Consider Paradise 17th October 2008, hej

1) 'Paradise' in the Bible

The English word only occurs 2 or 3 times (depending on the translation) in the whole Bible. This immediately tells us that it is not a major concept. It is not discussed by any prophets or apostles.

In all three occurrences it is a translation of the Greek word paradeisos, which shows us that English has borrowed this word untranslated (via French paradis and Latin paradisus). But the Greeks, in turn, borrowed it untranslated from the Persians.

The Greek word came from the Persian word pairidaêza or 'walled enclosure', which is a compound of pairi - 'around' and -diz 'to create'. Like most words brought into another language, it refers to a specific cultural icon in the original language. An example is 'computer'. It is a specific item and its label travels with it into whatever culture it enters. Another is 'pasta'. This cultural icon of the Persian garden enclosure was so well known in the ancient world it made its way into many ancient languages: Akkadian pardesu, Hebrew pardes, Aramaic pardaysa, and Arabic firdaws.

We must be careful when understanding an ancient word that we don't overlay it with a more modern meaning. The New Testament of the Bible was written while the Greek meaning still contained the reference to the Persian walled garden.