Key Translation Word Studies
To translate Scripture accurately into English, each word in the original biblical language—whether Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic—bears careful study. The insights necessary to faithfully render Scripture can also enhance to your personal walk with God. Here are a few studies you may find useful and inspiring from notes of the scholars who translated the Holman Christian Standard Bible.
Greek word: phone
[foh NAY]
HCSB translation: voice, sound
Uses in John’s Gospel: 55
Uses in John’s writings: 70
Uses in the NT: 139
Key passages: Revelation 10:3-4, 7-8
The Greek noun phone normally refers to the sound of ordinary speech, but it can also refer to other sounds made by the mouth, or to noises in general. The term could also refer to a battle cry, the notes of musical instruments, the noise of an animal, or a human language or dialect. Similarly, the related verb phoneo literally means to produce a sound or tone but in most cases simply means to speak, call, call out, or summon.
The New Testament uses phone and phoneo in basically the same ways that secular Greek did. The term phoneo occurs 43 times, 42 of which are in the Gospels and Acts (Rv 14:18 is the exception), and the dominant meanings are to call, call out, or summon. However, all four Gospels use phoneo in reference to the crowing of the rooster after Peter’s denials of Jesus (Mt 26:34,74-75; Mk 14:30,68,72; Lk 22:34,60-61; Jn 13:38; 18:27). The most common meaning of phone is voice or the sound of a voice (Mt 2:18; Jn 1:23; Rv 10:3-4,7-8), but it also has other uses, such as the sound of the wind (Jn 3:8; Ac 2:6), the notes of musical instruments (1 Co 14:7-8; Heb 12:19; Rv 8:13; 18:22), and human language (1 Co 14:10-11; see Ac 26:14). In Revelation phone sometimes refers to the rumblings of thunder that signify the presence and power of God (4:5; 8:5; 11:19; 14:2; 16:18; 19:6).
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Greek word: hexakosioi hexekonta hex
[hex uh KAH see oi
hex AY kahn tah
HEX]
HCSB translation: 666
Used in: Revelation 13:18
No number in the Bible has received as much attention as 666 in Revelation 13:18. Fascination for this number is not limited to the Christian community, and much (if not most) of what has been said about this passage has been misleading at best and sensationalized false prophesying at worst. Explanations of 666 range from social security numbers to credit cards to various items related to the Internet.
The best interpretation of 666 is that this is the only instance of gematria in Scripture. Gematria refers to a special use of numbers for the letters of ancient alphabets. Hebrew and Greek (among other languages) attached a numerical value to each letter of the alphabet, and the numerical value of a word (such as a person’s name) could be determined by finding the sum of the numerical values of all the letters in the word. Thus, the name David in Hebrew (spelled dvd) has the numerical value of 14, since the letter combination daleth/vav/daleth produces the equation 4 + 6 + 4 = 14. Similarly, the name Stephen in Greek (spelled stephanos) has the numerical value 1,326 (200 + 300 + 5 + 500 + 1 + 50 + 70 + 200 = 1,326). Revelation specifically refers to “the number of his [the beast’s] name” (13:17; 15:2), and therefore Revelation 13:18 is simply providing a cryptic way of identifying the beast. The prophet did not reveal the name of the beast, but he did reveal the number of his name, which is 666.
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Greek word: matheteuo
[may they TYOO oh]
HCSB translation: make disciples
Uses in The New Testament: 4
Key passages: Matthew 28:19
The Greek word matheteuo is the verb form of the noun mathetes, meaning disciple. On two occasions, matheteuo means “become a disciple” (Mt 13:52; 27:57), and in the other two occurrences it means “make disciples” (Mt 28:19; Ac 14:21). In the Great Commission (Mt 28:18-20), the word translated “go” is a participle, but the word matheteuo is in the imperative or command mode. This is a common construction in the writings of Matthew and Luke (a participle followed by an imperative). The significance of this construction is that the action expressed by the participle is necessary but is not the main idea. The participle expresses that which must be done to accomplish the main task, which is expressed by the imperative form of the verb. This is instructive for missionary efforts: Jesus’ only command in the Great Commission is to make disciples—which makes this our main task—but in order to do this we must go.
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Greek word: makarios
[mah KAH ree ahss]
HCSB translation: blessed
Uses in Matthew: 13
Uses in New Testament: 50
Key passage: Matthew 5:3-12
The term makarios occurs 30 times in the Gospels, all but two on the lips of Jesus (Lk 1:45; 11:27). Jesus uses this word in both versions of the Beatitudes (Mt 5:3-11; Lk 6:20-22). Makarios is never used in the New Testament in the secular Greek sense of happy or fortunate. Behind New Testament usage is the Hebrew term ashrey [AHSH ray], which is common in the Old Testament and is normally translated “blessed” (also see Ps 1:1).
There are two main uses of the term makarios in the New Testament. The dominant one is in reference to God’s blessing upon His people. The secondary one is when God’s people bless Him, making the term basically synonymous with praise (Eph 1:3). Being blessed by God refers to the status of one who is approved by God. The opposite of this state is “woe” (Greek ouai), the status of one who is not approved by God and thus the object of impending judgment (Mt 23:13; Lk 6:24-26). God’s blessing today does not necessarily include material prosperity in this life (Mt 19:23-24; Lk 6:24; 16:19-31)—the contrary, in fact, is quite possible (Mt 5:3; Lk 6:20)—but it does anticipate full, uninterrupted prosperity in the future kingdom (Mt 5:4-9, 11-12; 25:43).
