The Greek that is translated as “sacrifice” in English is translated in Huba as hatǝmachi or “shoot misfortune.”
David Frank (in this blog post ) explains: “How is it that ‘shoot misfortune’ comes to mean sacrifice, I wanted to know? Here is the story: It is a traditional term. Whenever there were persistent problems such as a drought, or a rash of sickness or death, the king (or his religious advisor) would set aside a day and call on everyone to prepare food, such as the traditional mash made from sorghum, or perhaps even goat. The food had to be put together outside. The king or his religious advisor would give an address stating what the problem was and what they were doing about it. Then an elder representing the people would take a handful of that food and throw it, probably repeating that action several times, until it was considered to be enough to atone for all the misfortune they had been having. With this action he was ‘shooting (or casting off) misfortune’ to restore well-being to his people. As he threw the food, he would say that this is to remove the misfortune that had fallen on his people, and everybody would respond by saying aɗǝmja, ‘let it be so.’ People could eat some of this food, but they could not bring the food into their houses, because that would mean that they were bringing misfortune into their house. There is still a minority of people in this linguistic and cultural group that practices the traditional religion, but the shooting of misfortune is no longer practiced, and the term ‘shoot misfortune’ is used now in Bible translation to refer to offering a sacrifice. Aɗǝmja is how they translate ‘amen.'”
Bura-Pabir: “sacrifice mound” (source: Andy Warrren-Rothlin)
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.)
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.
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 10:18:
Uma: “So also is the custom of the Israel people When some of them offer their offerings to God on the offering burning table, and they call their friends to accompany them in eating part of that offering, they are united in their custom of worshipping the Lord God.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Look at the custom of the tribe of Isra’il. The ones who eat the food given to God are also included/together in worshiping God. If it is like that, that means that the people who eat what was given to the idols are also included/together in worshiping those idols.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Think about what the Jews do because each one of them who eats of that which is sacrificed on the altar there before God, by means of their eating, they share in worshipping God.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Think-about the descendants of Israel. When they join-in-eating what has been offered to God, they show that they are joining in worshipping him, isn’t that so?” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Remember also the Israelita of the past, the Israelita according to blood, not according to believing/obeying. Was it not so that when they would eat what was being sacrificed as a thank-offering on the altar(lit.burning-place), they were going-along-with the worshipping of God who was the one being thanked?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “You see what the Jews do when they make a sacrifice to God. All who eat the meat which is killed to offer to God share together because their hearts are together in the worship they do.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Consider is the verb that was translated “take heed” in verse 12, but the context gives a quite different meaning. Here no warning is involved; Paul is just asking the readers to give special attention. One may also express this as “Think about.”
The people of Israel is literally “Israel according to the flesh” but has no unfavorable meaning here. Paul adds the words “according to the flesh” because he thought of the church as fulfilling God’s promises to Israel, and therefore as being, in a sense, the true or spiritual Israel. So he needed an expression, here as in Rom 9.4, to speak of non-Christian Jews. Today there is little danger of confusing Israel with the church. For this reason Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible omit the words “according to the flesh.” Modern translators could render this as “the Jewish people,” as Bijbel in Gewone Taal has done. Barclay has “Look at actual Jewish practice and belief,” and Revised English Bible has “Jewish practice,” which fits the context well.
The second part of the verse, from those who eat …, begins a series of rhetorical questions. There are four of them, according to the UBS Greek text and the punctuation. Revised Standard Version translates the first as a question and Good News Bible renders it as a statement. As in verse 16, Paul is appealing to well-known facts and common beliefs. The sentence is concise and may need to be expanded in translation. For example, “those who eat the sacrifices share with one another in the sacrifice to God made on the altar.” When an animal was sacrificed by the Hebrews to God, part of it was burned on the altar, and part of it was eaten by the people who were performing this act of worship. The underlying thought, then, is that by sharing in the sacrificial meal, Jewish worshipers enter into a relationship with God that also unites them with one another. Paul’s readers would know, of course, that although some sacrifices had to be burnt whole, there were others that priests, Levites, and even ordinary people could share by eating part of the flesh (see Lev 10.12-15; Deut 18.1-4).
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .