unleavened bread

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “unleavened bread” in English is translated in various ways:

  • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “bread that doesn’t have its medicine that makes it puff up”
  • Teutila Cuicatec: “bread without its sour”
  • Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “bread that has no mother” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Mairasi: “bread without other ingredient” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Chichewa: “non-puffed-up bread”
  • Chitonga: “bread without fermented grain” (source for this and above: de Regt / Wendland 2016)
  • Hiligaynon: “bread that has-none of that-which-causes-to-expand” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

leaven

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “leaven” (or “yeast”) in English is translated in Tzotzil as “the thing that swells the stomach of bread” and in Mairasi “bread cooking ingredient” (source: Enggavoter 2004)

In the occurrences in Mark 8:15 it is translated in Wantoat as “salt.” (Source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.)

See also leaven (1Cor 5:6).

complete verse (Deuteronomy 16:3)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 16:3:

  • Kupsabiny: “Do not eat (plur.) the meat from that sacrifice together with bread that has risen. (That bread shall remind the people of the suffering in that place of Egypt.) Eat that meat for seven days together with that bread, because you were in a hurry when you left Egypt. So, you need to always remember that day when you left Egypt.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Do not eat any leavened bread with it. But for seven days eat unleavened bread. This is the bread of suffering. For you came out of Egypt in a hurry. You must eat this as long as you live to remind you of your coming out of Egypt.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “You (plur.) eat this with bread which has none that-which-causes-to-expand. For a period/[lit. inside] of seven days you (plur.) are-to-eat bread has none that-which-causes-to-expand/yeast as what you (plur.) did when you (plur.) hurriedly left Egipto. Eat this bread, the symbol of your (plur.) sufferings, so-that you (plur.) will-remember for the rest of your (plur.) life the time you (plur.) came out from Egipto.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “When you eat the Passover meal, the bread that you eat must not have yeast in it. You must eat this kind of bread, which will be called the bread of suffering/misery, for seven days. This is to help you to remember all during the time that you are alive that when your ancestors left Egypt, where they were suffering because they were slaves, they left very quickly. They did not put in yeast and wait for the dough to swell up.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 16:3

The six-day Festival of Unleavened Bread was originally separate from the one-day Passover Festival (see Exo 23.14-15; 34.18).

Unleavened bread: that is, bread made without leaven, or yeast (see Exo 12.15). The leaven, or yeast, was a piece of leavened dough saved over from the previous baking of bread, and was normally added to the fresh dough to make it rise. Unleavened bread may also be expressed as “bread with no yeast,” or “bread without anything added to make it rise,” or even “… anything added to make it soft to eat.”

With it: that is, with the animal offered in sacrifice, which would be eaten by the worshiper(s). We may also express this first sentence as “When you eat this animal do not eat bread prepared with yeast.”

The bread of affliction: New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “bread of distress,” Good News Translation, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “bread of suffering,” Bible en français courant, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible “bread of misery [or, sadness].” For the word itself, used in connection with the conditions in Egypt, see Exo 3.7. The Israelites left Egypt “in such a hurry” (Good News Translation) that they didn’t have time to prepare regular leavened bread (Exo 12.33-34, 39).

The second part of the verse is rather repetitious, and translators should try to arrange the clauses and phrases in such a way as to avoid the use of dashes, such as those that appear in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation.

Good News Translation “that place of suffering” seems to add something that isn’t in the text. However, it was probably added in order to make clear the meaning of “bread of suffering.” A better way to do this is to add the words “that place where you worked like slaves” after the word Egypt.

You may remember: this is the reason for the Passover Festival. It is to keep alive the memory of that event which brought the Israelite nation into being as the people of Yahweh. We may also translate “the bread without yeast will remind you of the day….”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• When you eat [the flesh of] this animal, do not eat bread that you have made with yeast. For seven days you must eat bread without yeast as you did when you had to quickly leave Egypt, where you had been treated like slaves. As long as you live, this will remind you of the day when you came out of Egypt.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .