dove / pigeon

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “dove” or “pigeon” in English is translated in Pijin with the onomatopoeia kurrukurru. (Source: Bob Carter)

In Matumbi is is translated as ngunda, a kind of dove that has the reputation to be monogamous. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)

 

In the fifteenth century the English word “pigeon” meant a young dove, the word “dove” being reserved for the adult birds. In modern English the words are used almost interchangeably. As a general rule, “pigeon” is used for domesticated forms of these birds, and for the larger variety of wild forms, while “dove” is used mainly for wild varieties. However, there are many exceptions to this general rule.

Pigeons and doves are both included in a bird family known scientifically as the Colombidae, consisting of well over two hundred species. In Israel and the Middle East are found the true Colombidae, which are easily distinguished from the genus Stretopelia, that is, the turtle doves.

The most common of the true Colombidae in the Middle East is most certainly the Asiatic Rock Dove Columba livia. This bird was first domesticated around 4500 B.C. in Mesopotamia. By 2500 B.C. it was kept as a domestic bird in Egypt, and by 1200 B.C. there is evidence that its homing abilities were already well known. It is this bird that is the ancestor of the domestic homing pigeons that people keep, some of which have escaped, returned to the wild, and now populate city streets all over the world. The ledges of modern buildings are a good substitute for the rock ledges that were its original nesting sites. It is likely that the Canaanites and the Israelites also kept these birds for both food and sacrifice. It is this bird that is called yonah in the Hebrew Bible and peristera in the Greek New Testament.

There are also three types of turtledove found in the land of Israel, two of which are resident species; the third is a migrant that arrives in spring and spends the summer in Israel. This migrant, the true Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur, and one of the species now resident, the Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto, are what the Bible writers called tor in Hebrew and trugōn in Greek. (Both the Hebrew and Greek names are based on the sound the turtledove makes.)

In biblical Hebrew the word gozal generally refers to a nestling of any bird species. In Genesis 15:9 it obviously refers specifically to a young pigeon. Nestling rock pigeons were collected from the rock ledges. Pigeons and doves were kept in cages and dovecotes, and wild ones were trapped in nets. This enabled the Jews to have a handy stock of birds for sacrificial purposes.

The rock pigeon is a blue-gray color with a pinkish sheen to the neck feathers. It has a black tip on its tail. Its call is a repeated moaning oom (the Hebrew name yonah is related to a verb meaning “to moan”) or a rapid cooing coo-ROO-coo-coo, usually repeated two or three times. The call is uttered with the beak closed, into the chest. The male’s sexual display starts with flying wing claps, and then when it lands next to the female, it begins bowing and turning with chest puffed and tail spread.

This type of pigeon lives in large colonies, and when a group is in flight, they maneuver as a single unit, often gliding short distances together with their wings held in a V shape.
The turtledove is a smaller blue-gray bird with a pinkish chest. It arrives in Israel in April, and its rhythmic call yoo-ROO-coo, yoo-ROO-coo, yoo-ROO-coo, repeated for two or three minutes at a time on sunny days, can be heard all over.

Doves are seed eaters, and this fact may be significant in the Flood narrative. The raven, a carrion eater, does not return to the ark, since food is available. The dove returns at first, and when it finally stays away, this is an indication that seeds of some sort are once again available to it, and the earth is again dry.

As seed-eaters, doves and pigeons are ritually clean birds for Jews. Their swift flight means that they are symbolic of speed in some biblical contexts, especially in Psalms. The fact that these birds court, mate, and nest repeatedly throughout the year resulted in their being a symbol of affection, sexuality, and fertility in the ancient Egyptian, Canaanite, and Hebrew cultures. This symbolism is important in the Song of Solomon.

A very ancient belief that the dove has no bile and is therefore devoid of anger led to its becoming a symbol of peace and gentleness. (In actual fact doves and pigeons are aggressive, often attacking other birds, especially at food sources.)

The name yonah for the pigeon and dove is associated with moaning and groaning in pain or sorrow. This is often the symbolism in prophetic poetry.

Pigeons and doves are found worldwide, except in some snow-bound regions and on some remote islands. Almost everywhere they live there is more than one species, and in almost all locations the domestic pigeon is one of these species. As a general rule, the word for the smaller wild dove should be used wherever possible, but in those contexts where both pigeons and doves are mentioned in connection with sacrifices, the word for the domestic pigeon can be used as well as the one for the wild dove.

