12:16a–b

But the earth helped the woman and opened its mouth to swallow up the river: The earth is referred to as if it were a person. The earth is pictured as helping the woman. It is also pictured as having a mouth that could swallow.

In some languages the meaning of a literal translation would not be clear. If that is true in your language, you may want to:

• Use similes for mouth and to swallow. For example:

But the earth helped the woman by opening ⌊a large crack like a⌋ mouth, and the whole river ⌊flowed in as if⌋ swallowed

• Refer to God as the one who helped the woman and caused these events to happen. For example:

But ⌊God⌋ helped the woman ⌊by causing⌋ the earth to open its mouth and swallow the river

• Change the metaphors into similes and refer to God causing these events to happen. For example:

But ⌊God⌋ helped the woman ⌊by causing⌋ the earth to open ⌊a large crack like a⌋ mouth and the whole river ⌊flowed in as if⌋ swallowed

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