33On its lower hem you shall make pomegranates of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, all around the lower hem, with bells of gold between them all around—
The Greek and Hebrew hat is translated as “purple” in English is translated as “blue-red” in Ojitlán Chinantec (source: M. Larson in Notes on Translation 1970, p. 1ff.) and in Elhomwe (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext). In Silimo it is translated with a local reference: “the colour of the wipegen berry” (source: Buzz and Myrna Maxey ).
“The Kasua people of Western Province have no word for the color purple. They have words for many other colors: black, red, white, yellow, green, and blue, but not for the color of royalty.
“About nine New Testament passages mention people placing a purple robe on Jesus. The Kasua translation team always wanted to use the word ‘red,’ or keyalo, to describe the robe. Tommy, one of the translation team helpers, disagreed because this is not historically accurate or signifies the royalty of Jesus.
“One of the main rules of translation is that the team must stick to the historical facts when they translate a passage. If they don’t, then how can the readers trust what they’re reading is true? Other questions about truth could bubble in the reader’s minds about the Scriptures. For this reason, Tommy was not willing to change the word purple. So the team hung up the problem, hoping to revisit it later with more inspiration.
“God did not disappoint.
“Years later, Tommy hiked with some of the men near their village. They saw a tree that possessed bulbous growths growing on the side of it like fruit. These growths were ‘the most beautiful color of purple I’d ever seen,’ explained Tommy.
“’What is the name of this tree?’ Tommy asked the men.
“’This is an Okani tree,’ they replied.
“Tommy suggested, ‘Why don’t you, in those passages where we’ve been struggling to translate the color purple, use ‘they put a robe on Jesus the color of the fruit of the Okani tree’?
“’Yeah. We know exactly what color that is,’ the men said enthusiastically.
“Everyone in their village would also visualize this phrase accurately, as the Okani tree is the only tree in that area that produces this kind of purple growth. So now, among the Kasua people, in his royal purple robe, Jesus is shown to be the king that he is.”
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “pomegranate” in English was translated in the 1900 Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) translation (a newer version was published in 2000) as kingmernarssûp or “big lingonberry.” “The Greenlandic word kingmernarssûp (modern kimmernarsuup) derives from kingmernaĸ (modern kimmernaq) ‘lingonberry’ (Vaccinium vitis-idaea). The lingonberry is the fruit of a shrub from the heath family which is native to the boreal forest and tundra in the Arctic regions of North America, Europe, and Siberia, including western and southern Greenland. The term for ‘lingonberry’ has been modified with the suffix –ssuaĸ (modern –suaq ‘big’), resulting in a descriptive term meaning ‘big lingonberry.’ (Modern Greenlandic uses the Danish loanword granatæble.)” (Source: Lily Kahn & Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi in The Bible Translator 2019, p. 125ff.)
The pomegranate Punica granatum has been grown from ancient times across the Middle East over to Iran and into northern India. It is widely cultivated throughout India and the drier parts of Southeast Asia, Malaya, the East Indies, and tropical Africa. Pomegranates are now found throughout the warm parts of southern Europe and across North Africa and Asia all the way to Nepal. Images of pomegranate fruits have been found in Pharaoh’s temple in Karnak, Egypt, dating from around 1480 B.C. In classical Latin the species name was malum punium (apple of Puni) or malum granatum (seedy apple). This has influenced the common name for pomegranate in many languages (for example, GermanGranatapfel, “seed apple”). The English word “pomegranate” itself comes from Latin pomum (fruit, apple) via Old French. The Arabic rummân (رمان) passed into some other languages, including Portuguese romã.
The pomegranate is a small tree, growing to about 3-5 meters (10-17 feet) tall, with narrow, dark green leaves and many thorny branches. It has a lovely red flower. The fruit is a bit smaller than an orange and has a hard skin, which must be cut open to get at the tightly-packed pockets of seeds inside, each seed enclosed in a little bag of juicy pulp. The end of the fruit has a distinctive flower-like shape. The hard skin, which turns from green to red as it ripens, is used as a tanning agent, for medicine, and for ink. The seeds were sometimes made into wine. Pomegranate trees live up to two hundred years.
The pomegranate was one of the seven “special” foods mentioned in Deuteronomy 8:8 that the Israelites would find in Canaan. The fruit was one of several brought back to the camp of the Israelites by the men who scouted out Canaan (Numbers 13:23). In Song of Songs 4:3 the bride of the king is said to have cheeks like halves of a pomegranate, a reference, probably, to their red color. The flower-shaped end of the pomegranate fruit made it an attractive decoration, for example on the fringe of the priests’ robes (Exodus 28:33f. and on the columns and furniture of the Temple (2 Kings 25:17).