In 2 Kings 6:25 there is a Hebrew expression that literally means “dove’s dung”. This seems to be a reference to some kind of food that is eaten only in emergencies. Suggestions about what this may refer to have varied from “chickpeas” (which do look somewhat like a dove’s droppings) to “locust-beans”, “wild onions”, and the roots of certain wild flowers. In view of the lack of certainty, it is probably best to translate it literally as “dove’s dung” and include the footnote, “This is probably some kind of wild food eaten only in emergencies.”

Source: All Creatures Great and Small: Living things in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

complete verse (Psalm 62:9)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 62:9:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “Ordinary people are just air;
    people of high (status) are just a lie;
    if they are measured on a scale they are nothing;
    they together with air are nothing” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “Small people are only a breath.
    Great people are not what they appear to be
    from the outside.
    But if you weigh them they seem light,
    They are lighter than two puffs of wind.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “The people, honorable-(possessional) or low, can- not -be-trusted.
    They both (are) just has-no value; they (are) lighter than wind.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “People who are not important, they are just people like breath,
    and people who be important, they are like a lie.
    If we think about them,
    they are all just people to be nothing, to be like a breath.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Kwere:
    “All people are like a mere breath,
    everyone, old and young, they are of little value.
    When they are weighed, all of them together are lighter than a breath.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Watu ni kama pumzi,
    wote wa bure.
    Iwapo unawapima hawana na uzito wowote,
    wote kwa pamoja wepesi kuzidi pumzi.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “People who are considered to be unimportant are as worthless/unreliable as a breath of air;
    people who are considered to be important also really amount to nothing/cannot be trusted to help us.
    If you put them all on a scale, it would be as if
    they weighed less than a puff of air.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

hope

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“Hope is sometimes one of the most difficult terms to translate in the entire Bible. It is not because people do not hope for things, but so often they speak of hoping as simply ‘waiting.’ In fact, even in Spanish, the word esperar means both ‘to wait’ and ‘to hope.’ However, in many instances the purely neutral term meaning ‘to wait’ may be modified in such a way that people will understand something more of its significance. For example, in Tepeuxila Cuicatec hope is called ‘wait-desire.’ Hope is thus a blend of two activities: waiting and desiring. This is substantially the type of expectancy of which hope consists.

In Yucateco the dependence of hope is described by the phrase ‘on what it hangs.’ ‘Our hope in God’ means that ‘we hang onto God.’ The object of hope is the support of one’s expectant waiting. In Ngäbere the phrase “resting the mind” is used. This “implies waiting and confidence, and what is a better definition of hope than ‘confident waiting’.” (Source for this and above: Nida 1952, p. 20, 133)

Other languages translate as follows:

  • Mairasi: “vision resting place” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Enlhet: “waitings of (our) innermost” (“innermost” or valhoc is a term that is frequently used in Enlhet to describe a large variety of emotions or states of mind — for other examples see here) (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
  • Kwang: “one’s future is restored to one’s soul like a fresh, cool breeze on a hot day.” (Source: Mark Vanderkooi right here )
  • Noongar: koort-kwidiny or “heart waiting” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Anjam: “looking through the horizon” (source: Albert Hoffmann in his memoirs from 1948, quoted in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 7)
  • Ron: kintiɓwi or “put lip” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
  • Highland Totonac “wait with expectation” (to offset it from the every-day meaning of hope or wait — source: Hermann Aschmann in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 171ff. ).
  • Alekano: “wait not hearing two ears” (meaning to “wait without being double-minded” — source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation June 1986, p. 36ff.)
  • Berom: “direct one’s liver toward”
  • Mixtepec Mixtec: “wait and remain strong on the inside”
  • Cerma: “swallow the spittle”
  • Adyghe: “the heart expects something good”
  • Keliko: “place one’s heart on the head”
  • Berik: “wait persistently and hold on to God”
  • Somrai: “hold the heart really tight” (source for this and six above: Wycliffe Germany )
  • Marathi: aasha (आशा) with a stronger emphasis on desire
  • Tamil: nampikkai (நம்பிக்கை) with a stronger emphasis on expectation (source for this and above: J.S.M. Hooper in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 2ff. )

