上 帝 (Seung Dai) has always meant the Highest Sovereign and it was understood to be God even in the absence of the word 神 (sahn god). 帝 was borrowed by the first emperor Chin Shih Huang Ti because he needed something higher than a king after conquering all the states. 帝 (Dai) means Lord, as seen in the imperial title 皇 帝 (Wohng Dai). 主 神 is a literal translation from the Greek κυριος ο θεος (kyrios ho theos lord god), but the Chinese word 神 (sahn god) refers to lesser spiritual beings and is entirely inappropriate for the one supreme God.
In this case, the sounds for Alpha have deteriorated. There are many Chinese words with the exact same sounds, but none of them will render closer approximations of the original Greek. The transliterations for Alpha and Omega remain problematical. The translators for this version of the Chinese Bible noticed this and included it. The word ego (Εγω) appears in the Greek of Revelation 1:8 right at the beginning of the sentence I am. The words highlighted in yellow emphasize the I am. This phrase could go with the blue section before it, or with the words after it. And the grey section is the (or that) one (or only one) who is. Blue highlights is, was, is to come following the order in the original Greek. Version Two 主 神 說 我 就 是 阿 爾 法 也 是 歐 米 伽 是 今 在 昔 在 將 要 來 臨 的 那 一 位 是 全 能 者ĭifferent words are used for the transliteration (green). It is clear the translators were using Mandarin rather than Cantonese. Syllables and sounds could be added or missing. Numbers represent tone marks (Yale/PinYin).Īs can be seen, transliterating a language that uses an alphabet to a language with no alphabet leaves much to be desired. Revelation 1:8 (啟 示 錄 1:8 CUVMPT 3) 主Ĭantonese/Mandarin transliteration of Alpha & Omega. The blue section marks out was, is, is to come (which is not the order in the original Greek). Green highlights the Chinese characters transliterating the Greek letters Alpha and Omega. ( Two popular Chinese versions are given below.) 2 Version One 主 神 說 我 是 阿 拉 法 我 是 俄 梅 戛 是 昔 在 今 在 以 後 永 在 的 全 能 者 This is where the Chinese version enters the picture. Perhaps it was a matter of time, just as the numeric features for The Proclamation took until this author's lifetime to be discovered. Perhaps it is not a matter of one being right, or more right. And of course, which one is supposed to be used for numbers Numerics Gematria? 1 It makes the serious believer wonder if one is correct, or more correct, or if one is incorrect. This difference might be the reason why Revelation 1:8 in Greek has so few features. Saying, "Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea." (Revelation 1:11 RSV) Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send unto the seven churches which are in Asia unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. The same occurs again in Revelation 1:11.
I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. The following might be the reason why.Īlthough the GNS and GNT agree most of the time, Revelation 1:8 is one verse where they do not. For a verse so instrumental to discovering numeric features throughout the Bible, it seems odd there wasn't more. Both versions of Revelation 1:8 in Greek (GNS and GNT) had very few number features following the pattern of The Proclamation.
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