worship

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The Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek terms that are often translated as “worship” (also, “kneel down” or “bow down”) are likewise translated in other languages in certain categories, including those based on physical activity, those which incorporate some element of “speaking” or “declaring,” and those which specify some type of mental activity.

Following is a list of (back-) translations (click or tap for details):

  • Javanese: “prostrate oneself before”
  • Malay: “kneel and bow the head”
  • Kaqchikel: “kneel before”
  • Loma (Liberia): “drop oneself beneath God’s foot”
  • Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “wag the tail before God” (using a verb which with an animal subject means “to wag the tail,” but with a human subject)
  • Tzotzil: “join to”
  • Kpelle: “raise up a blessing to God”
  • Kekchí: “praise as your God”
  • Cashibo-Cacataibo: “say one is important”
  • San Blas Kuna: “think of God with the heart”
  • Rincón Zapotec: “have one’s heart go out to God”
  • Tabasco Chontal: “holy-remember” (source of this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Bariai: “lift up God’s name” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Q’anjob’al: “humble oneself before” (source: Newberry and Kittie Cox in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. )
  • Alur: rwo: “complete submission, adoration, consecration” (source: F. G. Lasse in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 22ff. )
  • Obolo: itọtọbọ ebum: “express reverence and devotion” (source: Enene Enene)
  • Ngäbere: “cut oneself down before” (“This figure of speech comes from the picture of towering mahoganies in the forest which, under the woodman’s ax, quiver, waver, and then in solemn, thunderous crashing bury their lofty heads in the upstretched arms of the surrounding forest. This is the experience of every true worshiper who sees ‘the Lord, high and lifted up.’ Our own unworthiness brings us low. As the Valientes say, ‘we cut ourselves down before’ His presence. Our heads, which have been carried high in self-confidence, sink lower and lower in worship.)
  • Tzeltal: “end oneself before God.” (“Only by coming to the end of oneself can one truly worship. The animist worships his deities in the hope of receiving corresponding benefits, and some pagans in Christendom think that church attendance is a guarantee of success in this life and good luck in the future. But God has never set a price on worship except the price that we must pay, namely, ‘coming to the end of ourselves.'”) (Source of this and the one above: Nida 1952, p. 163)
  • Folopa: “die under God” (“an idiom that roughly back-translates “dying under God” which means lifting up his name and praising him and to acknowledge by everything one does and thanks that God is superior.”) (Source: Anderson / Moore, p. 202)
  • Chokwe: kuivayila — “rub something on” (“When anyone goes into the presence of a king or other superior, according to native law and custom the inferior gets down on the ground, takes a little earth in the fingers of his right hand, rubs it on his own body, and then claps his hands in homage and the greeting of friendship. It is a token of veneration, of homage, of extreme gratitude for some favor received. It is also a recognition of kingship, lordship, and a prostrating of oneself in its presence. Yet it simply is the applicative form of ‘to rub something on oneself’, this form of the verb giving the value of ‘because of.’ Thus in God’s presence as king and Lord we metaphorically rub dirt on ourselves, thus acknowledging Him for what He really is and what He has done for us.”) (Source: D. B. Long in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 87ff. )
  • In the German New Testament translation Fridolin Stier (1989) it is consistently translated as “bow (to someone) deeply” (tief verneigen)

In Luang it is translated with different shades of meaning:

Source: Kathy Taber in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 9-16.

complete verse (Exodus 23:24)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 23:24:

  • Kupsabiny: “Never ever kneel to/worship the things they worship/pray to or follow their way of life. Completely destroy those stones they have fixed/raised.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Do not bow down their gods or worship them, but destroy their gods and break their sacred stones to pieces.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “[You (plur.)] do- not -worship or serve their little-gods/false-gods, or follow their deeds/[lit. doings]. [You (plur.)] completely destroy their little-gods, and break-down their remembrance stones.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “But you can’t/mustn’t kneel down to their gods, and don’t lift up their gods names. And you can’t/mustn’t follow their practices either. You must destroy their carvings and break apart their stones which are signs so that they shatter.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “you (sing., imp.) not (imp.) knee bend in front of gods their, you (sing., imp.) not (imp.) for them thing do, you (sing., imp.) not (imp.) place their take. you (sing., imp.) chase them out, you (sing., imp.) injure pillar of gods their all.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “Do not bow down before their gods/idols or worship them. And do not do the things that they think that their gods want them to do. Completely destroy their gods/idols, and smash to pieces their sacred stones.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exod 23:24

You shall not bow down to their gods uses the singular you but refers to all the Israelites. The verb bow down is identical with 20.5. (See the comment there.) Their gods means the gods of the various groups mentioned in verse 23. (See the comment on “gods” at 12.12.) Nor serve them is also identical with 20.5. Serve here means to “worship” (Good News Translation), and so the pronoun them refers to the gods.

Nor do according to their works is ambiguous. It is not clear whether their refers to the people’s works or to the gods’ works, nor whether the word for do means to act or to make. New Revised Standard Version has changed Revised Standard Version to “or follow their practices,” interpreting the pronoun their to refer to the people rather than to the gods. However, Durham has “you are not to do their will,” understanding their to refer to the gods. And New American Bible has “nor shall you make anything like them,” understanding do as “make,” and “them” as the gods. Good News Translation‘s “do not adopt their religious practices” is probably what is meant, although Durham’s interpretation means practically the same. So a possible alternative model will be “do not do the things they think their gods want them to do.”

But you shall utterly overthrow them is literally “for [ki] destroying you [singular] shall destroy them.” Contemporary English Version has “instead” rather than But. (See the comment on ki at verse 23.) This is the emphatic use of the verb as in 21.12, so utterly has been added. One may also say “completely destroy.” Here again, however, it is not clear whether them refers to the people or to their gods. New Revised Standard Version has changed overthrow to “demolish,” interpreting them as the gods. This is the better choice, so it is good to make it explicit; for example, one may say “Destroy their gods” (Good News Translation), or “Tear down all their images” (Revised English Bible), or even “Destroy their idols.”

And break their pillars in pieces, literally “breaking you shall break,” refers to breaking down “their sacred stone pillars” (Good News Translation). These pillars were large stones placed in a vertical position. The pagan nations used them as symbols of the male god who gave fertility to the earth, but the Israelites used them more as a memorial or marker of a special appearance of God. (See 24.4 and Gen 28.18.) New International Version has “You must … break their sacred stones to pieces.” This may also be expressed as “… smash the large stones that stand in the places where they worship their gods.”

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 .