- Noongar: Warda Marridjiny or “News Traveling” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
- Kutu: mtula ndagu or “one who gives the prediction of the past and the future” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
- Ebira: ọnịsẹ, a neologism that combines the prefix ọn for “a person” with ịsẹ for “prediction” (source: Scholz /Scholz 2015, p. 49)
- French 1985 translation by Chouraqui: inspiré or “inspired one” (“someone in whom God has breathed [Latin: in + spiro]) (source: Watson 2023, p. 45)
In Ixcatlán Mazatec a term is used that specifically includes women. (Source: Robert Bascom)
About the translation into Northern Grebo:
“In some instances these spiritual terms result from adaptations reflecting the native life and culture. Among the Northern Grebo people of Liberia, a missionary wanted some adequate term for ‘prophet,’ and she was fully aware that the native word for ‘soothsayer’ or ‘diviner’ was no equivalent for the Biblical prophet who spoke forth for God. Of course, much of what the prophets said referred to the future, and though this was an essential part of much of their ministry, it was by no means all. The right word for the Gbeapo people would have to include something which would not only mean the foretelling of important events but the proclamation of truth as God’s representative among the people. At last the right word came; it was ‘God’s town-crier.’ Every morning and evening the official representative of the chief goes through the village crying out the news, delivering the orders of the chief, and announcing important coming events. ‘God’s town-crier’ would be the official representative of God, announcing to the people God’s doings, His commands, and His pronouncements for their salvation and well-being. For the Northern Grebo people the prophet is no weird person from forgotten times; he is as real as the human, moving message of the plowman Amos, who became God’s town-crier to a calloused people.” (source: Nida 1952, p. 20)
In American Sign Language it is a person who sees into the future:
“Prophet” in American Sign Language (source )
In British Sign Language it is is translated with a sign that depicts a message coming from God to a person (the upright finger) and then being passed on to others. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Prophet” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
See also prophesy and prophesy / prophetic frenzy.
Learn more on Bible Odyssey: How to Recognize a Biblical Prophet .
See also seer.
Sung version of Luke 9
Translation commentary on Luke 9:7 – 9:8
Exegesis:
ēkousen de Hērōdes ho tetraarchēs ‘Herod, the tetrarch heard.’ The loose connection with the preceding is expressed by renderings like “now” (New English Bible), ‘in the mean time’ for de. For Hērōdes ho tetraarchēs cf. on 3.1, 19.
ta ginomena panta ‘all that was happening,’ i.e. all that Jesus did and said.
kai diēporei ‘and he was perplexed,’ i.e. “and (he) did not know what to make of it” (New English Bible). diaporeō.
dia to legesthai hupo tinōn hoti … hupo tinōn de hoti … allōn de hoti … lit. ‘because of it being said by some that…, by some that…, (by) others that…,’ i.e. ‘because some people said…,’ etc.
Iōannēs ēgerthē ek nekrōn ‘John had risen from the dead.’ For the meaning of egeirō cf. 7.14.
ek nekrōn ‘from (among) the dead,’ i.e. from the realm of the dead.
(V. 8) hoti Ēlias ephanē ‘that Elijah had appeared.’
phainomai (also 24.11) ‘to appear,’ here of someone who had not died but had been transferred to heaven (cf. 2 Kings 2.1-18).
hoti prophētēs tis tōn archaiōn anestē ‘that one of the ancient prophets had risen,’ scil. from the dead. anestē is synonymous with ēgerthē. The reference is to the Old Testament prophets in general.
archaios (also in v. 19) ‘ancient,’ ‘of old times.’
Translation:
For now see on 1.57, for tetrarch on 3.1.
Heard of, or, ‘heard reports about/of’ (Javanese), ‘heard people speaking about.’
All that was done, or, ‘all-things done by Jesus’ (Javanese), or simply, ‘all those events,’ ‘all that was happening.’
Perplexed is expressed variously, e.g. by ‘oppressed of heart’ (Tae’), or by a reduplicated derivation of the adverb ‘how’ (Batak Toba, thus rendering in one word what New English Bible says in a phrase).
Because it was said by some, or in the active, ‘because some people said’; similarly in the subsequent clauses.
The series some … some … others may have to be adjusted, e.g. ‘some … others … still others,’ cf. on 8.5. The three clauses beginning with that may better be rendered in direct discourse.
Had been raised (or, had risen) from the dead, cf. on 7.22. The prepositional phrase is not explicitly rendered in several cases; if it is, one may have to say, ‘from among dead people,’ ‘from where dead people are’ (Toraja-Sa’dan).
(V. 8) Had appeared, or, ‘had shown himself (again)’ (Sundanese, Sranan Tongo), ‘had become-visible/been-seen (again)’ (Tae’). Some languages (e.g. Balinese) possess a specific term for gods or deified persons showing themselves (again) on earth.
Old prophets, cf. on ‘prophets from of old’ in 1.70.
Had risen, short for ‘had risen from the dead,’ cf. above.
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.
SIL Translator’s Notes on Luke 9:8
9:8a
others that Elijah had appeared: A second group of people said that Jesus was really the prophet Elijah. They thought that Elijah had come back from heaven as the person Jesus. Another way to translate this is:
other people said that ⌊Jesus was⌋ Elijah, who had appeared again ⌊on earth⌋
Elijah: Elijah was a prophet who lived more than five hundred years before Jesus. If people in your area do not know about Elijah, you may want to:
• Include some implied information in the text. For example:
Elijah ⌊the prophet⌋
• Include a footnote to give information about him. An example of a footnote is:
Elijah was a prophet who lived more than five hundred years before Jesus. Jews thought that Elijah would return before the Messiah came. They based this belief on Malachi 4:5–6. Elijah had not died, because God took him to heaven in a chariot (2 Kings chapter 2). This is probably why Luke used the phrase “had appeared” instead of the phrase “had come back from the dead.”
9:8b
still others: The phrase still others introduces a third group of people who had another wrong idea about who Jesus was.
a prophet of old: A third group of people said that Jesus was another prophet who had lived and died many years before Jesus was born. Their statement implied that Jesus was not Elijah. Since Elijah was also one of the prophets of long ago, it may be necessary to translate this as:
another prophet from long ago
prophet: A prophet was a person who spoke on behalf of God. He told people what God revealed to him. God gave some prophets power to work miracles. These miracles helped people realize that God sent the prophet. Some ways to translate prophet are:
a spokesman for God
-or-
a man who speaks God’s words
-or-
God’s message-speaker
This word also occurs in 7:39b. See also prophet in the Glossary.
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