InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEUT JOB YEHO (JOS) HERO (JDG) RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG YOEL (JOEL) MIC ISA ZEP HAB YIR (JER) LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBAD DAN EZEK EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL 2 PS WIS TOB MAN BAR G DAN G ESD L ESD ESG JDT 3 MAC SIR 1 MAC 2 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL LAOD PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
InterlinearVerse Rev C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22
Rev 17 V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V16 V17 V18
People tagged in the matching LV passage: John the Apostle
OET-LV And he_is_saying to_me:
The waters that you_saw, where the prostitute is_sitting, peoples and crowds are, and nations and tongues.
OET (OET-RV) Then the messenger said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.
In this section, John saw a woman sitting on a red beast. The woman had the symbolic name “Babylon.” An angel referred to her as a prostitute. The red beast had seven heads and ten horns. The beast worked together with her, but later he destroyed her.
Other examples of headings for this section are:
The great/famous prostitute with the symbolic name Babylon was destroyed
The red beast turned against the woman Babylon and destroyed her
Then the angel said to me,
¶ Then the angel spoke to me again. He said,
The waters you saw, where the prostitute was seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues: The phrase peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues explains the symbol of The waters…where the prostitute was seated.
“The waters you saw, where the prostitute was seated, are
“The waters/rivers where the prostitute sits, which you(sing) saw, are
“The waters that you saw, where the prostitute sits, represent/symbolize
waters: This word refers generally to any body of water. It includes rivers, creeks, lakes, ponds, springs of water, and perhaps even oceans. Some languages have a general word for all these. For example:
water/river
But some languages do not have a general word for any body of water. If that is true in your language, you may want to use a list. For example:
rivers, creeks, lakes, and ponds
See how you translated this word in 17:1.
prostitute: This word refers to a woman who has sexual relations for money. A prostitute often entices men to have sexual relations with her. Translate this word as you did in 17:1. But you should not repeat the footnote here.
peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.
peoples/nations, multitudes/populations, nations, and language groups.
all peoples and regions/lands and countries and languages.
peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues: This list is similar to the lists in 5:9, 7:9, 11:9, 13:7, and 14:6. Here the word multitudes replaces “tribe.”
peoples: In the singular, “people,” the Greek word refers to a whole people group that shares a common culture and language. It can also refer to a whole country, which may have many people groups within it. In the plural, peoples, it refers to a number of those groups. For example:
nations (GNT)
multitudes: This word refers to large groups of people. It is often translated as “crowds.” But probably larger groups are meant here. For example:
populations (REB)
nations: This word refers to whole people groups. They may be grouped by culture, language, or nationality. For example:
country
tongues: This word refers to grouping people by what language they speak, their “mother tongue.”
The meanings of the three words: “peoples,” “multitudes,” and “nations” are similar. All four words (including “tongues”) are used to emphasize that the “waters” represent people from every kind of people group. Some languages do not have three similar words like “peoples,” “multitudes,” and “nations.” If that is true in your language, you may want to:
Use fewer words. For example:
peoples and languages and nations
Use slightly different words to represent the different categories of people. For example:
peoples and regions/lands and nations and languages
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / doublet
λαοὶ καὶ ὄχλοι εἰσὶν, καὶ ἔθνη καὶ γλῶσσαι
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί λέγει μοί Τά ὕδατα ἅ εἶδες οὗ ἡ πόρνη κάθηται λαοί καί ὄχλοι εἰσίν καί ἔθνη καί γλῶσσαι)
The terms peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages mean similar things. John is using the four terms together to make a comprehensive statement. If it would be clearer for your readers, you could express the emphasis with a single phrase. Alternate translation: [every different people group]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy
γλῶσσαι
tongues
The angel is referring to speakers of various languages by association with the languages themselves. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use an equivalent expression or express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [speakers of various languages]
OET-LV And he_is_saying to_me:
The waters that you_saw, where the prostitute is_sitting, peoples and crowds are, and nations and tongues.
OET (OET-RV) Then the messenger said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.
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