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Greek word: pisteuo
[pihss TYEW oh]
HCSB translation: believe
Uses in John’s Gospel: 98
Uses in John’s writings: 107
Uses in the NT: 241
Key passages: John 3:16; 6:29-47; 20:31
The Greek word pisteuo means to believe, trust, rely upon, and its related noun is pistis (faith). In his Gospel, John never used the words repent, repentance, or faith to describe the way people are saved. Instead, he used “believe” since this term included all these ideas.
John preferred the verb form to emphasize the act that is necessary for someone to be saved—total dependence on the work of Another. John did indicate, however, that believing can be superficial. That is, it can be merely intellectual without resulting in true salvation ( Jn 2:23 - 24; 12:42 - 43; see Jms 2:19). But John’s main point is that complete reliance upon Jesus the Messiah and Son of God (20:31) for salvation gives eternal life to the person who believes (3:16; 6:47).
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Greek word: teleo
[tell AY oh]
HCSB translation: finish
Uses in the NT: 28
Key passage: John 19:28-30
Just before his death on the cross, Jesus uttered a single word of victory: tetelestai [teh TEHL ehs tigh], “It is finished!” (Jn 19:30). The verb teleo is related to several other Greek words that refer to something being finished, accomplished, completed, or coming to an end. (The same verb is translated “accomplished” in v. 28.) The perfect tense of the Greek verb Jesus used indicates that He understood His death at this point in time to have abiding or lasting results. Jesus’ death on the cross on our behalf was His purpose for coming into the world. It is not surprising that Revelation uses the term eight times, more than any other New Testament book, to describe various events related to Jesus’ second coming (10:7; 11:7; 15:1,8; 17:17; 20: 3,5,7).
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Greek word: mathetes
[mah thay TAYSS]
Translation: disciple
Uses in the New Testament: 261
Uses in the Gospels: Matthew–72; Mark–46; Luke–37; John–78
Key passage: John 13:35
The English word “disciple” basically means “follower.” The Greek noun mathetes, however, comes from the verb manthano, which means “to learn.” Thus, a mathetes is primarily a learner, though being a follower is certainly included. Mathetes occurs only in the Gospels and Acts and refers to disciples of various teachers or rabbis, such as the Pharisees (Mk 2:18) and John the Baptist (Jn 1:35).
In Jewish life there was no such thing as a mathetes without a didaskalos (Greek, “teacher”)—the person the disciple learned from. Most often in the New Testament mathetes refers to disciples of Jesus, sometimes in general (Jn 6:61, 66), but most often to the Twelve. Jesus stated that the single attribute that characterizes His disciples is that they love one another (Jn 13:35).
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Greek word: amen
[ah mayn]
HCSB translation: assure
Uses in John’s Gospel: 50
Uses in John’s writings: 59
Uses in the NT: 129
Key passage: John 1:51
The English word “amen” comes from a Hebrew verb meaning to trust, believe, which is related to the noun for truth, faith, or faithfulness. It is common for Christians to end a prayer with the word amen: this occurs often in the Bible also. But Jesus used amen as part of a formula to introduce certain statements that He considered especially important (Literally, amen, I say to you). This occurs 31 times in Matthew, 13 times in Mark, and six times in Luke. The emphasis in Jesus’ use of this term was on the certainty of what He was about to say. In John’s Gospel, all 25 sayings have the double amen (literally, amen, amen, I say to you), which seems to emphasize the seriousness of His statement also. The vast majority of Jesus’ use of these special formulae introduce truths about God, Jesus, the Spirit, or some aspect of salvation.
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Greek word: proskuneo
[prahss koo NEH oh]
HCSB translation: worship
Uses in New Testament: 60
Key passage: Luke 4:7-8
The Greek verb proskuneo is built from the word pros, meaning toward, and uneo, meaning kiss. The term suggests the custom of falling to one’s knees out of respect to someone superior in rank—normally rulers, royalty, or those considered divine. A few times in the New Testament proskuneo is used with the general meaning bow down (Mt 8:2; 9:18; Mk 15:19; Rv 3:9), and such homage to persons of great rank or power was common in the ancient world. But proskuneo in the sense of worship (that is, show honor and reverence) is reserved for God alone, as the term’s use in the Greek Old Testament (Ex 20:5; Dt 11:16; 26:10) and in the New Testament indicates (Jn 4:21, 23-24; Rv 4:10; 7:11; 15:4; 19:10; 22:9).
One of the strongest evidences in the New Testament for the deity of Christ is that proskuneo often refers to worshiping Him. If Christ is not God, this would violate the teachings of both Testaments that God alone is to be worshiped (Dt 6:13-14; see Jesus’ quote of this verse in response to one of Satan’s temptations in Lk 4:7-8). Compare the reaction of Paul and Barnabas to being deified (Ac 14:11-18). People worshiped Christ when He was an infant (Mt 2:2,11), during His ministry (Mt 14:33; Jn 9:38), and after His resurrection (Mt 28:9, 17; Lk 24:52).
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