cherub

Some key biblical terms that were directly transliterated from the Hebrew have ended up with unforeseen meanings in the lexicons of various recipient languages.

Take, for example, the English word “cherub,” from Hebrew “kĕrȗb.” Whereas the original Hebrew term meant something like “angelic being that is represented as part human, part animal” (…), the English word now means something like “a person, especially a child, with an innocent or chubby face.” Semantic shift has been conditioned in English by the Renaissance artistic tradition that portrayed cherubim in the guise of cute little Greek cupids. This development was of course impossible to foresee at the time when the first English translations borrowed this Hebrew word into the English Bible tradition, following the pattern of borrowing set by the Greek and Latin translations of the Old Testament.

In Russian, the semantic shift of this transliteration was somewhat different: the -îm ending of “kĕrūbîm,” originally signifying plurality in Hebrew, has been reanalyzed as merely the final part of the lexical item, so that the term херувим (kheruvim) in Russian is a singular count noun, not a plural one. (A similar degrammaticalization is seen in English writers who render the Hebrew plural kĕrūbîm as “cherubims.”) Apparently, this degrammaticalization of the Hebrew ending is what led the Russian Synodal translator of Genesis 3:24 to mistakenly render the Hebrew as saying that the Lord God placed a kheruvim (accusative masculine singular in Russian) to the east of the garden of Eden, instead of indicating a plural number of such beings. (Source: Vitaly Voinov in The Bible Translator 2012, p. 17ff. )

In Ngäbere the Hebrew that is translated in English as “cherub” is translated as “heavenly guard” (source: J. Loewen 1980, p. 107), in Nyamwezi as v’amalaika v’akelubi or “Cherubim-Angel” to add clarity, in Vidunda as “winged creature,” in Makonde as “winged creature from heaven” (source for this and two before: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext), in Bura-Pabir as “good spirit with wings,” and in Northern Pashto it is either translated as “heavenly creature” (Afghan Pashto Bible, publ. 2023) or “winged creature” (Holy Bible in Pakistani [Yousafzai] Pashto, publ. 2020) (source for Bura-Pabir and Northern Pashto: Andy Warren-Rothlin).

In French Sign Language it is translated with a sign that combines “angel” and “spinning sword” (referring to Genesis 3:24):


“Cherub” in French Sign Language (source: La Bible en langue des signes française )

See also seraph and ark of the covenant.

mercy seat

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “mercy seat,” “cover of the ark” or similar in English is translated by the interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) as or “the cover of that box which was the place for forgiving sins upon” (source: Wendland 1998, p. 110) and in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) with Sühnedeckel or “atonement cover.”

complete verse (Exodus 25:19)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 25:19:

  • Kupsabiny: “to be one with that lid. Let one touch this side of the lid and another touch the other side.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “and cherubim put at both side of atonement of cover. To make cherubim and atonement of cover at one piece of gold.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Then [you (sing.)] have-(someone)-make two gold cherubim on each end of the cover/lid of the Box. They should be only one form of the cover of the Box.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “You (pl.) must take a single piece of gol and then hit it with a pounding stone and so make the box’s top with its two kerubim, one on one side, and the other on the other side. Make one on the edge of the box’s top on our (incl.) right side, and the other on our left side. And so these two kerubim will stay on the edge of the box’s top on this side and that side.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “One, you make it on right, and the second you make it on left. Cherub, you shall pound it together with head of box which be place-of-mercy.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “One of these is to be put at each end of the chest, but the gold from which they are made must be joined to the gold from which the lid is made.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exod 25:19

The first half of this verse simply repeats in different words what is said in verse 18. Here the imperative form of the verb is used: “You [singular] make one cherub from this end and one cherub from that end.” Good News Translation continues from the previous verse: “one for each end of the lid.”

Of one piece with the mercy seat is literally “from the kapporeth” (see verse 17). This may mean that the cherubim and the cover (verse 17) are to be formed from the same piece of gold. So Translator’s Old Testament has “make from one piece of gold the cover and the cherubim.” Contemporary English Version interprets this phrase differently, “and fasten them to the lid at the ends of the chest,” suggesting that they were to be made separately and then attached to the kapporeth. Jerusalem Bible interprets this in the same way, “and fasten them to the two ends … so that they make one piece with it.” New Jerusalem Bible, however, has now revised this to read “you will model the winged creatures of a piece with the mercy-seat at either end.” Good News Translation allows for either interpretation: “Make them so that they form one piece with the lid.”

Shall you make surprisingly shifts to the plural form of you, which English translations do not reflect. This may easily be shown in many other languages, but the singular form should be retained if the translation will sound unnatural.

Verses 18 and 19 may be combined as follows:

• Then take a hammer and pound out the two ends of the lid into the shape of two cherubs [or, winged beings], so that they are made out of the same piece of pure gold as the lid.

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 .