the First Week of Advent
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Dictionaries
Translation
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or (μετάθεσις)
The word ‘translation’ is used of Enoch (q.v. [Note: .v. quod vide, which see.] ) in Hebrews 11:5. The reference is to Genesis 5:24, where we read: ‘he was not; for God took (לָקַת) him,’ the Septuagint translation being οὐχ εὑρίσκετο, ὄτι μετέθηκεν αὐτὸν ὁ θεός. The ‘translation’ of Enoch is mentioned in Sirach 44:18 (cf. also Sirach 49:14, ‘he was taken up from the earth’), and is probably alluded to in Wisdom of Solomon 4:7; Wisdom of Solomon 4:10 : ‘a righteous man, though he die before his time, shall be at rest … and while living among sinners he was translated.’ The NT passage adds an interpretation of the ‘translation,’ namely, ‘that he should not see death,’ whereas the passages in Gen. and Sir. need not necessarily mean anything but a holy death; but it was undoubtedly the common belief that Enoch did not die. The similar word μεθίστημι is used of king Saul’s death in Acts 13:22, and metaphorically in Colossians 1:13 of our translation into the Kingdom of the Son.
A. J. Maclean.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Hastings, James. Entry for 'Translation'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/t/translation.html. 1906-1918.
