The Hebrew that is transliterated as “Miriam” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “tambourine” referring to Exodus 15:20. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
In some Semitic languages, the transliteration for “Miriam” is identical to “Mary,” testifying to the fact that these names are identical (Arabic and the many translations that are reliant on Arabic: مَرْيَم, Hebrew: מִרְיָם, Ge’ez / Amharic and related languages: ማርያም).
Painting by Soichi Watanabe, used with permission by the Overseas Ministries Study Center (OMSC) at Princeton Theological Seminary. You can purchase this and many other artworks by artists in residence at the OSMC in high resolution and without a watermark via the OSMC website .
“A resident of Koshigaya City, Saitama, Japan, Soichi Watanabe was the 2008-09 OMSC artist in residence. Watanabe graduated in 1982 from the Ochanomizu Art School in Tokyo after having earned, a decade earlier, an economics degree from Tohoku Gakuin University in Sendai. He teaches at a private art school that he started in 1982. Following his 1982 graduation, Soichi founded a private art school where he and his wife work together to help others experience the joy of art.
“Soichi was drawn to God as an undergraduate student during a home Bible study when he encountered Mark 8:35: ‘Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.’ Further study of the New Testament led him to realize that he was both ‘stubborn and self-centered.’ He recalls that ‘the richness of the biblical world overwhelmed me and at the same time tortured me.’
“Shortly thereafter he chose to submit his life to God at an evening worship service. ‘I really heard a voice telling me to accept the salvation of Jesus on the cross and to follow him,’ remembers Soichi. From that point on he has been determined to serve God through his abilities. As a follower of Jesus, Soichi points to his faith as the foundation from which he works as an artist. In his art book Jesus Walking With Us (2004), he writes, ‘I realize that [my works] are my own humble responses to God’s calling in my life… . The images are often given to me through the words of God at worship services on Sundays and during my daily devotion. I have the earnest hope that I will go on painting to praise the Lord.'” (Source )
About this image, Watanabe says: “The name of God, the ‘I AM’ or the ‘I AM WHO I WILL BE,’ can provide the context for our individual, human ‘I am.’ This is something that I learned from a book by Dr. Kenichi Kida. On this canvas I have expressed some of the salvation stories related to the name of God. The white squares symbolize the voice of God and the Ten Commandments. God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, and after the Egyptian army sank into the sea, Miriam led the people in dancing and singing praise to God.” (Source: OMSC 2010, p. 16)
Following is a translation of the songs of Moses and Miriam from Exodus 15 into dance and a song presented in the traditional Fang troubadour style (mvét oyeng) by the group Nkuwalong as part of a project by Bethany and Andrew Case. (Note that you can activate English, French and Spanish subtitles.)
Description: The drum consisted of a membrane, usually of animal skin, which was stretched over a shallow circular, triangular, or square frame.
Usage: The drum was struck sharply with one or two hands, depending on where it was situated. It could be held in the left hand, under the left arm, or against the chest and struck with the right hand, or it could be held on the knees or the ground and struck with one or two hands. The fingers of the left hand could be used to tighten or loosen the tension on the membrane as it was struck with the palm of the right hand.
Translation: The use of the Hebrew word tof is usually associated with singing, processions, and festivals. Archaeological evidence indicates that drums with metal circlets on the frame (“tambourines” or “timbrels”) were not known in biblical times. As a general rule, the best translation for this word will be “hand drum” or simply “drum.”
Lyre (source: Knowles, revised by Bass (c) British and Foreign Bible Society 1994)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 15:20:
Kupsabiny: “Then Miriam, the sister of Aaron and she was a prophet of God, got up and took (a) tambourine and sang while shaking that thing. Many other women also were shaking their own tambourines, singing and singing.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Then Mirian, the prophetess, Aaron’s sister took a tambourine (in her hand) and all the women followed her, with tambourine and dancing.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Then Miriam the prophetess and sibling of Aaron took a tamborin and she led the women in playing the tamborin and dancing.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Bariai: “And so on that day, Aron’s sister Miriam, a woman who was prophesying for God (lit. bringing God’s mouth), took her rattling decorations and then the women followed her and then took their rattling decorations also and so were dancing.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
Opo: “Afterwards, Miriam who be the sister of Aaron, who be prophetess, she took gourd shaker, went danced with women other.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
English: “Then Miriam, who was Aaron’s older sister and a prophetess/woman who spoke messages that came directly from God, picked up her tambourine,” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Eugene Nida wrote the following about the translation of the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek terms that are typically translated with “prophet” in English:
“The tendency in many translations is to use ‘to foretell the future’ for ‘prophesy,’ and ‘one who foretells the future’ for ‘prophet.’ This is not always a recommended usage, particularly if such expressions denote certain special native practices of spirit contact and control. It is true, of course, that prophets of the Bible did foretell the future, but this was not always their principal function. One essential significance of the Greek word prophētēs is ‘one who speaks forth,’ principally, of course, as a forth-teller of the Divine will. A translation such as ‘spokesman for God’ may often be employed profitably.” (1947, p. 234f.)
