Tag Archives: feet

Hands and Feet

In Hebrew, and ancient Greek as well, the words for foot πούς and hand χείρ originally meant the whole limb, not just the foot and hand; that is, πούς could mean the whole leg, and χείρ the whole upper limb, from the finger tips to the shoulder. In Revelation, we can see that the writer uses these words that way, from Revelation 10:1, where he says (ESV), “Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire.”

Certainly, legs are like pillars, and feet are not like pillars. The ESV correctly renders πούς as legs, and not feet. Those translations that render it “feet” are just plain wrong.

Incorrect translations, reading “feet” in Rev. 10:1:

Tyndale
Geneva
Douay Rheims
KJV
ASV
Darby
BBE
Weymouth
WEB
GW (God’s Word)
NASB
LivingBible
NLT
EMTV
JB2000
LEB (Lexam)
NABRE (NAB revised)
NKJV
YLT
OJB

Correct translations, reading “legs” in Rev. 10:1

J.B.Phillips
RSV
GNT (Good News)
ESV
ISV
NET
NRSV
NIV
TNIV
CEV
NCV
CJB (Complete Jewish Bible)
EXB
ICB
Mounce
WE
Voice
HCSB
DRP

The Messianic Ebible has a footnote indicating that “legs” is in the Syriac.
The Amplified Bible says “feet (legs)”

Incorrect translations, reading “hand” in Rev. 13:16

Tyndale
Geneva
KJV
ASV
BBE
Weymouth
J.B.Phillips
RSV
GNT (Good News)
ESV
CEV
NCV
CJB (Complete Jewish Bible)
EXB
ICB
Mounce
WE
Voice
HCSB
WEB
GW
ISV
MessianicEBible
Amplified
NET
NRSV
NASB
NIV
TNIV
EMTV
JB2000

Correct translations, reading “arm” or “upper limb”in Rev. 13:16:

DRP