altar

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The Greek, Latin and Hebrew that is translated as “altar” in English is translated in a number of ways:

  • Obolo: ntook or “raised structure for keeping utensils (esp. sacrifice)” (source: Enene Enene)
  • Muna: medha kaefoampe’a or “offering table” (source: René van den Berg)
  • Luchazi: muytula or “the place where one sets the burden down”/”the place where the life is laid down” (source: E. Pearson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 160ff. )
  • Tzotzil: “where they place God’s gifts” (source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation, March 1965, p. 2ff.)
  • Tsafiki: “table for giving to God” (source: Bruce Moore in Notes on Translation 1/1992, p. 1ff.)
  • Noongar: karla-kooranyi or “sacred fire” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “offering-burning table” (source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “place for sacrificing” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “burning-place” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tibetan: mchod khri (མཆོད་​ཁྲི།) or “offering throne” (source: gSungrab website )
  • Bura-Pabir: “sacrifice mound” (source: Andy Warrren-Rothlin)
  • Kalanga: “fireplace of sacrifice” (source: project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Cherokee: “fire nurturing place” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 26) (note that the Jewish priest is “fire feeder” in Cherokee)
The Ignaciano translators decided to translate the difficult term in that language according to the focus of each New Testament passage in which the word appears (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight

Willis Ott (in Notes on Translation 88/1982, p. 18ff.) explains:

  • Matt. 5:23,24: “When you take your offering to God, and arriving, you remember…, do not offer your gift yet. First go to your brother…Then it is fitting to return and offer your offering to God.” (The focus is on improving relationships with people before attempting to improve a relationship with God, so the means of offering, the altar, is not focal.)
  • Matt. 23:18 (19,20): “You also teach erroneously: ‘If someone makes a promise, swearing by the offering-place/table, he is not guilty if he should break the promise. But if he swears by the gift that he put on the offering-place/table, he will be guilty if he breaks the promise.'”
  • Luke 1:11: “…to the right side of the table where they burn incense.”
  • Luke 11.51. “…the one they killed in front of the temple (or the temple enclosure).” (The focus is on location, with overtones on: “their crime was all the more heinous for killing him there”.)
  • Rom. 11:3: “Lord, they have killed all my fellow prophets that spoke for you. They do not want anyone to give offerings to you in worship.” (The focus is on the people’s rejection of religion, with God as the object of worship.)
  • 1Cor. 9:13 (10:18): “Remember that those that attend the temple have rights to eat the foods that people bring as offerings to God. They have rights to the meat that the people offer.” (The focus is on the right of priests to the offered food.)
  • Heb. 7:13: “This one of whom we are talking is from another clan. No one from that clan was ever a priest.” (The focus in on the legitimacy of this priest’s vocation.)
  • Jas. 2:21: “Remember our ancestor Abraham, when God tested him by asking him to give him his son by death. Abraham was to the point of stabbing/killing his son, thus proving his obedience.” (The focus is on the sacrifice as a demonstration of faith/obedience.)
  • Rev. 6:9 (8:3,5; 9:13; 14:18; 16:7): “I saw the souls of them that…They were under the table that holds God’s fire/coals.” (This keeps the concepts of: furniture, receptacle for keeping fire, and location near God.)
  • Rev. 11:1: “Go to the temple, Measure the building and the inside enclosure (the outside is contrasted in v. 2). Measure the burning place for offered animals. Then count the people who are worshiping there.” (This altar is probably the brazen altar in a temple on earth, since people are worshiping there and since outside this area conquerors are allowed to subjugate for a certain time.)

See also altar (Acts 17:23).


In the Hebraic English translation of Everett Fox it is translated as slaughter-site and likewise in the German translation by Buber / Rosenzweig as Schlachtstatt.

LORD God / Lord God

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated in English as “Lord God” or “Lord God” encountered an issue in Tok Pisin. Norm Mundhenk explains why (in The Bible Translator 1985, p. 442ff. ):

“I am not aware of any serious objections to either the word God [for “God”] or Bikpela [for YHWH] alone. However, when trying to translate the expression ‘the Lord God,’ the translators first tried to use Bikpela God. But Bikpela is also an adjective meaning ‘big’ and in the expression Bikpela God, it would usually be understood as “Big God,’ as though there were other smaller gods around also.

