Finding baby Moses

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translations with a Hebraic voice (Exodus 2:10)

Some translations specifically reproduce the voice of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament / Hebrew Bible.

English:
The child grew, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter,
and he became her son.
She called his name: Moshe/He-Who-Pulls-Out;
she said: For out of the water meshitihu/I-pulled-him.

Source: Everett Fox 1995

German:
Das Kind wurde groß, sie brachte es zu Pharaos Tochter,
es wurde ihr zum Sohn.
Sie rief seinen Namen: Mosche, Der hervortauchen läßt.
Sie sprach: Denn aus dem Wasser habe ich ihn hervortauchen lassen.

Source: Buber / Rosenzweig 1976

French:
L’enfant grandit et elle le fait venir à la fille de Pharaon.
C’est pour elle un fils. Elle crie son nom: « Moshè. »
Elle dit: « Oui, je l’ai retiré de l’eau. »

Source: Chouraqui 1985

For other verses or sections translated with a Hebraic voice, see here.

complete verse (Exodus 2:10)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 2:10:

  • Kupsabiny: “When she (mother of Moses) had weaned the boy, (she) returned (him) to go to where the girl/daughter of the ruler/king was, to become her child. The girl of the ruler said that, ‘This boy will be called Moses because I picked him out of water.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter. Pharaoh’s daughter accepted him as her own son. Then she said, ‘I drew him out of the water’ and thus she named him Moses.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “When the child was- now -weaned, his mother brought him to the princess, and the princess considered him as her child. The princess named the child Moises, for she said, ‘I took- him -out of the water.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “And the child grew somewhat big, and so his mother took him to the daughter of the great chief, and so he became like her child. And so she called his name Moses because she said, ‘I pulled him up out of the water.’” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “When child had grown, she took him for daughter of king of Egypt, and he take place be son. She called him Moses, because she say «I brought him here out from belly of water.»” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “A few years later/when the child/I grew older, she brought him/me to the king’s daughter. She adopted him/me as though I was her own son. She named him/me Moses, which sounds like the Hebrew words ‘pull out’, because she said ‘I pulled him out of the water.’” (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 .

Translation commentary on Exod 2:10

And the child grew should be understood as “when the child was old enough” (Good News Translation). The child’s age is not indicated, but the previous verse suggests that he was old enough to be weaned. Some translations such as New Jerusalem Bible and New American Bible have “When the child grew up,” but this may suggest that he was now a grown man, which is unlikely. Another translation model is “When the child had grown sufficiently.” Good News Translation begins the verse with “Later” in order to suggest a much shorter period of time. The pronoun she refers to the child’s mother, who brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter. That is, she fulfilled the agreement made in 2.9. In languages where pronouns do not carry information relating to gender, whether the pronoun is masculine or feminine, it will be helpful to express she as “the child’s mother.” And he became her son means that the princess “adopted him as her own son” (Good News Translation). “Adopted” may also be expressed as “The king’s daughter made him her son” or “… treated him [or, received him] as if he was her own son.”

She named him Moses, probably an Egyptian name based on the Egyptian mose, meaning “son of.” But as the Good News Translation footnote points out, Moses sounds like the Hebrew for “pull out.” The Hebrew form of the name is Mosheh, a participle meaning “one who pulls out” rather than “one who is pulled out,” which would be mashuy. (See the footnotes in Revised Standard Version.) The significance of Moses’ name, therefore, is difficult to convey in the translation itself. For this reason most translations place a footnote to explain this similarity of sound and meaning (see Good News Translation‘s note).

For she said means that the princess said it. But the text does not indicate to whom she spoke. If it is necessary in translation to identify an addressee, one may follow Good News Translation and say “she said to herself” or “she thought.” The Hebrew often uses the same word for “say” and “think.” (See, for example, 2.14.) But it is also possible to follow Bible en français courant and say “she declared” or “she announced,” assuming that she said this to those who were with her.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• When the child had grown sufficiently, his mother took him to the daughter of the king, who made him her own son. She thought, “I pulled him out of the water, so I will name him Moses.”

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 .