sell

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “sell” in English is translated in Noongar as wort-bangal or “away-barter.” Note that “buy” is translated as bangal-barranga or “get-barter.” (Source: Bardip Ruth-Ang 2020)

See also buy and buying / selling.

complete verse (Exodus 21:16)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 21:16:

  • Kupsabiny: “And if someone has taken/gotten hold of somebody and forces (him/her) and takes (him/her) to sell or takes (him/her) to become his slave, that person who caught him/her should be killed.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “If anyone kidnaps a man and sells him or keeps him as his possession must be put to death.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘Anyone who kidnaps a person should be-put-to-death, even-if he already sold the one- he -kidnapped or not yet.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “‘If you see someone abduct another person, and so he goes and becomes like his laborer for nothing, you must strike him dead. If you apprehend that man, and you see that laborer remaining with him still, or if you see him letting him go to other people so that they buy him, you must strike that man dead.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “one who grasped a man, sold him out as slave, let them kill them with one who bought him together.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “Anyone who kidnaps another person, either in order to sell that person or to keep him as a slave, must be executed.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exod 21:16

Whoever steals a man, literally “And the stealer of a man,” is the third participial law. The word for steals is the same word used in 20.15. Since this refers to stealing a person, most translations have “whoever kidnaps a man.” Using inclusive language Good News Translation now has “Whoever kidnaps someone,” meaning that this also applies if women are kidnaped. The Hebrew term, however, does not necessarily suggest the idea of kidnaping for a ransom, so another possible way of saying this is “Whoever forcibly takes someone away from his [or, her] home.”

Whether … or is literally “and … or,” but the meaning is, as Good News Translation puts it, “either … or” since two different possibilities are mentioned. The word for sells may refer to people, land, or things. It is used in verse 7. Is found in possession of him is literally “he is found in his hand.” Good News Translation has “to keep him as a slave,” but this may be too narrow an interpretation, since the kidnapper may be caught before he has a chance to sell his victim. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh is better: “whether he has sold him or is still holding him.” Contemporary English Version has “If you sell the person you kidnapped, or if you are caught with that person.” Shall be put to death is the emphatic form explained at verse 12.

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 .