cart

The Hebrew that is translated as “cart” in English is translated into Anuak as “canoe,” which is the general term for “vehicle.”

See also chariot and cart.

yoke

The Greek, Ge’ez, and Hebrew term that is translated into English as “yoke,” the Afar translation uses koyta (poles of camel pack) which refers to two poles in front of the hump and two behind; elsewhere in agricultural Ethiopia the yoke is only in front of the hump.

In Chol it is translated with tajbal, a term for “headband” (for carrying) (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.). Likewise, in Kele, it is translated with njɛmbɛ, “a carrying strap worn around the head and across the chest or shoulders to support a burden of firewood, garden produce or even a child carried by this on the back or hip” (source: William Ford in The Bible Translator 1957, p. 203ff. ).

In Matumbi it is translated as “rope” and “yoke is easy” is translated as “rope is slack/soft.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)

In Kwasio it is translated with a term that refers to a “bulky piece of wood attached to the neck of a goat, preventing it from roaming freely in the brushy undergrowth.”

Joshua Ham explains: “When checking this verse in Kwasio, I was surprised to find that the Kwasio had a word for yoke. You see, none of the language groups we have worked with have a tradition of using animals to pull carts or plows. Since yokes don’t exist in the culture, there’s no need for a word for that concept in these languages.

“When I asked the Kwasio team about their word for yoke, they said that they don’t use yokes to help animals pull plows; rather, their word for yoke refers to a bulky piece of wood attached to the neck of a goat, preventing it from roaming freely in the brushy undergrowth. So while the exact use of a Kwasio yoke is not the same as a biblical yoke, there are a lot of similarities: in both cases, it’s a piece of wood around an animal’s neck that serves to keep the animal under control. While the overlap isn’t perfect, it’s pretty good — and almost certainly better than trying to squeeze in a distracting explanation of how yokes function in the biblical cultures.”

Adam Boyd (in The PNG Experience ) tells this story about finding the right term in Enga: “Jesus’s words in Matthew 11:29-30 are some of the most difficult to translate into the Enga language. From the time that I became a Christian, I was taught that a yoke is a wooden crosspiece that is fastened over the neck of two animals and attached to a plough or cart that they are to pull. This is an easy enough concept to understand for people who come from societies that make use of beasts of burden, but in Papua New Guinea, there are no beasts of burden. Consequently the concept of a yoke placed on animals is completely foreign. Thus, we have struggled greatly in our attempt to translate Matthew 11:29-30.

“Recently, however, I came to learn that a yoke can also refer to a wooden frame that a person places on his neck or shoulders to make it easier to carry a heavy load. Indeed, the Bible often makes figurative use of the word ‘yoke’ as it refers to people and not to beasts of burden (see 1 Kings 12:4-14). As I was pondering that idea, I began to notice that when Engan men carry heavy logs on one shoulder, they often balance the load by supporting it with a small stick placed across the other shoulder. A few weeks ago, it clicked in my mind that the small stick they use to make it easier to carry a heavy log is like a yoke.

“Excited by this realization, I quickly asked my friend Benjamin if the stick that men use to make it easier to carry a heavy log has a name in Enga. Sure enough it does. It is called a pyakende. With great anticipation, I asked the translation team if we could use the word pyakende to translate the word ‘yoke’. After wrestling with the phrasing for a little while, we came up with the following translation: ‘In order to remove the heaviness from your shoulders, take my pyakende. When you have taken it, you will receive rest. As my pyakende helps you, what I give you to carry is not heavy and you will carry it without struggling.’”

“Yoke” is illustrated for use in Bible translations in East Africa by Pioneer Bible Translators like this:

Image owned by PBT and Jonathan McDaniel and licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing how yokes were used in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)

complete verse (1 Samuel 6:7)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 6:7:

  • Kupsabiny: “So, prepare a new cart to be pulled. Choose two mature cows that have never been tied with a yoke, and remove their calves from them and lock (them) inside the stable. After that you get their mothers (cows), tie on them the yoke which is on that cart.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Prepare two milk-giving cows which have never been paired and a new chariot.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “So now, [you (plur.)] make a new cart/wagon and get two mother cows that have- never yet -been-hitched with a yoke. Then [you (plur.)] hitch the cart to the cows, but [you (plur.)] do- not -take-with their calves but-instead [you (plur.)] shut- them -up in a pen.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “‘o you must build a new cart. Then get two cows that have very recently given birth to calves. They must be cows that have never been hitched to a cart. Hitch those cows to the new cart, and take the calves away from their mothers.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on 1 Samuel 6:7

Here as elsewhere in the Old Testament, the Hebrew uses two verbs, take and prepare, for what is essentially a single or united action. In some languages it will be redundant to say “take and prepare,” and a more natural translation will use a single verb (so Good News Translation). New Jerusalem Bible and New International Version similarly use a single verb, “get a new cart ready.” For other languages, however, it will be most natural to follow the form of the Hebrew. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible provides yet another model: “Prepare a new cart and take two cows.”

The word translated cart refers to a wheeled vehicle drawn by some kind of animal. Probably it had four wheels rather than two. The same word is translated “wagon[s]” by Revised Standard Version in Gen 45 and in Num 7.

Milch cows: the adjective milch means “giving milk” and translates a participle in Hebrew meaning “to nurse.” Milch cows are cows with young calves that they are nursing. New Century Version says “two cows that have just had calves.” Since the end of the verse indicates that these two cows have calves, Good News Translation says simply “two cows.” Many languages will have a natural expression such as “cows that are nursing [or, giving milk]” (Bible en français courant, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente).

Upon which there has never come a yoke: a yoke is a wooden bar placed across the neck of an animal, or of two joined together, so that when the bar is connected by ropes to a cart or heavy load, the animal can pull it. The text does not provide a reason for using cows that have never had a yoke on them. Probably this requirement reflects the law that requires for sacrifices only cows that have never been yoked (Num 19.2; Deut 21.3; see also Exo 20.25 for the same kind of thought). For similar reasons the cart is to be new. If it had been used before, it would not be acceptable for such holy service as carrying the ark.

But take their calves home, away from them: literally “and cause their young ones to turn away from them to the house.” The “house” or home referred to must be the place where the animals were kept. This explains translations such as “back to the barn” (Good News Translation), “back to the byre” (New Jerusalem Bible), “keep them in their stall” (Revised English Bible), and “pen them up” (New International Version). The most important thing is that the calves were not to accompany their mothers.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .