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)
  • Tatar: “unleavened flat cakes” (source: Lénart de Regt in The Bible Translator 2017, p. 131ff. )
  • Nkumbi / Mbangala / Songo: “bread that has gone no yeast” — “this is an application of a common construction in Angolan Bantu languages for speaking about the ingredients in some foods: ‘there is salt in the soup’ is rendered literally, ‘the soup has gone salt.’ (Source: Riikka Halme-Berneking in The Bible Translator 2014, p. 353ff. )

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 (Exodus 13:7)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 13:7:

  • Kupsabiny: “Do not eat bread that is risen in those seven days. Risen bread must not be seen among you or things that are used to rise the bread.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “For seven days you are to eat only unleavened bread and nothing with yeast in it is to be seen in your country.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “You (plur.) should- not [emphasis] -eat bread that has that-which-causes-to-expand for a period of seven days, and (it is) necessary that there-is-none [emphasis] of that-which-causes-to-expand seen in your houses or anywhere in your place.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “In these seven days, you will eat bret not having yis existing in it. Any food which has yis existing in it, it can’t/mustn’t be existing in your houses, and in your area/place either.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “you eat FOC bread which lacks yeast within days seven those. And that which has yeast, let them not it find in place your and country your.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “For seven days do not eat bread that has yeast in it. You should not have any yeast or bread made with yeast anywhere in your land.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exod 13:7

The first clause repeats what is said in 12.15, but here the passive voice is used. (See the discussion at that verse.) No leavened bread shall be seen with you is literally “and will not be seen to you [anything] leavened.” With you means “in your possession” (New Revised Standard Version). And no leaven uses a different word from leavened bread, referring to the leavening agent, the sourdough itself. (This term is discussed at 12.15.) Shall be seen with you repeats the same words in the second clause, but here the with you takes on a broader meaning, like “among you” (New Revised Standard Version). This is because In all your territory means “anywhere within your borders” (Durham).

The second and third clauses are negative, and they put emphasis on the complete removal of anything leavened as well as the leaven itself. Several translations combine them; for example, Good News Translation has “there must be no yeast or leavened bread anywhere in your land.”

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .