elder (of the community)

The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated as “elders” in English is translated in the Danish Bibelen 2020 as folkets ledere or “leaders of the people.”

Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators, explains: “The term ‘elder’ turned out to pose a particularly thorny problem. In traditional bibles, you can find elders all of over the place and they never pose a problem for a translator, they are just always elders. But how to find a contemporary term for this semi-official, complex position? This may have been our longest-standing problem. A couple of times we thought we had the solution, and then implemented it throughout the texts, only to find out that it didn’t work. Like when we used city council or village council, depending on the context. In the end we felt that the texts didn’t work with such official terms, and throughout the years in the desert, these terms didn’t make much sense. Other suggestions were ‘the eldest and wisest’, ‘the respected citizens’, ‘the Israelites with a certain position in society’, ‘the elder council’ –- and let me point out that these terms sound better in Danish than in English (‘de fremtrædende borgere,’ ‘de mest fremtrædende israelitter,’ ‘alle israelitter med en vis position,’ ‘de ældste og de klogeste,’ ‘ældsterådet’). In the end we just said ‘leaders of the people.’ After a lot of hand-wringing, it turned out that we actually found a term that worked well. So, we had to give up conveying the fact that they were old, but the most important point is that they were community leaders.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )

The German das Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022) translates likewise as “leader of the people” (Anführer des Volkes).

See also elders of Israel (Judah).

Meribah / Water from the Rock

Hand colored stencil print on washi by Sadao Watanabe (1997).

Image taken with permission from the SadaoHanga Catalogue where you can find many more images and information about Sadao Watanabe. For other images of Sadao Watanabe art works in TIPs, see here.

Following is an artwork by Sister Marie Claire , SMMI (1937–2018) from Bengaluru, India:

For more information about images by Sister Marie Claire and ways to purchase them as lithographs, see here . For other images of Sister Marie Claire paintings in TIPs, see here.

The following is a stained glass window in the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Chiang Mai, Thailand:

Photo by Jost Zetzsche

Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )

drink

In Telugu different verbs for humans drinking (tāgu / తాగు) and animals drinking (cēḍu / చేడు) are required.

complete verse (Exodus 17:6)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 17:6:

  • Kupsabiny: “I will go and stand before you (plur.) at a rock which is near Mountain of Horeb. When you reach there strike the rock. Water will come from that rock which people will drink.’ Moses did like that as the leaders of the Israelites were watching.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb strike the rock with the staff and water will come out of it for people to drink. Moses did the same things before the leaders of Israel.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “I will-wait-for you (sing.) there by the rock at Horeb. If you (sing.) (reach) there already, you (sing.) strike the rock, and the water will-come-out that the people can-drink.’ So Moises did this before/[lit. in front-of] the leaders of Israel.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “But yo, I will stand in your (sing.) presence, on top of the great stone at Orep mountain. And then you will hit that stone, and so water will flow and come forth, and so the people [may] drink.’ Okay, Moses did like that in the presence of the elders of Israel.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “And I, I will stand in front of you at side of rock of Horeb. When you will hit rock that with cane, water will flow [this direction] out from within it in order people they might drink.»
    So, Moses did it in front elders Israel.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “Listen carefully: I will stand in front of you on top of a large rock at the foot of the mountain. Strike the rock with your stick. When you do that, water for the people to drink will flow out of the rock.’ When they/we arrived at the mountain, Moses/I did that while the Israeli elders were watching, and water flowed from the rock.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

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 .

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.

Translation commentary on Exod 17:6

Behold, I will stand before you there is literally “Behold me standing to your face there.” Behold is used here to strengthen what follows, so New Revised Standard Version has “I will be standing there in front of you.” On the rock at Horeb may refer to a single boulder or to a large rocky area, but here a specific rock is suggested by the definite article the, which Good News Translation changes to the indefinite article “a,” as in “a rock.” Translators should try to keep the definite article if at all possible, by using either the equivalent of the or a demonstrative such as “that”; for example, “When you get to the [or, that] rock at Sinai, I will be standing on it.” Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version change Horeb to “Mount Sinai,” since that is the more familiar name. (See 3.1 and comments.) But 19.1-2 indicates that they had not yet reached Mount Sinai. This is a problem that cannot be resolved in translation.

And you shall strike the rock does not use the imperative mood in the Hebrew, but it may be understood as an instruction, “Strike the rock” (Good News Translation). Jerusalem Bible has “You must strike the rock.” One may also say “When you strike the rock” (so Moffatt). It is implied that Moses was to strike it with his rod (see verse 5). In some languages it will be necessary to say “Strike the rock with your stick,” or even “Use your stick to strike the rock.” And water shall come out of it may be expressed as “water will flow from it” (New American Bible). That the people may drink is literally “and the people will drink,” but the idea is “in order that” or “for the people to drink” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version).

And Moses did so means that he followed all these instructions. In the sight of the elders of Israel, literally “for the eyes of the elders of Israel,” means as Good News Translation translates, “in the presence of the leaders of Israel.” One may also say “Moses did this while the leaders watched” (Contemporary English Version).

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 .