flying fiery serpent

The Hebrew that is translated as “flying serpent” in English is translated in Kamba as nzoka ya kĩko, referring to local cobras which can jump.

In Konso it is translated as “very poisonous snake,” which already suggests the “fiery.” (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin and Sam Wanyoike)

See also cobra.

Woe to us!

The Hebrew that is translated as “Woe to us!” or similar in English is translated in Igede with the existing idiom Ahị ri enyi gu obyi lẹ oo! or “We are wet (lit “water touch”) gunpowder!” (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

See also woe is me.

crocus

The Hebrew that is translated as “crocus” in English is translated in the Hausa Common Language Bible as fulawa ta ba da amfani or “useful flower,” “since Hausa culture traditionally sees no value in the purely visual aspect of flowers.” (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

See also saffron crocus.

shall be blessed / bless themselves

The Hebrew that is translated as “shall be blessed” or “bless themselves” (see here) in English is translated in the Hausa Common Language Bible as “you will become to them a means of blessing.” (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

hardened / stubborn

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The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is typically translated in English as “hardened” or “stubborn” is translated in the Hausa Common Language Bible idiomatically as taurin kai or “tough head.”

Other languages spoken in Nigeria translate similarly: Abua uses oḅom ẹmhu or “strong head,” Bura-Pabir kəra ɓəɓal or “hard head,” Gokana agẹ̀ togó or “hard/strong head,” Igede egbeju-ọngịrị or “hard head,” Dera gɨddɨng koi or “strong head,” Reshe ɾiʃitə ɾigbaŋgba or “strong head,” and in Chadian Arabic raas gawi (رَاسْكُو قَوِي) or “hard head” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

Other translation approaches include Western Bukidnon Manobo with “breath is very hard” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation) or Ixil with “callous heart” (source: Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 40).

See also hardness of heart.

nurse

The Hebrew in Genesis 24:59 that is translated as “nurse” in English is translated in the Hausa Common Language Bible as macen da ta yi goyonta or “woman who gave her support.” Since goyo means both “to support (a friend)” and “to back a baby” it covers the range of duties that are implicit here. (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

tent of testimony

The Greek in Acts 7:44 that is translated as “tent of testimony” or similar in English is translated as

  • “a leather house which they could pack up again, where they remembered God” in Lalana Chinantec
  • “cloth house where they worshiped God” in Eastern Highland Otomi
  • “cloth house where God spoke to the people” in Chichimeca-Jonaz
  • “house of God where they kept the stones on which were written the commandments of God” in Morelos Nahuatl
  • “small holy house which was of the skins of animals, in it were the stones which contained the ten commandments” in San Mateo del Mar Huave
  • “church inside which the slates on which God’s law was written were kept” in Teutila Cuicatec (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • “Tent of meeting God” in Nigerian Fulfulde (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
  • “the tent of the testimony showing that God is present” in Elhomwe (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • “God’s shelter together with the box of the law which confirmed his talk” in Bariai (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • “Great Above One’s Cloth House” in Mairiasi (source: Enggavoter 2004)

See also tabernacle (noun) and tent of meeting.

a piece of wood

The Hebrew that is translated in English as “a piece of wood” or similar is translated in Bura-Pabir as udzim laga or “a certain stick” and in the Hausa Common Language Bible as wani itace or “a certain tree.” Andy Warren-Rothlin explains the Hausa translation: “This is doubtless a right interpretation of this as referring to a particular medicinal plant, not just a random tree, as is suggested by some English translations.”