burnt-offering

The Hebrew olah (עֹלָה) originally means “that which goes up (in smoke).” English Bibles often translates it as “burnt-offering” or “whole burnt-offering,” focusing on the aspect of the complete burning of the offering.

The Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate Bibles translate it as holokautōma / holocautōsis (ὁλοκαύτωμα / ὁλοκαύτωσις) and holocaustum, respectively, meaning “wholly burnt.” While a form of this term is widely used in many Romance languages (Spanish: holocaustos, French: holocaustes, Italian: olocausti, Portuguese: holocaustos) and originally also in the Catholic tradition of English Bible translations, it is largely not used in English anymore today (the preface of the revised edition of the Catholic New American Bible of 2011: “There have been changes in vocabulary; for example, the term ‘holocaust’ is now normally reserved for the sacrilegious attempt to destroy the Jewish people by the Third Reich.”)

Since translation into Georgian was traditionally done on the basis of the Greek Septuagint, a transliteration of holokautōma was used as well, which was changed to a translation with the meaning of “burnt offering” when the Old Testament was retranslated in the 1980’s on the basis of the Hebrew text.

In the Koongo (Ki-manianga) translation by the Alliance Biblique de la R.D. Congo (publ. in 2015) olah is translated as “kill and offer sacrifice” (source: Anicet Bassilua) and in Elhomwe as “fire offering.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

The English translation of Everett Fox uses offering-up (similarly, the German translation by Buber-Rosenzweig has Darhöhung and the French translation by Chouraqui montée).

See also offering (qorban).

priest

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Greek that are typically translated as “priest” in English (itself deriving from Latin “presbyter” — “elder”) is often translated with a consideration of existing religious traditions. (Click or tap for details)

Bratcher / Nida (1961) say this:

“However, rather than borrow local names for priests, some of which have unwanted connotations, a number of translations have employed descriptive phrases based on certain functions: (1) those describing a ceremonial activity: Pamona uses tadu, the priestess who recites the litanies in which she describes her journey to the upper or under-world to fetch life-spirit for sick people, animals or plants; Batak Toba uses the Arabic malim, ‘Muslim religious teacher;’ ‘one who presents man’s sacrifice to God’ (Bambara, Eastern Maninkakan), ‘one who presents sacrifices’ (Baoulé, Navajo (Dinė)), ‘one who takes the name of the sacrifice’ (Kpelle, and ‘to make a sacrifice go out’ (Hausa); (2) those describing an intermediary function: ‘one who speaks to God’ (Shipibo-Conibo) and ‘spokesman of the people before God’ (Tabasco Chontal).”

In Obolo it is translated as ogwu ngwugwa or “the one who offers sacrifice” (source: Enene Enene), in Mairasi as agam aevar nevwerai: “religious leader” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Ignaciano as “blesser, one who does ritual as a practice” (using a generic term rather than the otherwise common Spanish loan word sacerdote) (source: Willis Ott in Notes on Translation 88/1982, p. 18ff.), and in Noongar as yakin-kooranyi or “holy worker” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

For Guhu-Samane, Ernest Richert (in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. ) reports this: “The [local] cult of Poro used to be an all-encompassing religious system that essentially governed all areas of life. (…) For ‘priest’ the term ‘poro father’ would at first seem to be a natural choice. However, several priests of the old cult are still living. Although they no longer function primarily as priests of the old system they still have a substantial influence on the community, and there would be more than a chance that the unqualified term would (in some contexts particularly) be equated with the priest of the poro cult. We learned, then, that the poro fathers would sometimes be called ‘knife men’ in relation to their sacrificial work. The panel was pleased to apply this term to the Jewish priest, and the Christian community has adopted it fully. [Mark 1:44, for instance, now] reads: ‘You must definitely not tell any man of this. But you go show your body to the knife man and do what Moses said about a sacrifice concerning your being healed, and the cause (base of this) will be apparent.'”

For a revision of the 1968 version of the Bible in Khmer Joseph Hong (in: The Bible Translator 1996, 233ff. ) talks about a change in wording for this term:

​​Bau cha r (បូជា‌ចារ្យ) — The use of this new construction meaning “priest” is maintained to translate the Greek word hiereus. The term “mean sang (មាន សង្ឃ)” used in the old version actually means a “Buddhist monk,” and is felt to be theologically misleading. The Khmer considers the Buddhist monk as a “paddy field of merits,” a reserve of merits to be shared with other people. So a Khmer reader would find unthinkable that the mean sang in the Bible killed animals, the gravest sin for a Buddhist; and what a scandal it would be to say that a mean sang was married, had children, and drank wine.

See also idolatrous priests.

Translation commentary on 1 Esdras 5:48 - 5:49

Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, with his kinsmen, took their places …: Then renders the Greek conjunction that is literally “And” (An American Translation). Here it is better left untranslated (so Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version). These verses do not describe what next happened after verse 47, but what the purpose of the assembly in verse 47 was. For Jeshua the son of Jozadak, the High Priest, see the comments on verses 5-6. Good News Bible spells the name Jozadak as “Jehozadak” here, but translators should be consistent in the spelling of this name. His fellow priests is literally “his brothers the priests.” Contemporary English Version says “the other priests,” which lacks the idea of people who are joined by profession in a common task. However, we agree with Contemporary English Version that “the other priests” is probably the most convenient translation here. For Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, see the comments on verses 5-6. The Greek phrase for his kinsmen (literally “the brothers of this one”) may refer to “his relatives” (Good News Bible), but in this context it more likely refers to “his colleagues” (New English Bible), that is, the men who assisted him in governing the newly established community. The English phrase took their places indicates that all these men stood at places assigned them for a ceremony, which may be the case, but the Greek verb here is not that specific. New English Bible translates “came forward,” but Revised English Bible is better with “set to work.” We suggest the following translation for the beginning of verse 48: “Joshua, the son of Jozadak, was there, with the other priests, and Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, with his assistants. Together they set to work [or, began working] ….”

And prepared the altar of the God of Israel: The Greek phrase translated prepared the altar does not quite say “rebuilt the altar” (Contemporary English Version; compare Ezra 3.2). We may say “got the altar ready for use.” For this altar, see the comments on 1 Esd 1.17-18; for the God of Israel, see 1 Esd 1.48.

To offer burnt offerings upon it: For burnt offerings, see the comments on 1 Esd 4.52.

In accordance with the directions in the book of Moses the man of God: The book of Moses refers to the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures that were known as the Books of Moses. The instructions that are referred to here are those relating to the offering of burnt offerings that are found primarily in Lev 1 and 6 and Num 28–29. In Deut 33.1 Moses is described as the man of God. This is an expression that is used elsewhere in the Old Testament of prophets, for example, Samuel (1 Sam 9.6), Elijah (1 Kgs 17.24), and Elisha (2 Kgs 5.8). It refers to their special powers given by God. It does not refer to a special friendship with God, or to favoritism on God’s part. In some languages where the word “man” implies physical prowess and strength, it will be necessary to translate “the person of God.” This phrase can also be rendered “the prophet of God” or “the servant of God.”

Here is an alternative model for verses 48-49:

• 48 Joshua, the son of Jozadak, was there, with the other priests, and Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, with his assistants. Together they set to work [or, began working] to get the altar of Israel’s God ready for use, 49 following [the] directions in the Book of Moses, the man [or, servant] of God. On this altar they would burn the whole bodies of animals as sacrifices.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 1-2 Esdras. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.