In Mwera “hope” and “faith” are translated with the same word: ngulupai. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

C.M. Doke looks at a number of Bantu languages and their respective translations of “hope” with slightly varying connotations (in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 9ff. ):

  • Xhosa and Zulu: themba “hope, expect,” also “have faith in, rely upon”
  • Tswana: tsholofelo “hope, expect, look for confidently”
  • Southern Sotho: tshepo “trust, rely on, believe in, have confidence in”
  • Kuanyama: eteelelo “waiting for”
  • Swahili: tumaini “confidence, trust, expectation, hope” (as a verb: “hope, trust, expect, be confident, be truthful, rely on”
  • Luganda: okusuubira “hope, trust, expect” also “look forward to, rely upon, anticipate, reckon”
  • Chichewa: chiyembekezo “wait for, wait, expect”
  • Koongo: vuvu “hope, expectancy, expectation, anticipation”
Syntyche D. Dahou (in Christianity Today, January 2021 or see here the same article in French ) reports on the two different terms that are being used in French (click or tap here to see the details):

“Unlike English, which uses the word hope broadly, the French language uses two words that derive from the word espérer (to hope): espoir and espérance. Both can first refer to something hoped for. In this sense, the word espoir usually refers to an uncertain object; that is, someone who hopes for something in this way does not have the certainty that it will happen (“I hope the weather will be nice tomorrow”). On the other hand, espérance describes what, rightly or wrongly, is hoped for or expected with certainty. It often refers to a philosophical or eschatological object (‘I hope in the goodness of human beings’; ‘I hope for the return of Jesus Christ’).

“When we speak of espoir or espérance, we then have in mind different types of objects hoped for. This difference matters, because both terms also commonly refer to the state of mind that characterizes the hopeful. And this state of mind will be different precisely according to the object hoped for.

“Having espoir for an uncertain yet better future in these difficult times may be a good thing, but it is not enough. Such hope can be disappointed and easily fade away when our wishes and expectations (our hopes) do not materialize.

“The opposite is true with espérance, which is deeper than our desire and wish for an end to a crisis or a future without pain and suffering. To face the trials of life, we need peace and joy in our hearts that come from expecting certain happiness. This is what espérance is: a profound and stable disposition resulting from faith in the coming of what we expect. In this sense, it is similar in meaning to the English word hopefulness.

“If we have believed in the Son of the living God, we have such a hope. It rests on the infallible promises of our God, who knows the plans he has for us, his children — plans of peace and not misfortune, to give us a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). By using the two meanings of the word, we can say that the espérance that the fulfillment of his promises represents (the object hoped for) fills us with espérance (the state of mind).”

complete verse (1 Corinthians 7:37)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 7:37:

  • Uma: “But if for instance that unmarried-man says in his heart: ‘It’s better for me not to get-married [wived],’–no one is forcing him, it’s his own desire–and if he is able to withstand the desires of his body, it’s good if they don’t get-married [coupled].” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But if a person is certain in his liver that his daughter should not marry and there is nothing that forces him not to let his child/daughter marry, it is only from his wish that his daughter does not marry, his doing is also good.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “However, if that girl is not having a hard time, then never mind if he does not allow her to marry because this is better; however, he can do whatever he thinks best.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But if his mind is firm/made-up that he is doing right if he doesn’t give-her -in-marriage and it’s not mandatory that she be married, that’s also good.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But if what is in the mind of the man is, he will not now marry that woman he has a (marriage) arrangement with, for he will hold fast to his unmarried state, that is also good. As long as he has really ensured in his mind/inner-being that that is what would be good for him to do, not just being forced into it, and he has been graced with the ability to control himself.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Concerning the man who firmly thinks that he should not give his daughter in marriage, thinking in his heart that it is not required, then it is good what he does.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Matumbi: “But if a person has himself has decided in his heart not to marry, and is not controlled by anyone, but instead controls himself and his desires to not marry that woman, he does rightly.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)

circumcise, circumcision

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The Hebrew and Greek terms that are translated as “circumcise” or “circumcision” in English (originally meaning of English term: “to cut around”) are (back-) translated in various ways:

