UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament

Sense 1: moon

Semantic entry: 1.29

Semantic domains: Geographical Objects and Features

Subdomains: Heavenly Bodies

Definition: a celestial body smaller than the sun that gives light to earth in the nighttime; the moon’s appearance changes over the course of each month as the angle we can see the moon’s half-illuminated surface changes.

Notes: As in the case of ἥλιος the sun (1.28: ἥλιος), there are relatively few difficulties involved in obtaining a satisfactory word for σελήνη ‘the moon,’ though there may also be a tendency to add some kind of honorific or title, for example, ‘mother moon.’ At the same time, certain difficulties may occur in some passages. For example, in RV LUK 21:25 · LV LUK 21:25 · Read together LUK 21:25 it may be misleading to speak of signs occurring ‘in the moon,’ for this might mean ‘inside the moon.’ TEV has resolved the problem somewhat by translating “there will be strange things happening to the sun, the moon, and the stars.” One may also translate ‘the sun, the moon, and the stars will cause signs in the heavens’ or ‘… portents in the sky.’