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 on 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.

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)

tamarisk

There are two main species of tamarisk referred to in the Bible, the Leafless Tamarisk Tamarix aphylla and the much more common Nile Tamarisk Tamarix nilotica. Both species are found throughout the plains and in the wadis (dry stream beds) of the Aravah and the Negev, where they tap water that has soaked into the ground after flash floods. Tamarisks can grow in salty soil, earning them the name “salt cedar” in some places. A third species grows only in the Jordan Valley. None of them has proper leaves but rather fleshy twigs, which are eaten by goats and sheep.

Description  The leafless tamarisk grows to a height of 10 meters (33 feet) and can be 1 meter (3 feet) across at the base. The more common Nile tamarisk is smaller and is really a shrub, branching right from the ground. Tamarisks grow in very dry places due to the fact that their roots extend far into the ground. The trunk is often twist-ed. The cedar-like branches hang down like those of the weeping willow. Bedouin shepherds have planted many of them throughout the Negev for their flocks.

The fact that Abraham planted a tamarisk and worshiped Yahweh there (Genesis 21:33) indicates that these trees, like oaks, were associated with the spirit world. According to Zohary (Plants of the Bible. Cambridge University Press, 1982), the “cedar” branches mentioned in the cleansing rituals of Leviticus 14:4 and Numbers 19:6 may possibly have been from tamarisks, although Phoenician juniper trees (very similar to cedar) were also available in some places on the journey of the wandering Israelites. Imported into the western United States, tamarisks have multiplied so fast in stream beds that they are now considered a costly nuisance. In some places they are used in making dyes and in processing leather.

The options for translating “tamarisk” are:

1. Transliterate from a major language, for example, tamarisiki, tamaris, esheli (Hebrew), or eteli/atali (Arabic).
2. Consider the function of the tree, which in Genesis was almost certainly connected to Abraham’s worship of God, and translate as “holy tree” perhaps with a footnote giving the Hebrew and/or English, especially if you have used “holy tree” in Gen 12.6 for “oak.”
3. Simply use “tree” with a footnote stating that the Hebrew specifies ’eshel, that is, tamarisk.

Leafless tamarisk, Wikimedia Commons
Nile tamarisk, Wikimedia Commons

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

broom tree

A number of scholars identify rothem as the White Broom Retama raetam, a tough desert shrub found in the Holy Land and Arabia. Earlier, Moldenke (Plants of the Bible. Chronica Botanica. Ronald Press, 1952) contended that rothem refers to a parasitic plant called dog’s club. In the story of Elijah’s flight from Jezebel, the mention of the broom tree in 1 Kings 19:4 provides detail to the image of desolation brought to mind by the word “wilderness” earlier in the verse. The references to rothem in Psalm 120:4 (“. . . with glowing coals of the broom tree”) and Job 30:4 (“. . . and to warm themselves the roots of the broom”) have led scholars to conclude that it is indeed the broom shrub, since it makes a very hot fire, due to the oil in the stems and leaves. The place name Rithmah (“place of rothem”) referred to in Numbers 33:18f. may also refer to the broom. The white broom is found on hills, rocky places, ravines and sandy places throughout the Holy Land, especially near the Dead Sea, in Gilead, on Mount Carmel, in the Syrian desert, and on the Phoenician coast.

The white broom, which is more of a large bush than a shrub, can reach a height of 2 meters (7 feet). It has many small branches, few leaves, and clusters of white flowers that make the shrub a beautiful sight on a hillside.

In 1 Kings 19:4 the New Jerusalem Bible renders rothem as “furze bush,” also known as “gorse,” in an attempt to use a name known to English gardeners, but neither “gorse” nor “furze” are familiar to botanically ignorant city-dwellers of the twenty-first century. Hence, some modern versions use a generic term in 1 Kings, such as “large bush” (Contemporary English Version), “tree” (Good News Bible, and “bush” (New Century Version). In areas where plants are still known by species names, translators can select a shrub that grows in dry, barren areas (assuming it is big enough to offer shade), or transliterate from the Hebrew (rothem) or a major language (for example, retem in Arabic). Otherwise, they can use “small tree” or “shrub.”

In Psalm 120:4 a local kind of wood that produces a very hot fire could be used, since the text is rhetorical, and needs an image of something very hot.

The reference to broom in Job 30:4 poses major textual and exegetical problems, which explains the variety of renderings in modern Bibles. New Revised Standard Version, updated edition reads “they pick mallow and the leaves of bushes, and to warm themselves the roots of the broom.” Good News Bible and the New International Version have these poor folk eating the roots of the broom tree. However, reliable sources tell us that the root of the broom tree is poisonous. That is why Moldenke suggested that it must be another plant, namely the parasite Dog’s Club Cynomorium coccineum, which grows up out of the roots of the broom tree. However, there is good evidence that the writer intended to say the roots were “burned” (as in New Revised Standard Version, updated edition), not “eaten” (as in Good News Bible and New International Version).

Broom bush, Wikimedia Commons

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

In the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) it is translated as “mopane tree .” These trees grow in Southern African countries. They can grow up to 18 meters high and their leaves have a butterfly shape. They’re good for firewood and timber as they are in the category of hardwood trees because they can live for up to 100 years. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

beans

Commentators and translators are unanimous in identifying the Hebrew word pol as the Broad Bean Vicia faba or Faba vulgaris. Beans were cultivated in the Middle East for millennia, and they probably originated there. No wild species are now known, and it is quite possible that the ancestors of the bean are extinct. Samples of beans have been found in excavations at Jericho dating to 7,000 8,000 years ago.

The broad bean is an erect plant, not a vine, reaching to 1 meter (3 feet) in height. The stem branches only in the upper part. It has no tendrils like many types of bean have today. The flowers are white, and when they ripen, they form pods containing 3-6 large flat beans of a cream or tan color.

