pods

The Greek in Luke 15:16 that is translated as “pods” in English is translated in Elhomwe as makattha, a term given to all kind of peelings, which are given to pigs. (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) with Johannisbrotbaum-Schoten or “carob pods,” the kind of pods that likely would have been fed to pigs in Palestine.

The Carob Ceratonia siliqua is a very common tree found throughout the Mediterranean area and also in Arabia, Somalia, and Oman. It is native to Israel, where it was called charuv, according to Jewish religious writings of the first few centuries after Christ. Arabs call it kharrub.

In Bible times, as now, carob trees were found in the coastal plain and in the foothills (Shephelah) and on the eastern slopes of Galilee and Samaria. The carob seed pods are filled with a sweet moist pulp that was popular with poor people. The pods were also used to feed animals. That is probably the basis for Jesus’ statement that the prodigal boy in the parable looked hungrily at the carob keration (“pods”) that he had to feed to the pigs (Luke 15:16).

The carob tree is an evergreen with dark green leaves and many low leafy branches that hide a short trunk. The crown of the tree is round and may reach as high as 12 meters (40 feet). As is the case of the acacia, the date palm and the fig, the carob tree is a lonely representative of a large tropical family (in this case the pea sub-family Caesalpinioideae) that found its way into parts of Israel many millennia ago. The trees in this family are legumes, that is, they put nitrogen into the soil by way of little nodules on the roots. As the tree ages, the trunk be-comes twisted. In contrast to many other trees of the Bible lands, this one bears flowers in autumn, and the seed pods form the following summer. The mature pod is dark brown and about 15-25 centimeters (6-10 inches) in length and 2.5-3.5 centimeters (1-1.5 inches) broad.

If indeed the “pods” of Luke 15.16 were carob pods, it would certainly indicate that they were not considered high-class food. The tree is also called “St. John’s bread” on the belief that John the Baptist must have eaten these fruits when he lived in the desert of Judea. It is quite likely that John did eat carob pods. However, the suggestion that the “locusts” in Mark 1:6 were locust bean pods is not correct, since John probably did eat locusts, as some people in the world still do today. Ironically, carob pod pulp, which was once the “food of the poor” has become, in the last few years, an expensive “health food” in England and America! The word “carat” used in weighing diamonds comes from the Greek name of this tree, since the seeds were used as a standard for measurement. They typically weigh about two hundred milligrams.

Since the Greek word for carob does not actually occur in Luke 15:16, and keration could possibly refer to some other sort of pods, we cannot actually name a species here. If translators have a word for the edible seed pods of trees, they should use it. Otherwise they will have to use something like “fruit of wild trees.” In study notes translators may wish to refer to major language terms, for example, French caroube, Spanish algarrobo, Portuguese alfarroba, and Arabic kharrub.

Carob pods, photo by Gloria Suess

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

all kinds of scented wood

The Thyine tree Tetraclinis articulata is also called “thuja” or “thuya,” and, confusingly, “citron” or “citrus” in different parts of the world. Similar to the well-known arborvitae, the thyine is found mainly in the Mediterranean area and across North Africa (Morocco, Algeria). It is a coniferous tree related to cypresses, pines, and cedars. Its identification in the book of Revelation is based on the Greek spelling, thuinos. In some places it is called the sandarac tree on the basis of the clear varnish (sandarac) that is made from the resin. The Romans, who used the wood for cabinet work, called it “citrus” for some strange reason, though apart from the yellow fruit, it bears no resemblance to true citrus trees.

The thyine can reach a height of 9 meters (30 feet). It has scaly leaves like cedars and cypresses, reddish brown bark, and sweet-smelling wood that is resistant to insects.

Tetraclinis articulata, Wikimedia Commons

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

plant / gourd / ivy

The Hebrew term for the plant that is translated in a variety of ways in English, including “vine,” “gourd,” or simply “plant” or “bush” has a long history of controversial translations.