  • Chimborazo Highland Quichua: “cut the flesh”
  • San Miguel El Grande Mixtec, Navajo (Dinė): “cut around”
  • Javanese: “clip-away”
  • Uab Meto: “pinch and cut” (usually shortened to “cut”)
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun, Western Highland Purepecha: “put the mark”
  • Tetelcingo Nahuatl: “put the mark in the body showing that they belong to God” (or: “that they have a covenant with God”)
  • Indonesian: disunat — “undergo sunat” (sunat is derived from Arabic “sunnah (سنة)” — “(religious) way (of life)”)
  • Ekari: “cut the end of the member for which one fears shame” (in Gen. 17:10) (but typically: “the cutting custom”) (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Cheke Holo: “peel for the purpose of making a sign” (source: Freddy Boswell in The Bible Translator 2009, p. 132ff. )
  • Hiri Motu: “cut the skin” (source: Deibler / Taylor 1977, p. 1079)
  • Garifuna: “cut off part of that which covers where one urinates”
  • Bribri: “cut the soft” (source for this and the one above: Ronald Ross)
  • Amele: deweg cagu qoc — “cut the body” (source: John Roberts)
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “cut the flesh of the sons like Moses taught” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.)
  • Totontepec Mixe: “cut so that a sign remains in one’s body” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Newari: “put the sign in one’s body” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Central Mazahua: “sign in his flesh”
  • Hopi: “being cut in a circle in his body” (source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Mandarin Chinese: gēlǐ (割礼 / 割禮) or “rite of cutting” (Protestant); gēsǔn (割损 / 割損) or “cut + loss” (Catholic) (Source: Zetzsche)
  • Tibetan: mdun lpags gcod (མདུན་​ལྤགས་​གཅོད།), lit. “fore + skin + cut” (source: gSungrab website )
  • Kutu: “enter the cloth (=undergarments)” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Cherokee: “de-head” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 33)

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Circumcision .

complete verse (Leviticus 15:28)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 15:28:

  • Kupsabiny: “When the flow of blood has stopped she must count seven days and after that that person has become clean.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “After the bleeding stops, that woman must wait for seven days. Only then will she be clean.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “If the woman has- already -been-healed from that coming-out/flowing blood from her, she must-wait seven days. On the eighth day, she must bring two doves or two pigeons to the priest there near the entrance of the Meeting-together-place Tent.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kutu: “When that woman has stopped her period, she should wait seven days so that she will be made holy, and when those seven days are finished she will be holy.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • English: “‘After a woman’s monthly menstrual flow ends, she must wait seven days before she touches anyone.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

complete verse (Leviticus 20:18)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 20:18:

  • Kupsabiny: “If a man has slept with a woman in her days of the month (her period), both of them shall break off from their people because they did not keep to the ritual of cleanness.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “’If anyone has intercourse with a woman who is menstruating, he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has also uncovered it. the two of them must be expelled from their own people. ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “If a man lies-down-beside/(has-sexual-relations-with) a woman during her monthly- period, and the woman allows/agrees-to it, you (plur.) are- no-longer -to-consider the two of them a member of you (plur.).” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kutu: “If a man sleeps with a woman at the time of her period, they should be separated, because that man who touched the menstruation of that woman and the menstruation of that woman has been revealed.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • English: “‘If a man has sex with a woman during her monthly menstrual period, they have both revealed why she was bleeding, so both of them must not be allowed to associate with my people any more.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

complete verse (1 Samuel 15:21)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 15:21:

  • Kupsabiny: “From there, my people chose/selected fat sheep and cows with the intention of burning (them) as sacrifices to your God in Gilgal.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Among the things supposed be devoted, the soldiers have kept the best sheep, cows and oxen, to offer as sacrifices for the LORD your God in Gilgal."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “But my soldiers brought sheep and cows, the best remaining from the things that were-destroyed. They brought these here to Gilgal in-order to-sacrifice/offer to the LORD your (sing.) God.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Aruamu: “We know that, the Ever Present God himself chose these sheep and cows for himself and told/commanded us for the purpose of killing them. And the fighting men got from amongst these animals some very good animals for the purpose of doing offering to your Ever Present God here at Gilgal and came.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • English: “My men brought back only the best sheep and cattle and other things, in order to sacrifice them to Yahweh your God here at Gilgal.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)