Special significance  In 2 Samuel 17:28 people bring food, including beans, to King David as he flees from his son Absalom. In Ezekiel 4:9 Ezekiel is instructed to publicly make “bread” out of wheat, barley, beans, and lentils — whatever he could find — the point probably being that good quality bread will soon be scarce in Jerusalem.

There are at least two hundred species of the genus Vicia to which the broad bean belongs. Vicia itself is part of the vast family of legumes. It is possible that the Hebrew word pol actually refers to more than one type of bean, including what we now know as peas. Since beans and peas are known around the world, translators will probably be able to find a local equivalent. In both contexts (2 Samuel and Ezekiel) the word is used in a list of items, and if a local species of bean is not available to the translator, a transliteration should be used.

Vicia faba, Wikimedia Commons

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

lentils

Scholars are agreed that the Hebrew word ‘adashah refers to the lentil Lens culinaris (formerly known as Lens esculenta). The Arabic word ‘adas, as well as several references in post-biblical Hebrew, confirm this identification, as does the Greek Septuagint. Seeds found in excavations dating to the sixth or seventh millennium B.C. show that the lentil is one of the first species to be cultivated by humans. In those excavations lentils are often found together with seeds of wheat and barley.

The lentil is a low-branched plant with a weak stem. It has tendrils, like pumpkins and squashes, and pinkish flowers that develop into a pod like a bean. The pod is very short with only one seed inside, about the size of a small pea. In one type of lentil the pea is reddish brown, hence the reference to “red” stew in Genesis 25:30. The pods are often in pairs or sets of three. In the Holy Land lentils grow in the cold season (November-March).

In Ezekiel 4:9 the strange bread, made from six kinds of grains and legumes including lentils, was probably intended to show that food would become scarce and that the people would have to eat whatever they could find. The lentil is typically used in soups and stews, as it was when Jacob used it to trick his brother Esau into giving up his rights as the firstborn son. Lentils were among the foodstuffs brought to David by local people when he was pursued by Absalom.

 Lentils are now widespread in Asia, India, and North Africa. In places where they are not known, we suggest using the word for a local type of bean rather than a transliteration. However, in Ezekiel 4:9 “beans” are also mentioned, so a possible rendering for “beans and lentils” is “different kinds of beans.” In Genesis 25:34 a generic expression for “pottage of lentils” would be appropriate, such as “bean soup,” “bean stew,” or “vegetable soup.” If a transliteration from a major language is desired, consider Arabic adas; French cristallin, lentille; Spanish lenteja; Portuguese lentilha; and Swahili adesi.

3 types of lentil, Wikimedia Commons

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

ebony

Ezekiel 27:15 reports traders who brought hovnim to Tyre. Coupled with ivory, the Hebrew word hovnim could have referred to either Asian or African products. In 1982 Zohary (Plants of the Bible. Cambridge University Press, 1982) stated that the identity of the hovnim in Ezekiel is unclear. He said that at best we can say that both Asian and African merchandise were shipped to Dedan, a Phoenician commercial center on the Arabian coast. Since then, however, Hepper (Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, Baker Book House, 1992), who believes that trading with the Far East was less than many other scholars have alleged, has said that this tree is not the Asian Ebony Diospyros ebenum we know today but a leguminous tree Dalbergia melanoxylon, which grows all across Africa along the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. Evidence for this, he says, is that the Old Egyptian cognate hbny found in hieroglyphs refers to Dalbergia melanoxylon.

If hovnim are from Africa, they could be Dalbergia melanoxylon, as Hepper asserts, or one of the many species of the genus Diospyros found throughout the continent, such as Diospyros mespiliformis. The latter is a huge, widespread forest tree up to 35 meters (115 feet) tall. Dalbergia melanoxylon is a smaller, spiny tree reaching a height of 6‑7 meters (20‑23 feet). It inhabits the dry savanna areas from Ethiopia across to Senegal and as far south as southern Africa, where it is called “zebrawood.” The leaves are compound, with the leaflets nearly opposite one another on the spine. It has white flowers that hang in loose clusters, and around October they give way to flat, papery seedpods about 6 centimeters (2.5 inches) long and 1 centimeter (1/2 inch) wide. The Asian ebony, if that is what hovnim refers to, is found in India and Sri Lanka, grows to 10 meters (33 feet) tall, and has evergreen leaves. The inner part of the trunk is black, which makes it an attractive wood for carvers, who inlay the wood with ivory.

There are hundreds of species of ebony in tropical areas of the world (eighty in the Americas, ninety-four in Africa, and two hundred in Asia). In Africa the tree that produces most of the true ebony is Diospyros mespiliformis, which is found all the way from Senegal to the Red Sea and Arabia and southward to Southwest Africa and the Transvaal. In Nigeria it is called kanran or kanyan (Adamawa Fulfulde nelɓe). Surprisingly, both the Yoruba and Igbo Bibles in Nigeria have used eboni, perhaps reflecting the urbanization and Anglicization of those societies (or at least of the translators!). The Hausa word kanya correctly refers to the ebony tree. Diospyrus ebenum, found in India and Sri Lanka, might possibly have been on the world market in Bible times. A local word for this tree could be used in translations. If Hepper is correct, then the Dalbergia melanoxylon, locally known in Africa as “ebony” and also used for carving, should be used. Other transliteration possibilities are ebene (French) and ebenuz (Spanish).

Dalbergia species are also found in Central and South America under the names of palisander, kingwood, or tulipwood. A species in India is called blackwood or rosewood. In all these places the wood is used for radio cabinets, musical instruments, buttons, knife handles, chess pieces, and decorative carvings for tourists.

Dalbergia melanoxylon, photo by Nigel Hepper

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