Law (2013, p. 170) quotes from one of the letters of Augustine (354-430 AD) who was a strong defender of the Ancient Greek Septuagint translation: “In Oea [ancient city in present-day Tripoli, Libya], a bishop read from Jerome’s translation of Jonah, and because of the strange new rendering he almost lost his congregation. The [Greek] Bible of the church had ‘gourd’ (kolokýnthi / κολοκύνθῃ) in Jonah 4:6, but Jerome had changed it to the Latin word for ‘ivy’ [hedera]. The congregation in attendance fumed upon hearing the new translation and accused it of being ‘Judaized.’ Jews were called in to explain the rendering, and they claimed that Jerome was wrong and the Septuagint was right all along. Whether this actually happened is irrelevant. Augustine has either reported a real event or has created a literary fiction, but either way he provides a window into the struggle of parting with the church’s Bible in favor of Jerome’s new translation.”

This divergence in opinion can be seen up to the present day. Older Catholic versions that are based one the Latin Vulgate (for instance the English Douay-Rheims or the translation by Knox) will use a word for a climbing plant such as “ivy” or “vine,” other translations use a large variety of translations, including the “safe” choice “plant.” In the UBS handbook Plants and Trees in the Bible, Koops (2012, p. 127) says: “The identity of Jonah’s qiqayon plant has been debated since the days of St. Jerome and St. Augustine. [Several scholars] advocate the castor oil plant (Ricinus communis) as the qiqayon. But the King James Version’s ‘gourd’ has a long history, including its use in the Septuagint. The Vulgate translated qiqayon as hedera (‘ivy’) but that rendering has not had further botanical support. In 1955 an in-depth study of the literature going back as far as St. Jerome was made and its author votes hesitantly for the gourd (colocynth). Some scholars even suggest it could be an Assyrian word inserted in the story just to make it sound foreign, or even a made-up word.”

In Newari it is translated as “pumpkin plant” (source: Newari Back Translation).

See also cucumber, melon, and bottle gourd / calabash.

opobalsamum (balsam; balm)

The Hebrew word bosem, which is often rendered “balm” (derived from “balsam”), can refer to any type of aromatic healing substance, but it also designates the product of a particular tree, the balsam or opobalsamum Commiphora gileadensis. Arabs call it balasam or balasham. In the Talmud it is called afarsimon. Excavations near En Gedi have uncovered an ancient processing plant for balsam oil.

The opobalsamum tree likes a desert or semi-desert climate. It grows to 2‑3 meters (7‑10 feet) tall and has small, wrinkled, three-part leaves, white flowers, and pea-sized red berries that have a fragrant yellow seed inside. The bark of younger branches is gray, turning brown with age. The resin appears by itself in green droplets from the stems and branches, but collectors also make cuts in the branches to speed the process. The droplets turn from green to brown, clump together, and fall to the ground, where they are collected.

In Bible times, balsam oil was used in holy anointing oil, as medicine, and as an ingredient of perfume.

A generic word or phrase for sweet-smelling substances is appropriate to render bosem, although where a specific name for the balsam tree is available, as in southwestern Arabia and Somalia, this could also be used. At least one hundred species of the genus Commiphora are spread throughout dry areas of the world. Translators in some areas will know the plants; others may know only the dried resin of Commiphora sold in spice markets.

Balsam tree, Photo by Nigel Hepper

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

saffron crocus

Our experts agree on the identification of the Hebrew word karkom with the saffron crocus Crocus sativus, but there are others who identify it as the Indian plant Turmeric Curcuma longa on the basis of its Arabic name kurkum or kurkam. However, according to Moldenke (Plants of the Bible. Ronald Press. 1952), Arabic kurkum refers to the plant, and the product from it is called saferan, from which we get the English word “saffron” (compare Arabic asfar, meaning “yellow”). Saffron is now widely known as a food additive and dye, but in Bible times it was also considered a perfume and medicine. It comes from the reddish-purple flowers of the crocus, which grew throughout Asia Minor in Bible times. Since then it has been widely cultivated in Europe, England, and America. The English word “crocus” comes from Hebrew karkom via Greek krokos.

