Pharaoh

The term that is used for monarchs in ancient Egypt and is transliterated as “Pharaoh” in English is translated in Finnish Sign Language with the sign signifying the “fake metal beard (postiche)” that was word by Pharaohs during official functions. (Source: Tarja Sandholm)


“Pharaoh” in Finnish Sign Language (source )

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Pharaoh .

complete verse (Exodus 2:15)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 2:15:

  • Kupsabiny: “When the ruler heard of these words/events, he ordered that Moses should be caught and killed. Moses fled. He went and/but when he reached the land of Midian, (he) sat down by a certain well.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “When Pharaoh came to know about this, he intended to kill Moses. As for Moses he escaped from there and went to the country of Midian. And there he sat by a well.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “When- the king of Egipto -found-out what Moises had-done, he tried to-kill him, but Moises fled to Midian and lived there. When- he -arrived in Midian, he sat-down beside a well.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “And the great chief of the Isip people heard that Moses did this thing, and so he was searching for him to kill him. But Moses fled from the great chief and so went and lived in the area of Midian, close to a water hole.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “When king of Egypt heard it, he seek let him kill Moses, but he out, ran country Midian. And he sit down at side of well there.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “And that was correct. The king heard about what he/I had done to that Egyptian. So he ordered his soldiers to execute/kill Moses/me. But he/I fled from the king and left Egypt. He/I traveled east to the Midian region and started to live there.” (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 2:15

The it that Pharaoh heard of refers to the “thing” or “deed” that Moses had done, namely, the act of killing the Egyptian. It may be more natural to say “When the king heard about what had happened” (Good News Translation) or “When the king heard about what Moses had done, he….” He sought to kill Moses is a literal rendering of the Hebrew. Since the king is the one referred to, it is better to understand it as “he tried to have Moses killed.” The same word for kill is used here as in verse 14. Although a generic term, it is used here in the sense of execution for a crime.

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 .