Brace yourself. Your Bible wasn’t originally written in English. No, some team of people translated Greek and Hebrew (and occasionally, Aramaic) from the best ancient manuscripts available . . . into English.

That means the task of those translators was to convert Greek and Hebrew and Aramaic phrases into English words and phrases as best they could. But those were flawed, fallible human beings undertaking that important work. And they don’t always get it right.

Sure, all scripture is God-breathed and infallible and inerrant in the original manuscripts. But, in contrast, Bible translators are human, and therefore flawed and fallible. All of them. (This, even though many of the 1611 KJV only folks contend that it, and it only, was providentially, supernaturally translated perfectly. lol )

Here’s the thing. Every translator brings a “lens” to his or her work of translation. That lens is their pre-existing theological assumptions. Translating Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic to English is not like math. Words in those languages had multiple meanings, just as many modern English words do. So . . .

As you read whatever your preferred English translation is, here are some words and phrases to be on the lookout for . . .

A great example is the challenge associated with translating words like ge and kosmos in Greek; and erets in Hebrew.

All three of these words are usually translated “world.” In the New American Standard translation, (and most other English translations). The English word “world” appears 38 times in the Old Testament and 181 times in the New Testament. But there are several different words underneath there in the original languages. And, to complicate matters further, those original-language words can be translated several differnt ways. So which way is the right choice for the the translators? Context often provides good clues. But context occasionally leaves room for more than one possibility.

The Hebrew word erets can mean “Earth (the planet), land, ground/dirt, country/nation, or territory. So when a translator comes across erets, he or she has to decide which of those English words is the right one to communicate the original text’s meaning.

So what informs the choice? The translator’s own theological assumptions! They can’t help it. Translators face a similar challenge in the New Testament with the Greek words ge (pronounced “gay,” deal with it) and kosmos.

The Greek word “ge” can mean soil; “land” in the sense of a territory or nation; or the earth, as in the whole planet. In Matthew chapter nine, Jesus uses the word “ge” three times. Most translations render it “earth” once and “land” twice in the same discourse.

Is that correct? Maybe. Maybe not.

The thing is, theology, and often a subset of theology called eschatology, informs the choices that the translators make.

Here’s an example of where this makes a HUGE difference.

Here’s Luke 21:34-35 . . .

“But be on your guard, so that your hearts will not be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that this day will not come on you suddenly, like a trap; for it will come upon all those who live on the face of all the earth. (emphasis added)

This a classic example of translators letting their eschatology influence their word choice. The Greek word beneath the word “earth” at the end of that sentence is ge. Which, as we’ve just seen, can mean the planet or it can mean soil or it can mean a particular nation.

So is “earth” as in Planet Earth the correct English word there? Almost certainly not!

Jesus is clearly talking about “the land” as in “the land of Israel” in this whole discourse, not stuff that will happen to the whole planet in the end times. We can know that because Jesus is speaking to His disciples about what will happen during their lifetimes. He says so, explicitly. A couple of verses earlier, in verse 32 Jesus looks into the face of the people hearing His words and says, “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.”

Clearly, whatever Jesus is talking about in this passage will take place within the lifetimes of the people hearing His words. And what did take place was Roman armies marched into Israel (in A.D. 70), surrounded Jerusalem, laid siege to the city, and ultimately destroyed, leveling the Temple in the process.

If Jesus was talking about the whole planet, his prediction of that happening in that generation did not come to pass. But if the Greek word ge meant “the land” as in, “the land of Israel,” then His words did come to pass.

The same is true in several other passages in your New Testament. Take Romans 1:8 for example:

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the world.

In this case, the Greek word Paul uses is kosmos. Like the Hebrew erets and the Greek word ge, kosmos can mean a number of different things. Kosmos can mean the whole universe, the whole planet, or a specific system–including a governmental system or economic system.

So when Paul says that the faith of the Romans is being proclamed “throughout the world” (kosmos), is he saying that their faith is:

• Being proclaimed throughout the whole universe? (probably not)
• Being proclaimed throughout the whole planet? (unlikely)
• Being proclaimed throughout the entire system of the Roman Empire? (ding, ding, ding?)

In his gospel, John uses the word kosmos a lot. Sometimes he uses it to refer to the planet. Sometimes he’s clearly referring to all the people on the planet. Other times he’s referring to all the lost and ungodly people on the planet. And at other times he seems to mean all the people of the land Israel.

So given all of that, are our English Bible’s doing us any favors when it translates kosmos as “world?” Not really.

Whenever you see the word “world” in your Bible, you need to be aware that the translators may have made a wrong assumption in using that English word. The actual intended meaning my very well be “the land of Israel” . . . NOT the planet.

Coming up next . . . another tricky word in your Bible.