In Jewish tradition the pomegranate stands for righteousness, because it is said to have 613 seeds, corresponding to the 613 commands of the Torah. For this reason and others many Jews eat pomegranates on the Jewish New Year Festival (Rosh Hashanah). Jewish tradition also holds that the pointed calyx of the pomegranate is the original “design” for a royal crown.
The Babylonians believed chewing pomegranate seeds before battle made them invincible. The Qur’an mentions pomegranates three times, twice as examples of the good things God creates, once as a fruit found in the Garden of Paradise.
The pomegranate is only recently being grown outside of the Mediterranean area. In West Africa it has not yet become a popular fruit. Where it is known at all, it is called rummân (from Arabic). In Song 4.3 and 6.7 the refer-ences to the pomegranate are rhetorical. There a cultural equivalent representing redness or beauty could be used. Elsewhere in the Bible transliteration is advised, following a major language. The word pome simply means “fruit,” so the basic word to transliterate from is granate (compare granada in Spanish). A possible expression is “garinada fruit.” The Latin phrase Punica granatum for pomegranate means the “grenade” of Punica (= Carthage), a city in present-day Tunisia. The Latin word granatum means “filled with many grains or seeds.” Reflecting this, Bambara of Guinea uses “karanati fruit.” One could also use the Hebrew rimmon as a base. Areas influenced by Arabic may find a word like rummân, for example, roomaanoo in Mandinka. A footnote could describe the fruit as similar to a guava, red and seedy.
Although the pomegranate has been introduced recently throughout Africa, it is not well-known, so the name will most likely need to be transliterated. As the English name is quite long, the translator is advised to translate from another source or look for ways to shorten it, such as “granata fruit.”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 28:33:
Kupsabiny: “Round things like fruits of a certain tree called pomegranate should be sewn/attached to the robe at the hem (lower part of the legs) to surround it. It should be sewn using threads which are blue, purple and red, alternating with golden bells.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Around the hem of the priest’s garment pomegranate made from blue, purple and red thread must be hanged with gold bells also hanged between them.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Have-(someone)-attach around the hem of the garment pomegranate things-like-fruit, that was-made from the blue, purple, and red wool/yarn. [You (sing.)] wrap these decorations with gold bells.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Bariai: “And also, decorate the [bottom] opening of this long robe with needle cords which are red and somewhat red and blue. Make this decoration to look like pomigranet tree fruit. And tie small rattling decorations which they made from gol, and so alternate them together with those images of the pomigranet tree fruits.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
Opo: “They must reinforce its mouth with thread which be purple, and green/blue ones, with red ones, it must resemble fruit and sun which be gold.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
English: “At the lower edge on the robe, they must fasten decorations that look like pomegranate fruit. They must be woven from blue, purple, and red yarn/thread.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
On its skirts refers to the “lower hem” (Good News Translation) of the robe, using the plural form to suggest a flowing skirt. You shall make is the same as in previous verses, but here it refers to special needle work. So one may say “Have them sew pictures [or, likenesses] of pomegranates.” Pomegranates are the fruit of a small tree of the same name found in west Asia and north Africa. They are red and shiny and juicy, about the size of a small apple. In the ancient Near East the tree was symbolic of fertility and long life. In cultures where pomegranates are unknown, one may borrow the term from English or use a locally known fruit with many seeds and similar in size, shape, and color to the pomegranate. It will also be helpful to have a note in the Glossary describing pomegranates.
Of blue and purple and scarlet stuff describes the colors to be used in forming the pomegranates, but it does not indicate the material. (The colors are discussed at 25.4 and the possible materials at 26.1.) Stuff is not in the Hebrew. Good News Translation has “wool,” and other translations have “yarn” (New American Bible, New International Version, New Revised Standard Version). Some follow the Septuagint (New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible) and add the phrase “and fine twisted linen,” but this is not in the Masoretic Text. Around its skirts emphasizes that these pomegranates are to be “all around its lower hem” (Good News Translation).
With bells of gold between them is literally “and [small] bells of gold in their midst around.” Unlike the pomegranates, they were to be real bells of gold so that they would be heard when Aaron would move (verse 35). A golden bell and a pomegranate is repeated, to suggest that they were to be placed alternately, round about on the skirts of the robe. Good News Translation has condensed all of verses 33-34 into one short sentence, “All around its lower hem put pomegranates of blue, purple, and red wool, alternating with gold bells.” However, Good News Translation doesn’t make it clear that the pomegranates were woven or sewn into the hem while the gold bells were attached in some other way. Contemporary English Version‘s rendering is also unclear. To make this point clear one may express the two verses as follows:
• Along the lower hem of the robe have them weave [or, sew] pomegranates, using blue, purple, and red thread. Also have them attach a gold bell between each pomegranate.
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 .
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