“In the Old Testament, as the recent articles have clearly pointed out, the English word ‘Lord‘ often stands for the Hebrew name of God, YHWH, which is usually spelled these days as Yahweh. With this in mind, the name Yawe was tried in Tok Pisin, but it was felt that most readers did not connect this strange name with God. Eventually, we decided to keep Bikpela, but to translate ‘Lord God’ as God, Bikpela, literally ‘God, the Lord.’

“The reason for this decision was really only that the words could be used naturally in this order, without the problem of giving a wrong meaning which we had when putting Bikpela first. It was not until some people asked if it was right to ‘turn around’ the name and the title in this way that we realized that there was really a deeper reason for doing what we did. In fact, for most speakers of Tok Pisin, God is the only God they know, and it seems likely that God is understood as the personal name of God, rather than as a class name. Bikpela, on the other hand, is a class name — there can be more than one Bikpela, though it is recognized that God is the greatest of them and there is no confusion when he is referred to simply as Bikpela. Thus, in Hebrew an expression like ‘YHWH, the God of Israel,’ has the personal name first, followed by the class name explaining who he is. And we have exactly the same situation in Tok Pisin when we say God, Bikpela bilong Isrel. I suspect that in many other languages which have borrowed the word ‘God,’ we might find that it has been borrowed basically as a personal name, rather than as a class name.”

complete verse (1 Chronicles 22:1)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Chronicles 22:1:

  • Kupsabiny: “Then, David said, ‘This place is where the Home of God is to be built and the altar on which the people of Israel shall burn sacrifices that are burned completely.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Then David said, "May the temple of the LORD God and the altar for the people of Israel to offer burnt offerings be in this place."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Then David said, ‘The temple of the LORD God and the altar for the burnt offerings of Israel should-be-placed here now.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Then David said, ‘Here, at the edge of Jerusalem, is where we will build the temple for our God Yahweh, and where we will make the altar for burning the offerings that the Israeli people will bring.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

David

The name that is transliterated as “David” in English means “beloved.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )

In Spanish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying king and a sling (referring to 1 Samuel 17:49 and 2 Samuel 5:4). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )


“Elizabeth” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

In German Sign Language it is only the sling. (See here ).


“David” in German Sign Language (source )

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

The (Protestant) Mandarin Chinese transliteration of “David” is 大卫 (衛) / Dàwèi which carries an additional meaning of “Great Protector.”

Click or tap here to see a short video clip about David (source: Bible Lands 2012)

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: David .

Translation commentary on 1 Chronicles 22:1

Then David said: The common Hebrew conjunction begins this verse. Here it may express a temporal relationship to the preceding events and may be translated Then (also New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Revised English Bible). Or it may express a logical relationship and be translated “So” (Good News Translation) or “Therefore” (New American Bible).

Here shall be the house of the LORD God and here the altar of burnt offering for Israel is literally “This it [is] the house of the house of the LORD God and this [is] altar of burnt offering for Israel.” This expression serves to specify the location of the Temple and the altar. It will be more natural in some languages to reverse the order of the adverbs of place (Here/here) and the objects. International Children’s Bible, for example, says “The Temple of the Lord God will be built here. And the altar for the burnt offerings for Israel will be built here.” Throughout this chapter the ordinary word for house is used in Hebrew to speak of the “Temple” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version; see the comments on 1 Chr 6.32). For the altar of burnt offering, see the comments on 1 Chr 6.49. The Masoretic Text does not have a definite article with the word altar. Perhaps the article was accidentally omitted by a scribe since the previous word ends in the same letter (h) as the Hebrew definite article h. In any case, the reference is not to just any altar, but to the specific altar at the Temple where burnt offerings were made. This is the altar in the sense that is replaces all previous altars where burnt offerings were made. The altar of burnt offering for Israel may be rendered “the altar where the people of Israel are to offer burnt offerings” (Good News Translation; similarly Nueva Versión Internacional, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente).

In some languages the direct quotation in this verse may be better translated as indirect discourse. A possible model is:

• Then David pointed out the place where he wanted the house of the LORD to be [built] and the location of the altar where the people of Israel would offer burnt offerings to the LORD.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on 1 Chronicles 22:1

22:1a Then David said, “Here shall be the house of the LORD God,

Then King David said, “This is the place where we will build the house for God Yahweh.
-or-
David decided that the temple for God Yahweh should be built on this place ⌊which he/David had bought from Ornan⌋ .

22:1b as well as the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”

Israel’s altar for burnt offerings will also be here.” (God’s Word)
-or-
The altar for burning sacrifices should also be there.

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