complete verse (2 Corinthians 3:15)

Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Corinthians 3:15:

  • Uma: “Until this time, when they read the letter(s) written by the prophet Musa, we can say their hearts are still covered-up with a veil.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Even up to now, each time when it is read to the people of Isra’il from the holy-book of the law of Musa, there is like a cover on their thoughts/minds and they do not understand.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And they still don’t understand today, for when the Jews read the Law left behind by Moses, they are not able to understand because their thinking is still covered up.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Yes, that is true, for even today, when what Moses wrote is read, it is as if there is a headcloth that covers-over their minds.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Yes indeed, really right up to the present, each time the writings which God caused Moises to write are being read, it’s like their minds/thinking are being veiled still.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Until the present day the minds of the Jews are closed when they study the words which Moses wrote.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Moses

The name that is transliterated as “Moses” in English is signed in Spanish Sign Language and Polish Sign Language in accordance with the depiction of Moses in the famous statue by Michelangelo (see here ). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )


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

American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here ).

In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:


“Moses” in French Sign Language (source )

The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).

In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).


“Moses” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the eye make up he would have worn as the adopted son of an Egyptian princess. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)


“Moses” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL

In Estonian Sign Language Moses is depicted with a big beard. (Source: Liina Paales in Folklore 47, 2011, p. 43ff. )


“Moses” in Estonian Sign Language, source: Glossary of the EKNK Toompea kogudus

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

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Moses .

Translation commentary on 2 Corinthians 3:15

Yes: in the Greek the same conjunction is used here as in the beginning of verse 14, where Revised Standard Version renders it “But.” New English Bible had translated it “But” in this context, but Revised English Bible correctly revises to say “Indeed” (likewise New Revised Standard Version). The purpose of the conjunction in this context is to introduce a further, more intensive statement of what has already been said.

On to this day see comments on 3.14.

As elsewhere in the New Testament (Acts 15.21; 21.21), Moses refers to the “Law of Moses” (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible).

Is read: here again the passive form may have to be rendered actively as “when they hear someone read….” To translate “they read” as in Good News Translation risks giving the impression of private reading, which is not intended here (see comments on “when they read” in verse 14).

Their minds is literally “their hearts.” See comment on the word “heart” in 1.22. “Hearts” is synonymous in meaning to “minds” or “thoughts” in 3.14.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .