Prepositions in Bible translation: Little words with big consequences

Rachel and Michael Aubrey’s work in Bible translation for Wycliffe Bible Translators depends on the generosity of churches and individuals partnering with us financially in our work. As we look toward 2025, we are hoping that we can find 10 to 15 new people or churches to join with us so that we can continue to effectively support minority language Bible translation with high quality biblical language linguistic work for years to come.

Earlier this year, we put together a short video about some of the work on New Testament prepositions that we are doing for Bible translators (attentive readers will likely recognize our work on SOURCE-PATH-GOAL construction as the foundation for this video): Have you ever noticed how certain prepositions tend to pair with each other? We’re talking about pairs like: ‘in’ and ‘out’, ‘up’ and ‘down’, ‘for’ and ‘against’, or ‘from’ and ‘to’. They just have a special relationship, don’t they? In the Bible, a pair like this begins what is perhaps Jesus’s most famous parable:

  • Ἄνθρωπός τις κατέβαινεν ἀπὸ Ἰερουσαλὴμ εἰς Ἰεριχὼ καὶ λῃσταῖς περιέπεσεν
    “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers.” (Luke 10:30, NIV)

Click here to partner with us in our Wycliffe ministry financially

Reach out and ask us about our work:

Go back

Your message has been sent

Warning
Warning
Warning
Warning.