The Hebrew and Greek that is typically translated as “grain offering” is translated in Tatar as “bread gift,” in the Italian Traduzione interconfessionale in lingua corrente (2014) as offerta di vegetali (“vegetable offering”), in the French Parole de Vie (2000) as un produit de la terre (“a product of the earth”) and in German as Speiseopfer (“food offering”). (Source: Lénart de Regt in The Bible Translator 2017, p. 131ff. )
self-referencing pronoun for king or queen
In Malay, the pronoun beta for the royal “I” (or “my” or “me”) that is used by royals when speaking to people of lower rank, subordinates or commoners to refer to themselves in these verses. This reflects the “language of the court because the monarchy and sultanate in Malaysia are still alive and well. All oral and printed literature (including newspapers and magazines) preserve and glorify the language of the court. Considering that the language of the court is part of the Malaysian language, court language is used sparingly where appropriate, specifically with texts relating to palace life.” (Source: Daud Soesilo in The Bible Translator 2025, p. 263ff.)
complete verse (2 Kings 16:15)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Kings 16:15:
- Kupsabiny: “After that, the king said to Uriah, ‘From now on you must make these sacrifices here: The morning sacrifices which are burned completely, the evening sacrifices of food that are given as gifts, the sacrifices which the king brings and those of the people of this community including food that is donated and those that are poured out. Sprinkle the new altar with the blood of all the animals that are sacrificed. But I alone shall see what I shall do with the old one that was made from bronze.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
- Newari: “Then King Ahaz gave an order like this to Uriah the priest, "On the great new altar offer the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, the burnt offering and grain offering for all who live in the land, as well as their grain offerings and drink offerings. Sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice and the burnt offering on the altar. As for the bronze altar, however, I will use it to get to know the desires of God.’” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
- Hiligaynon: “Then he commanded Uria the priest, ‘Use the new altar to offer burnt offerings every morning and gift offerings every evening. Use this also for offering burnt offerings and gift offerings which the king and the people are-offering, and including also for their drink offerings. [You (sing.)] sprinkle upon the new altar the blood of the burnt offering and still the other offerings. But the bronze altar I will-make my place-of-prayer.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
- English: “Then King Ahaz ordered Uriah: ‘Each morning put on this new altar the sacrifices that will be completely burned, and in the evening put on it the grain offering, along with my offering and the offerings that the people bring, ones that will be completely burned, and my grain offering and the people’s grain and wine offerings. Pour against the sides of the altar the blood of all the animals that are sacrificed. But the old bronze altar will be only for me to use to find out what Yahweh wants me to do.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
king
Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:
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- Piro: “a great one”
- Highland Totonac: “the big boss”
- Huichol: “the one who commanded” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
- Ekari: “the one who holds the country” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
- Una: weik sienyi: “big headman” (source: Kroneman 2004, p. 407)
- Pass Valley Yali: “Big Man” (source: Daud Soesilo)
- Ninia Yali: “big brother with the uplifted name” (source: Daud Soesilio in Noss 2007, p. 175)
- Nyamwezi: mutemi: generic word for ruler, by specifying the city or nation it becomes clear what kind of ruler (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
- Ghomála’: Fo (“The word Fo refers to the paramount ruler in the kingdoms of West Cameroon. He holds administrative, political, and religious power over his own people, who are divided into two categories: princes (descendants of royalty) and servants (everyone else).” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn))
Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo (Dinė) was determined:
“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”
(Source: Faye Edgerton in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 25ff. )
See also king (Japanese honorifics).
Translation commentary on 2 Kings 16:15
The great altar refers to the new altar just constructed by Uriah on orders from King Ahaz. This distinguishes it from the bronze altar that was considered to be inadequate.
Burn … throw …: These imperative verbs are singular in Hebrew. They refer to Uriah, who was expected to fulfill the commands.
The morning burnt offering, and the evening cereal offering … and their drink offering: The various types of offerings here are similar to the ones listed in verse 13. See the comments there and at 2 Kgs 3.20. Since the king is speaking here, in some languages it will be necessary to render the king’s burnt offering, and his cereal offering as “my burnt offering and my cereal offering.” In place of the people of the land, Good News Translation has simply “the people.” While this leaves implicit what is explicit in the text, the fuller expression may be kept if it is natural in the receptor language.
All the blood of the sacrifice may be expressed as “all the blood of the other sacrifices” since the text previously speaks of all the blood of the burnt offering.
The bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by: These words indicate the purpose for which the older and smaller altar would be employed. It was to become the private altar of King Ahaz. But scholars are not in agreement as to what he would do with it since the meaning of the Hebrew verb (baqar) rendered to inquire by is not clear. Attempts to explain the meaning here include the following:
• (1) The verb baqar is related to the Hebrew word for “morning” (boqer) and means “to offer morning sacrifice” (New English Bible/Revised English Bible).
• (2) The verb baqar means “to ponder over”; that is, the king will decide what to do with the old altar (so La Bible Pléiade, Osty-Trinquet). This seems to be the basis for the rendering “As regards the bronze altar, I shall see to that” (New Jerusalem Bible).
• (3) The verb baqar is related to words in related languages which mean “to split” and “to examine.” The sense is that the king will examine the intestines of an animal in order to divine God’s will. This understanding lies behind renderings such as to inquire by (Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version), “for consultation” (New American Bible), “to use for divination” (Good News Translation), and “for seeking guidance” (New International Version). Most translations follow this interpretation.
• (4) The verb baqar means “to frequent,” as it does in Psa 27.4 (although the meaning of the verb there is also debated). This is the basis for the American Bible rendering “The bronze altar will be for me to frequent.” Another possible translation based on this meaning is “The bronze altar will be for my private use.”
• (5) Hobbs (pages 208-209) gives the translation “The bronze altar shall be for me to pray at,” and then states that the “translation is little more than a guess.”
It must be admitted that the precise meaning here is not clear, but a rendering based on either 4 or 5 is probably best.
It may be desirable in certain languages to transform the rather long direct quotation of this verse into indirect discourse. A possible model for this would be as follows:
• Ahaz ordered Uriah the priest to burn the following offerings on that big [new] altar: the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the burnt offering and the grain offering of the king himself, the burnt offering, the cereal offering and the drink offering of all the people of the land. He also said that Uriah should throw all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice on it. But he reserved the [old] bronze altar for his own private consultations.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
SIL Translator’s Notes on 2 Kings 16:15
16:15a Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest,
King Ahaz then ordered/instructed Uriah the priest,
-or-
Then King Ahaz instructed Uriah the priest ⌊on what he/Uriah must do⌋ . He said,
-or-
King Ahaz then told the priest Uriah that he/Uriah must
16:15b “Offer on the great altar the morning burnt offering,
“Offer (sing.) the ⌊daily⌋ morning burnt sacrifice on the great/large altar.
-or-
“You (sing.) are to use the new large platform for the morning sacrifices that are to be burned completely.
-or-
use the large new platform to burn the morning sacrifices,
16:15c the evening grain offering,
Also offer (sing.) the evening barley grain offering ⌊on the great/large altar⌋ ,
-or-
Use (sing.) it for offering the evening gift of meal/flour,
-or-
to make the evening grain offering,
16:15d and the king’s burnt offering and grain offering,
as well as the burnt sacrifice offered by/for the king and his barley grain offering.
-or-
for my sacrifices that will be completely burned, and for offering my gifts of meal/flour.
-or-
and to offer/burn the king’s animal sacrifices and grain sacrifices.
16:15e as well as the burnt offerings,
Offer (sing.) there the burnt sacrifices for the people ⌊of the whole land⌋ of Israel.
-or-
⌊From now on, you are⌋ also to use (sing.) this ⌊large/great⌋ altar/platform to burn the sacrifices for/of all the ordinary/common people in Israel.
-or-
⌊He said that⌋ he/Uriah must burn on it the animal sacrifices of the people of Israel,
16:15f grain offerings, and drink offerings of all the people of the land.
Also offer (sing.) their wheat/barley grain and pour out their drink offering ⌊on that same altar⌋ .
-or-
Use (sing.) it also for their gifts of flour, and for their gifts of wine.
-or-
and offer on it their gifts of grain and wine.
16:15g Sprinkle on the altar all the blood of the burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Sprinkle (sing.) on it the blood of all the burnt sacrifices and the blood of other sacrifices.
-or-
Toss (sing.) on this ⌊new/large⌋ platform the blood of the animals that are being burnt whole or sacrificed.
-or-
Uriah was to throw/sprinkle the blood from the burnt offerings and other animal sacrifices against this ⌊new⌋ platform.
16:15h But I will use the bronze altar to seek guidance.”
The exact meaning of the Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as “to seeking guidance” is uncertain in this context.
But the ⌊old/small⌋ bronze altar I will use for finding the divine will.”
-or-
As for the ⌊smaller⌋ bronze platform for sacrifices, it is to be used ⌊only⌋ by me for consulting ⌊the gods⌋ .”
-or-
He himself, the king, would make use of the ⌊original⌋ bronze place of sacrifice.
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