9I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not but are lying—I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.
The Greek that is typically transliterated in English as “Satan” is transliterated in Kipsigis as “Setani.” This is interesting because it is not only a transliteration that approximates the Greek sound but it is also an existing Kipsigis word with the meaning of “ugly” and “sneaking.” (Source: Earl Anderson in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 85ff. )
In Morelos Nahuatl it is translated as “envious one” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.) and in Tibetan: bdud (བདུད།), lit. “chief devil” (except in Rev. 20:2, where it is transliterated) (source: gSungrab website ).
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”
In many English translations the Greek terms “hieron” (the whole “temple” in Jerusalem or specifically the outer courts open to worshippers) and “naos” (the inner “shrine” or “sanctuary”) are translated with only one word: “temple” (see also for instance “Tempel” in German [for exception see below] and “tempel” in Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans).
Other languages make a distinction: (Click or tap here to see more)
Navajo (Dinė): “house in which worship is carried out” (for naos)
Balinese: “inner part of the Great Temple” (“the term ‘inner part’ denoting the hindmost and holiest of the two or three courts that temples on Bali usually possess”) vs. “Great Temple”
Telugu: “womb (i.e. interior)-of-the-abode” vs. “abode”
Thai: a term denoting the main audience hall of a Buddhist temple compound vs. “environs-of-the-main-audience-hall”
Kituba: “place of holiness of house-God Lord” vs. “house-God Lord”
Shipibo-Conibo: “deep in God’s house” vs. “God’s house” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Germandas Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022): “inner court of the temple” (Tempelinnenhof) vs. “temple”
Languages that, like English, German, Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans, don’t make that distinction include:
Toraja-Sa’dan: “house that is looked upon as holy, that is sacred, that is taboo and where one may not set foot” (lit. “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” — because taboo is violated — using a term that is also applied to a Muslim mosque) (source for this and the three above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Aguaruna: “the house for talking to God” (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
Guhu-Samane: “festival longhouse of God” (“The biiri, ‘festival longhouse’, being the religious and social center of the community, is a possible term for ‘temple’. It is not the ‘poro house’ as such. That would be too closely identified with the cult of poro. The physical features of the building, huge and sub-divided, lend it further favor for this consideration. By qualifying it as ‘God’s biiri’ the term has become meaningful and appropriate in the context of the Scriptures.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. )
Enga: “God’s restricted access house” (source: Adam Boyd on his blog )
Another distinction that tends to be overlooked in translations is that between hieron (“temple” in English) and sunagógé (“synagogue” in English). Euan Fry (in The Bible Translator 1987, p. 213ff. ) reports on this:
“Many older translations have simply used transliterations of ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ rather than trying to find equivalent terms or meaningful expressions in their own languages. This approach does keep the two terms separate; but it makes the readers depend on explanations given by pastors or teachers for their understanding of the text.
“Translators who have tried to find meaningful equivalents, for the two terms ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ have usually made a distinction between them in one of two ways (which focus on the contrasting components of meaning). One way takes the size and importance of the Temple to make a contrast, so that expressions such as ‘sacred meeting/ worship house of the Jews’ and ‘big sacred meeting/worship house of the Jews’ are used. The other way focuses on the different nature of the religious activity at each of the places, so that expressions such as ‘meeting/worship house of the Jews’ and ‘sacrifice/ceremony place of the Jews’ are used.
“It is not my purpose in this article to discuss how to arrive at the most precise equivalent to cover all the components of meaning of ‘temple’. That is something that each translator really has to work through for himself in the light of the present usage and possibilities in his own language. My chief concern here is that the basic term or terms chosen for ‘temple’ should give the reader of a translation a clear and correct picture of the location referred to in each passage. And I am afraid that in many cases where an equivalent like ‘house of God’ or ‘worship house’ has been chosen, the readers have quite the wrong picture of what going to the Temple or being in the Temple means. (This may be the case for the word ‘temple’ in English too, for many readers.)”
Here are some examples:
Bambara: “house of God” (or: “big house of worship”) vs. “worship house” (or: “small houses of worship”)
Toraja-Sa’dan: “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” (see above) vs. “meeting house for discussing matters concerning religious customs” (and “church” is “house where one meets on Sunday”)
Navajo (Dinė): “house in which worship is carried out” vs. “house of gathering” (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida)
Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Herod’s temple (source: Bible Lands 2012)Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing synagogues in New Testament times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
Following are a number of back-translations of Revelation 3:9:
Uma: “As for those people who say that they are Yahudi, they are just lying. They are not Yahudi in their hearts, they are rather followers of the King of Evil-ones. Some of those people I bring here to you. They will kneel in front of you, and they will say to you: ‘Why, God really does loves you!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Listen. The people there who pretend that they are Yahudi, people belonging to God, they simply lie. The truth is, they belong to the leader of demons. I will command them to come and bow down to you and/so that they will know that you are the ones I love.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Those people who say they are Jews are lying because they are subjects of Satan. I will cause them to kneel before you, and then they will know that you are the ones who are big in My breath.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “”Listen to this. There are Jews there (near addressee) who are as if joined to Satanas’ congregation, because they say that they are God’s people, but they lie (lit. it is their lie), because it’s not true. In the future I will force them to go kneel in front of you, and that’s how-they -will-know that I love you.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Listen well to what I will say to you. I will cause to stand in your presence those people there who are liars for they pretend that they are my people but the truth is, they are all serving Satanas. I will cause them to recognize- you -appropriately in that they will bow down in your presence. At that they will know that I really hold you dear and value you.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “and now, those people who are in the hand of the devil, they are saying that they are Jews, but they are not really my people, rather they lie. Concerning these people I will cause that they kneel before you. Thus they will know that I love you.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
Those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie: for this description of their enemies, see 2.9. Here, somewhat redundantly, the text adds “but they lie.”
After identifying these opponents, the text repeats behold, I will make them. A translator may prefer to imitate Good News Translation and have a less complex sentence (so also Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Revised English Bible), without the repetition of the main verb.
The form of the Greek phrase translated those of allows the meaning “some who belong to” (as in 2.10, “some of you”): so An American Translation, Translator’s New Testament. This is because the Greek preposition for of can mean either “from” or “out of.” But it is rather strange that only some of their enemies will be punished, and the majority of translations do not take the Greek preposition to have this restrictive sense, but take “(those) from” to mean these Jews, as distinct from all other people: “those people who belong to the synagogue of Satan” or, as was suggested in the comments on 2.9, “members of a group that belongs to Satan.”
I will make them come and bow down before your feet: this is a figure of submission, ordinarily taken to mean that they will have been defeated. But this gesture can be an indication of their desire to join the Christians (see similar language in Isa 45.14; 60.14). In certain languages bow down before your feet will be rendered as “prostrate themselves (or, lie face down) before your feet.” However, if the phrase before your feet sounds strange in other languages, it may be translated as “in front of you.”
And learn that I have loved you: instead of learn, which usually implies a process of learning, the translation should be “discover, find out, know, recognize, understand.” In Revised Standard Versionlearn is governed by I will make them; it is better to follow New Revised Standard Version, “and they will learn,” a separate event. For the verb “to love” see 1.5. The perfect tense I have loved may give the impression that he no longer loves; so it is better to translate “I love you.”
An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• Look! I will cause those people who are members of a group who belong to Satan, who say, “We are God’s chosen people,” but are really lying, to come (or, go) and lie face down at your feet and understand (or, discover) that I love you.
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 .
Look: 3:9a begins with the Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible has translated literally as Look. This word calls attention to, or emphasizes, the words that follow it. This word is not a command to look at something. Other ways to translate this word are:
those who belong to the synagogue of Satan: Here the word synagogue refers to the group of misled Jews in Philadelphia. The word does not refer to the building where they met. So the Good News Translation translates this as:
that group that belongs to Satan
See how you translated the phrase synagogue of Satan in 2:9.
3:9b
who claim to be Jews but are liars instead: These clauses explain the phrase “synagogue of Satan.” These Jews claimed to be the true people of God. But they rejected Jesus as the Christ, so they were lying about being God’s people. Other ways to translate these clauses are:
those who falsely claim to be Jews, but are liars (New Jerusalem Bible) -or-
those liars who say they are Jews but are not (New Living Translation (2004))
In some languages a literal translation would wrongly indicate that John was thinking of other synagogues of Satan, and only this group claimed to be Jews but are liars instead. If that is true in your language, translate these clauses so that they tell more about the synagogue of Satan here. One way to do that is to start a new sentence here. For example:
They claim to be God’s people, but they are liars. (Contemporary English Version)
If you do this, you will need to put this information either at the beginning or the end of the verse. For example:
9a A synagogue of Satan exists there. 9b They claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars. 9c I will make them come and fall down at your feet 9d and acknowledge that I have loved you. -or-
9a I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan 9c come and fall down at your feet 9d and acknowledge that I have loved you. 9b They claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars.
who claim to be Jews but: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as but is literally “and” (or sometimes “but”). Here there is contrast between who claim to be Jews and the clause “are liars instead.” But in English two uses of “but” this near to each other is not natural. Other ways to translate these words are:
who claim to be Jews and are not, but (New American Bible, Revised Edition) -or-
who claim to be Jews but they are not, for
3:9c
I will make them come: 3:9c begins with the Greek word that means “look.” This word calls attention to, or emphasizes, the words that follow. Other ways to translate this are:
look, I will make them come -or-
indeed/hey, I will make them come
In some languages it is more natural not to repeat the word that you used at the beginning of 3:9a. If that is true in your language, it will be better to not translate it here, as the Berean Standard Bible has done.
The Greek word may also be used to indicate that the explanation (3:9b) is finished. Jesus then continued talking about what he will do to them. See note at 3:9b about reordering the clauses in this verse.
I will make them come: This indicates that Jesus would cause these false Jews to honor those who believed in Jesus. In some languages it is more natural to indicate where they would come. For example:
I will make them come before you (New Century Version)
bow down at your feet: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as bow down refers here 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. This is the usual way to show someone honor at that time and in that region. Translate these words in a way that indicates that someone is honoring someone else. For example:
prostrate themselves at your feet -or-
kneel with their face to the ground before you -or-
bow down at your feet (Good News Translation)
Some languages have a different action that shows complete humility and honor to someone. If that is true in your language, you may want to use that action here.
3:9d
know: The group called “the synagogue of Satan” would realize that God loves the believers. Other ways to translate this word are:
realize (God’s Word) -or-
learn (Revised Standard Version) -or-
acknowledge (New International Version)
I love you: The Greek grammar here refers generally to Jesus loving believers. It indicates that Jesus loved them in the past and continues to love them in the present. In your translation, indicate that Jesus loved the believers at all times. For example:
I love you (Berean Standard Bible, Good News Translation)
love: The word love refers to a strong feeling of affection and concern for a person.
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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