complete verse (Exodus 2:11)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 2:11:

  • Kupsabiny: “When Moses grew up, he visited his people of Israel. And when he looked/inspected, his people suffered from the work they were doing. He also saw how an Egyptian was beating an Israelite.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “When Moses had grown up, one day he went out to where his brothers, the Israelites, were. There he saw them having to do hard labor. Then he saw an Egyptian brutally beating a Hebrew.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “One day, when Moises had-grown-up/[lit. was now big], he went to his blood-relatives, and he saw that they are-being-oppressed and causing- (them) -to-work very hard. He saw an Egiptohanon beating a Hebrew who (was) his blood-relative.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “It came about later that Moses grew up and then went to see his own Ibru people. But he saw that they were doing the difficult work of the great chief of Isip. He saw a man of Isip hitting an Ibru man badly.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “When Moses had grown, on day past thus, he went to his people, went saw hard things which they do. And he saw man of Egypt hitting a Hebrew, one of his tribe.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “One day, after Moses/I had grown up, he/I went out of the palace area to see his/my people, the Hebrews. He/I saw how they were being forced to work very hard. He/I also saw an Egyptian man beating one of his/my Hebrew people.” (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 .