Gender in Translation

Overview

The UPDV translates gendered terms according to the distinctions present in the original languages. Hebrew uses several different words where English has only "man," and the UPDV preserves these distinctions rather than collapsing them into a single term.

Old Testament: Four Hebrew Words for "Man"

Hebrew distinguishes between four words that English translates as "man." Each carries a different meaning, and the UPDV renders them differently:

"man" — אָדָם (adam) — Humanity in general, without regard to sex. When Genesis 1:27 says God created "man" in his image and then specifies "male and female he created them," the word is adam — the human race, not the male sex. The UPDV translates this as "man" in its plain, unmodified form: "man," "of man," "from man."

"common man" — אֱנוֹשׁ (enosh) — Ordinary humanity, often emphasizing frailty or mortality. In Psalm 8:4, the parallelism makes the distinction visible: "What is common man (enosh), that you are mindful of him? And the son of man (adam), that you visit him?" Both refer to humanity, but enosh stresses the ordinary and mortal.

"a man," "men" — אִישׁ (ish) — A specific male individual or a group that includes males. The UPDV signals this with the article or demonstrative: "a man," "any man," "this man," "men." When the text says ish, it means a male person, not humanity in general.

"[able-bodied] men," "[prominent] men" — גֶּבֶר (geber) — A man defined by strength, capability, or status. The specific quality depends on context — might, military fitness, leadership, nobility — and the UPDV places the qualifier in brackets to show it is drawn from the word's semantic range rather than from a separate word in the text. In Exodus 10:11, Pharaoh tells the Israelites: "go, you who are [prominent] men, and serve Yahweh."

"a woman," "women" — אִשָּׁה (ishah) — A specific female individual or group. The UPDV uses the article or demonstrative as with ish: "a woman," "any woman," "this woman," "women."

New Testament: Greek Distinctions

Greek makes a similar distinction between two words for "man":

"man," "people" — ἄνθρωπος (anthrōpos) — A human being regardless of sex, parallel to Hebrew adam. When Jesus says "the Sabbath was made for man" (Mark 2:27), the word is anthrōpos — all people, not males specifically.

"a man," "husband" — ἀνήρ (anēr) — A specific male individual, parallel to Hebrew ish. Context determines whether it means "a man" or "a husband."

"a woman," "wife" — γυνή (gynē) — A specific female individual, parallel to Hebrew ishah. As with anēr, context determines whether it means "a woman" or "a wife."

"brothers" — ἀδελφοί (adelphoi) — The UPDV retains "brothers" as the translation of adelphoi, following the literal Greek. When Paul addresses a mixed congregation as adelphoi (e.g., Romans 1:13, 1 Corinthians 1:10), the UPDV renders this as "brothers" rather than "brothers and sisters" or "siblings." The plural-you marker (⁺) on surrounding pronouns indicates that the audience includes all members of the church.

Pronouns and Other References

Pronouns such as "he," "she," "him," and "her" follow the gender of the original text. The UPDV does not alter gendered pronouns to achieve gender-neutral language.