Translation

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

(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 Septuaginttranslation 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.

Charles Buck Theological Dictionary

In the ecclesiastical sense of the word, is the removing of a bishop from one see to another. It is also used for the version of a book or writing into a different language from that in which it was written. In translating the Scriptures, great knowledge and caution are necessary. Dr. Campbell lays down three fundamental rules for translating:

1. The translation should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the original.

2. The style and manner of the original should be preserved.

3. The translation should have all the ease of original composition. He observes that the difficulties found in translating the Scriptures arise,

1. From the singularity of Jewish customs.

2. From the poverty (as appears) of their native language.

3. From the fewness of the books extant in it.

4. From the symbolical style of the prophets.

5. From the excessive influence which a previous acquaintance with translations have occasioned.

And,

6. From pre-possessions, in what way soever acquired, in regard to religious tenets. Notwithstanding these difficulties, however, the divines employed by King James to translate the Old and New Testaments, have given us a translation which, with a very few exceptions, can scarcely be improved. These divines were profoundly skilled in the learning as well as in the languages of the East; whilst some of those who have presumed to improve their version, seem not to have possessed a critical knowledge of the Greek tongue, to have known still less of the Hebrew, and to have been absolute strangers to the dialect spoken in Judea in the days of our Saviour, as well as to the manners, customs, and peculiar opinions of the Jewish sects. "Neither, " as one observes, "metaphysical acuteness, nor the most perfect knowledge of the principles of translation in general, will enable a man knows not accurately, and therefore cannot give a complete transcript in the ideas of the original work."

See BIBLE; Mr. Tyler's Essay on the Principles of Translation; and Dr. Campbell's Preliminary Dissertations to his translation of the Gospels.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) The act of translating, removing, or transferring; removal; also, the state of being translated or removed; as, the translation of Enoch; the translation of a bishop.

(2): ( n.) The act of rendering into another language; interpretation; as, the translation of idioms is difficult.

(3): ( n.) That which is obtained by translating something a version; as, a translation of the Scriptures.

(4): ( n.) A transfer of meaning in a word or phrase, a metaphor; a tralation.

(5): ( n.) Transfer of meaning by association; association of ideas.

(6): ( n.) Motion in which all the points of the moving body have at any instant the same velocity and direction of motion; - opposed to rotation.

King James Dictionary

TRANSLA'TION, n. L. translatio.

1. The act of removing or conveying from one place to another removal as the translation of a disease from the foot to the breast. 2. The removal of a bishop from one see to another. 3. The removal of a person to heaven without subjecting him to death. 4. The act of turning into another language interpretation as the translation of Virgil or Homer. 5. That which is produced by turning into another language a version. We have a good translation of the Scriptures.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

This term is used in scripture in the sense of 'change of place or status.' Abner threatened to translate the kingdom from the house of Saul to David.  2 Samuel 3:10 . The believer is delivered from the power of darkness and is translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son.  Colossians 1:13 . Enoch was translated without dying.  Hebrews 11:5 .

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

The translation of the Holy Scriptures into our English language is among the highest instances of divine mercy. And the work itself may be considered as among the most blessed monuments of the church. The memory of the authors of it under the grace of the Holy Ghost is truly blessed, and proves that Scripture, "the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance." ( Psalms 112:6)

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

trans - lā´shun  : The verb "translate" is found once in the Old Testament (  2 Samuel 3:10 the King James Version, in the sense of "to transfer") and 3 times in the New Testament (  Colossians 1:13 , μεθίστημι , methı́stēmi , where it means "to transfer"; twice in  Hebrews 11:5 , where it has the quasi-technical sense of removing one from the earthly to the heavenly state without the intervening experience of death).

The noun "translation" occurs only in  Hebrews 11:5 , μετάθεσις , metáthesis , where it refers to the transition, the general nature of which has just been described in connection with the verb. With their customary reserve in regard to such matters, the Scriptures simply record the fact of Enoch's translation without commenting either upon the attendant circumstances, or upon the nature of the change involved in his experience. Doubtless what Paul says in  1 Corinthians 15:51 ,  1 Corinthians 15:52 applied in the case of Enoch and also in that of Elijah (  2 Kings 2:11 ).