Archeological records indicate that saffron was cultivated in the seventh century B.C. in Assyria and later in Crete (Bronze Age). Saffron-based paint has been found in fifty thousand year old pictures in what is today Iraq. The Sumerians used saffron for medicine and magical potions and traded it with other kingdoms. International trade reached a peak with the Minoans in the second millennium B.C. Use of saffron spread into Asia via the Persians and/or the Mongol invaders, and today Buddhist monks in India wear saffron-colored robes. Merchants in the Middle East sell dried safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) as saferan, but real saffron comes only from crocus flowers. The fake saffron is appropriately called alazor bastardo in Spanish and safran batard in French.

Crocus plants have long, tapered grasslike leaves growing from an onion-like bulb under the ground. They grow to less than 13 centimeters (5 inches) in height and have beautiful reddish or purple flowers.

In Bible times saffron was used as perfume and as medicine, but today it is mostly known as a coloring agent for cloth and food. One reason why it was costly is that it takes about six hundred flowers to produce a few drops of oil.

Since Bible times the saffron crocus has been grown mostly in the Mediterranean basin, but it also thrives in India, Oceana, and North Africa, so in those places local words will likely be found. Elsewhere, transliteration from a major language is recommended.

Crocus sativus, Wikimedia Commons

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

See also crocus.

poplar

There are several species of poplar in the Middle East, and that has given rise to some controversy over which one is referred to by a particular Hebrew word. Two kinds of poplar were common in Israel in Bible times, the white poplar and the Euphrates poplar.

In Genesis 30:37 (see also plane) Jacob’s magical recipe for multiplying sheep and goats relied on the light inner wood of the white poplar Populus alba, a tree that grows along riverbanks in Israel. This softwood tree with gray bark was used for timber and for making tools and rafters. In some places the bark is used as medicine.

The Euphrates poplar Populus euphratica likewise grows along riverbanks, but it is much more widespread in the Middle East than the white poplar, and that makes it a natural candidate for the reference in Psalm 137:2, which says “On the ‘aravim [‘willows’ in Revised Standard Version and New Revised Standard Version, updated edition] there we hung up our lyres.” This is further strengthened by the fact that in Iraq this poplar is called gharab, which is cognate with ‘aravah.

The white poplar is a tall tree reaching perhaps 20 meters (66 feet). Its seeds are dispersed by the wind in bunches of long, silky hair. The Euphrates poplar is also tall. It has two types of leaves. When young, it produces a narrow leaf like a willow; when it matures, its leaves are broader. This has led to some confusion among scholars as to the identity of willows and poplars mentioned in the Bible.

Populus species (cottonwood, aspen) are known throughout Europe and North America. In Africa, apart from North Africa and South Africa where a number of kinds of poplars have been introduced from Europe, there do not seem to be any Populus species. Where Populus species are known, and if the inner bark is known to be white, they could be used in Genesis, but keep in mind that another tree of the same family (willow) is mentioned in Leviticus 23:40. Where Populus species are not known, we advocate transliterating from a major language in Genesis 30:37 (for example, popula, populari, hawur [Arabic], or abele [French]), since this is a historical setting rather than a rhetorical one.

Euphrates poplar, Wikimedia Commons
White poplar trunk, Wikimedia Commons

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

cattail (reed-mace𖺗 bulrush)

The Hebrew word suf probably designates more than one species of the cattail, also called “reed-mace” and “bulrush.” There are two in Israel: Typha domingensis and Typha latifolia. Both species like to stand in the slow-moving water on the edge of rivers and streams. The reference to suf (“weeds”) in Jonah 2:5 supports Zohary’s conjecture (Plants of the Bible. Cambridge University Press, 1982) that suf may be a collective name for many water plants. Suf is paired with qaneh (“reeds”) in Isaiah 19:6, so it is almost certainly the cattail since both are found in marshes and slow streams.

