Translation (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 LXX [Note: XX Septuagint.] translation being ο ὐ χ ε ὑ ρίσκετο, ὄ τι μετέθηκεν α ὐ τ ὸ ν ὁ θεός . The ‘translation’ of Enoch is mentioned in Sir 44:18 (cf. also 49:14, ‘he was taken up from the earth’), and is probably alluded to in Wis 4:7; Wis 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.