ark of the covenant

The Hebrew, Greek, and Latin that is sometimes translated as “ark of the covenant” in English (other English options: “pact chest” [translation by John Goldingay, 2018] or “Coffer of the Covenant” [translation by Everett Fox, 1995]) is translated in various ways:

  • Mairasi: Anasi Farjora or “Covenant Place” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Uma: “Promise Box” (source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Covenant Chest” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Chest of the Agreement” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Chest of the Initiated-agreement” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “law box” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Mairasi: “Covenant Place” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Danish Bibelen 2020: kisten med den hellige aftale or “chest with the holy agreement” (source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )

Following is reverse applique stitching (“mola”) by an unknown Guna artist depicting the ark:

Source: Sacred Art Pilgrim website .

Following is an artwork by Sister Marie Claire , SMMI (1937–2018) from Bengaluru, India:

For more information about images by Sister Marie Claire and ways to purchase them as lithographs, see here . For other images of Sister Marie Claire paintings in TIPs, see here.

In American Sign Language it is translated with a sign that combines “box” and the wings of the cherubim on top of the ark (see Exod 25:18 and following). (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)


“Ark of the covenant” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor

See also covenant (tablets), cherub and tabernacle (noun).

covenant (tablets)

The Greek and Hebrew that is typically translated as “covenant” or “testimony” in English and refers to the stone tablets that Moses brought down from Mount Sinai are translated in Kupsabiny as “two stones (that are flat-and-thin) on which the law is written,” in Hiligaynon as “the wide stone on which is-written the Law.” (Source: Kupsabiny and Hiligaynon Back-Translations), and in the interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) as miyala iŵiri ija yolembedwapo mau a chipangano or “those two stones on which are written the words of the agreement” (Source: Wendland 1998, p. 110).

In the English Translation for Translators it is translated as stone slabs and in the New English Bible as Tokens (source: Elizabeth Lewis).

See also 10 commandments on stone tablets (image) and ark of the covenant.

complete verse (Exodus 25:16)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 25:16:

  • Kupsabiny: “After that someone take the two stones that are flat-and-thin which I will give you on which I have written the law and someone put (them) into the box.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Then put in the ark the tablets of the covenant which I will give you.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Then put-in the Box the wide stone on which was-written the Agreement which I will-give you.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “And later I will give two stones of the law to you (sing.). And so you will place those two stones into the box.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “When you will make it will be finished, stone be flat which I writing word my agreement on it which I will give you, you put it within it.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “Put inside the chest the two stone slabs that I will give you, on which I have written my commandments.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.

Translation commentary on Exod 25:16

And you shall put into the ark is literally “And you [singular] shall give unto the box.” The word for “give” here means to “put” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version), “place” (Durham), or “deposit” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). The testimony refers to the reminders or terms of the covenant, in this case probably “the two stone tablets … on which the commandments are written” (Good News Translation). (See the comment on “testimony” at 16.34.) Translator’s Old Testament has “the covenant symbols” and New American Bible simply has “the commandments.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh uses square brackets to show that some English words are added in translation—“[the tablets of] the Pact”—but this is not recommended.

Which I shall give you is literally “which I give unto you [singular].” The tense of the verb is not indicated, but the wider context suggests the future tense (see 31.18). Durham, however, has “which I am giving you,” and New Jerusalem Bible has “which I am about to give you.” Contemporary English Version reorders the clauses as follows: “When I give you the Ten Commandments written on two flat stones, put them inside the chest.”

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 .