The cattail reaches 3 meters (10 feet) in height and is notable for its soft, fuzzy brown seed head that eventually disintegrates into fluffy material that blows away in the wind and floats on the water. The plant also spreads through its thick roots, which creep along the bottom of shallow lakes and streams. Its leaves are long, erect, and sharply pointed.

In Bible times, as now, the leaves of cattails were used for baskets and mats. The thick roots are edible, as are the pollen and the young green stalks. The cattails of Exodus are famous as the plants among which the mother of Moses hid her son in his little floating basket.

Most kinds of cattail are found in Europe and North America, where the leaves are used for mats and chair seats. Some typha species in India (Typha elephantina) are used for making paper and ornaments. Translators who live near rivers may have other reed-like plants that can be used, keeping in mind that there are four reed-like plants mentioned in the Bible (see “Papyrus,” “Reed,” and “Rush”). In Exodus 2:3 and 2:5 a number of English versions, including the New Revised Standard Version, updated edition use the generic word “reeds.” In communities that are unfamiliar with waterside vegetation, generic expressions such as “tall grass” or “tall stalks of grass” may be effective. The basic options for rendering suf in Exodus and Isaiah are:
1. a local grass that grows in streams and rivers;
2. a generic word such as “grass”;
3. a descriptive phrase such as “tall grass.”

The word suf has a different sense in Jonah 2:5. In this passage the plants are living in the water without roots or are perhaps rooted in the bottom of a shallow sea. So translations typically use “seaweed,” a plant with long, grass-like leaves that is often not attached to the soil under the sea.

The Hebrew expression yam suf (literally “sea of reeds”) has been translated somewhat inaccurately by the Septuagint translators and many others as “Red Sea.” A Handbook on Exodus recommends following the Hebrew, which is literally “Sea of Reeds,” or the modern equivalent “Gulf of Suez” as in the Good News Bible, unless there is a strong tradition in the receptor culture for “Red Sea.” If “Red Sea” is used, then a footnote should be added, giving “Sea of Reeds” as the literal meaning of the Hebrew text.

Cattail, Wikimedia Commons

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

In Jonah 2:5, it is translated as “ocean grass” in Newari (source: Newari Back Translation).

millet

To illustrate the siege of Jerusalem, Ezekiel is instructed to make a loaf of bread out of wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet (dochan in Hebrew), and spelt in Ezekiel 4:9. In Arabic millet is called dukhn or dochna, suggesting that the Hebrew word dochan could indeed be millet. Some scholars believe that Millet Panicum miliaceum or Panicum callosum was first domesticated in Ethiopia, but others say in India or the East Indies. From one of those places it was carried into Mesopotamia around 3000 B.C. If that is so, it may have been known to the people of Israel during their stay in Egypt as well as after the conquest of Canaan. In Ezekiel 27:17 a reference is made to pannag, which Moldenke (Plants of the Bible. Chronica Botanica. Ronald Press, 1952) takes as possibly referring to millet, on the basis of the fact that in Syriac pannag refers to millet. However, Hepper (Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants: Flowers and Trees, Fruits and Vegetables, Ecology. Baker Book House, 1992) says that neither millet nor sorghum reached the Mediterranean area before the Christian era, making it unlikely that dochan or pannag refer to either millet or sorghum.

Today millet is used throughout the world for porridge, alcoholic beverages, and as animal food. It is not good for bread, which may be significant in the incident mentioned in Ezekiel 4:9.

If indeed millet was grown at all in Old Testament times, it would have been a short variety less than 1 meter (3 feet) in height. It has a single head on a stalk, with many tiny seeds, so the Latin name is miliaceum (“million seeds”).

There are six hundred kinds of Panicum species growing in the warm and tropical zones of the world, many of them domesticated, and two in Europe. Translators who do not have a local word for millet will need to use a transliteration from a major language, for example, French millet, Portuguese miliyo, and Spanish mijo. Since the references to millet are part of lists in non-rhetorical contexts, there is no need to look for a cultural equivalent.

Panicum miliaceum, Wikimedia Commons

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)