complete verse (Exodus 21:17)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 21:17:

  • Kupsabiny: “A person who abuses/curses his father or his mother, that one should be killed.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Anyone who curses his father or mother shall surely put to death.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘Anyone who curses his father or mother should be-killed.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “‘If anyone talks badly about/to his father or his mother, you (pl.) must strike him dead.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “one who insult father or mother, let them kill him.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “Anyone who reviles/curses his father or his mother must be executed.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exod 21:17

Whoever curses his father or his mother is the same form as the previous participial laws. The participle here, however, literally means “one who makes small, or humiliates.” This is why New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh uses “insults” and Revised English Bible uses “reviles.” The same word is used in 22.28, where Revised Standard Version uses “revile” in a law against reviling God. The law in this verse therefore covers a wider field than just speaking curses against one’s parents. And the penalty here is also death, expressed emphatically. (See 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 .