8I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me,
The Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek terms that are often translated as “worship” (also, “kneel down” or “bow down”) are likewise translated in other languages in certain categories, including those based on physical activity, those which incorporate some element of “speaking” or “declaring,” and those which specify some type of mental activity.
Following is a list of (back-) translations (click or tap for details):
Obolo: itọtọbọ ebum: “express reverence and devotion” (source: Enene Enene)
Ngäbere: “cut oneself down before” (“This figure of speech comes from the picture of towering mahoganies in the forest which, under the woodman’s ax, quiver, waver, and then in solemn, thunderous crashing bury their lofty heads in the upstretched arms of the surrounding forest. This is the experience of every true worshiper who sees ‘the Lord, high and lifted up.’ Our own unworthiness brings us low. As the Valientes say, ‘we cut ourselves down before’ His presence. Our heads, which have been carried high in self-confidence, sink lower and lower in worship.)
Tzeltal: “end oneself before God.” (“Only by coming to the end of oneself can one truly worship. The animist worships his deities in the hope of receiving corresponding benefits, and some pagans in Christendom think that church attendance is a guarantee of success in this life and good luck in the future. But God has never set a price on worship except the price that we must pay, namely, ‘coming to the end of ourselves.'”) (Source of this and the one above: Nida 1952, p. 163)
Folopa: “die under God” (“an idiom that roughly back-translates “dying under God” which means lifting up his name and praising him and to acknowledge by everything one does and thanks that God is superior.”) (Source: Anderson / Moore, p. 202)
Chokwe: kuivayila — “rub something on” (“When anyone goes into the presence of a king or other superior, according to native law and custom the inferior gets down on the ground, takes a little earth in the fingers of his right hand, rubs it on his own body, and then claps his hands in homage and the greeting of friendship. It is a token of veneration, of homage, of extreme gratitude for some favor received. It is also a recognition of kingship, lordship, and a prostrating of oneself in its presence. Yet it simply is the applicative form of ‘to rub something on oneself’, this form of the verb giving the value of ‘because of.’ Thus in God’s presence as king and Lord we metaphorically rub dirt on ourselves, thus acknowledging Him for what He really is and what He has done for us.”) (Source: D. B. Long in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 87ff. )
In Luang it is translated with different shades of meaning:
For Mark 15:19 and Matt. 2:8 and 2:11: “uh’idma-rrama llia’ara” — “to kiss the fingernail and lick the heel”
For Acts 16:14: ra’uli-rawedi — “to praise-talk about”
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.”)
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One way to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) is used as in mi-tsukai (御使い) or “messenger (of God).” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Following are a number of back-translations of Revelation 22:8:
Uma: “I Yohanes, I heard and I saw all that the angel pointed-out to me. After I heard and saw [it], I bowed down on my face in front of him intending to worship him.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “I am Yahiya. I have heard and seen all that is written in this book. When I had heard and seen all this, I prostrated at the feet of the angel who had shown me all this, that is (I was) about to praise him.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “I am John, the one who saw and heard all these things that I have written here. When I finished seeing and hearing all of these things, I fell down before the angel who showed me all this for I wanted to worship him.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “I am Juan who has heard and seen these-things that have been written here. Upon my hearing and seeing-it, I knelt face-down before the angel who showed it to me in order to worship him koma.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “I who am Juan am the one who heard and saw all of this. And then after I had seen, I bowed down in front of that angel who showed these things to me for I was going to worship him.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “I, John, heard the words here. That which I saw is what is written here. Upon hearing and seeing what I was to see, I knelt, wanting to worship the angel who showed me what I had seen.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
I John am he who heard and saw these things: “I am John, the one who heard and saw all these things.” The readers know who he is, and he assures them that he himself had all these visions and revelations from God.
And when I heard and saw them: it is better to follow Good News Translation and say something like “And after hearing and seeing them all, I….”
I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel: it should be clear that this means that John was about to worship the angel. So the statement should be “I fell down at the angel’s feet to worship him” (see 19.10). Another way to say this is “I prostrated myself before the feet of the angel to give him honor.” See also comments on worship at 4.10.
The angel who showed them to me: here John identifies this angel (verse 6) as the one who showed him everything he saw in his visions. For showed see 1.1; 4.1.
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 .
I am John, who heard and saw these things: John referred to himself by name here in order to make it clear that he spoke for himself. Other ways to translate this clause are:
I, John, have heard and seen all these things (Good News Translation) -or-
I ⌊am⌋ John, I myself heard and saw those things
I am John: The pronoun I is emphasized in the Greek.
these things: This phrase refers to all that John had just seen about the new Jerusalem. However, it can also refer to all the visions that he saw in this book.
22:8c
I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel: Here the phrase fell down refers to kneeling and putting the face to the ground with arms outstretched toward someone. This position showed complete humility before that person and honored him. The word fell implies a quick and complete action. It does not refer to accidentally falling. Other ways to translate this clause are:
I prostrated myself before him -or-
I threw myself down to worship at the feet of the angel (NET Bible) -or-
I knelt at the feet of the angel who had shown them to me, to worship him (New Jerusalem Bible)
See how you translated a similar clause (“I fell at his feet to worship him”) in 19:10.
worship: This word refers to honoring someone or something as sacred/divine. Other ways to translate this word are:
venerate -or-
revere
See how you translated this word in 13:4 or 19:10.
In some languages it is helpful to make it clear that John was about to worship the angel. For example:
and I was about to worship him (Good News Translation)
22:8d
who had shown me these things: This clause tells the reader more about the angel. In some languages a literal translation would wrongly indicate that there were other angels in front of John and only this one had shown the visions to John. If that is true in your language, translate this clause so that it tells more about the angel. One way to do that is to start a new sentence here. For example:
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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