Following is a list of (back-) translations from other languages (click or tap for details):
Ayutla Mixtec: “one who talks as God’s representative”
Isthmus Mixe: “speaker for God” (source for this and two above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Mezquital Otomi / Paasaal: “God’s messenger” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff. and Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
Noongar: Warda Marridjiny or “News Traveling” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Kutu: mtula ndagu or “one who gives the prediction of the past and the future” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Ebira: ọnịsẹ, a neologism that combines the prefix ọn for “a person” with ịsẹ for “prediction” (source: Scholz /Scholz 2015, p. 49)
French 1985 translation by Chouraqui: inspiré or “inspired one” (“someone in whom God has breathed [Latin: in + spiro]) (source: Watson 2023, p. 45)
In Ixcatlán Mazatec a term is used that specifically includes women. (Source: Robert Bascom)
“In some instances these spiritual terms result from adaptations reflecting the native life and culture. Among the Northern Grebo people of Liberia, a missionary wanted some adequate term for ‘prophet,’ and she was fully aware that the native word for ‘soothsayer’ or ‘diviner’ was no equivalent for the Biblical prophet who spoke forth for God. Of course, much of what the prophets said referred to the future, and though this was an essential part of much of their ministry, it was by no means all. The right word for the Gbeapo people would have to include something which would not only mean the foretelling of important events but the proclamation of truth as God’s representative among the people. At last the right word came; it was ‘God’s town-crier.’ Every morning and evening the official representative of the chief goes through the village crying out the news, delivering the orders of the chief, and announcing important coming events. ‘God’s town-crier’ would be the official representative of God, announcing to the people God’s doings, His commands, and His pronouncements for their salvation and well-being. For the Northern Grebo people the prophet is no weird person from forgotten times; he is as real as the human, moving message of the plowman Amos, who became God’s town-crier to a calloused people.” (source: Nida 1952, p. 20)
In British Sign Language it is is translated with a sign that depicts a message coming from God to a person (the upright finger) and then being passed on to others. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Prophet” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
Then Miriam refers to Moses’ older sister (see 2.4). She is called the prophetess, which in Hebrew is the feminine form of the word for “prophet.” Good News Translation and others omit this feminine form in translation as unnecessary and possibly misleading. There should be no suggestion that female prophets had any different religious function from that of male prophets, and the context makes it clear that Miriam was a woman. In some languages, however, it may be quite natural and even necessary to indicate a feminine form of the word. “Prophet” in this context refers to a “spokesperson” for Yahweh (see the comment at 7.1).
Miriam is identified as the sister of Aaron rather than of Moses. This may be because Aaron was older than Moses and, as the eldest son, was recognized as head of the family. Assuming that she is the unnamed sister in 2.4, and recalling that Aaron was only three years older than Moses (see 7.7), we may conclude that she was a few years older than Aaron as well. Alternative translation models for this first sentence are “Miriam, the elder sister of Aaron, was a spokesperson for Yahweh,” or “Miriam … spoke Yahweh’s words to the people.”
Took a timbrel in her hand refers to a small hand drum used mostly by women during joyous celebrations. Many translations call it a “tambourine,” which was a later form of a small hand drum with metal disks at the rim that rattle when the drum is shaken or struck by the other hand. At the time of this story, the drum did not have the metal disks. If a receptor language does not have a specific word for a similar type of drum, without the metal disks, one may employ a generic term for drum and say, for example, “a small drum.” It is also possible to use a term for a percussion instrument that is well known in the receptor culture, one that women may use to express joy in times of celebration, such as rattles or shakers. And all the women went out after her means that the other Israelite women joined with her, or “followed her” (Good News Translation), in celebrating. Another way to express this is “she led all the other women out….” Evidently they had their own timbrels, playing them along with their dancing. The Hebrew term suggests a kind of circle dance or a whirling movement. (See the comment at 32.19.)
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 .
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