The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is transliterated as “Levi” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign that signifies a menorah referring to the temple service of the tribe of the Levites. The same sign is also used for the tribe. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 32:28:
Kupsabiny: “Those people of the house of Levi did like that. That day they killed almost three thousand people.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “So the Levites did what Moses has said That (emph.) day about 3000 people died.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “The descendants of Levi obeyed as Moises commanded them, and that day about 3,000 people died.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Bariai: “Okay, therefore the Livai people went and did as Moses spoke to them of. And in that day three thousand people died.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
Opo: “And people of Levi do it as Moses had said to them. On that day, they kill men who be about 3,000.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
English: “The descendants of Levi did what Moses/I told them to do, and they killed 3,000 men on that day.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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:
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).
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
Many languages use a “body part tally system” where body parts function as numerals (see body part tally systems with a description). One such language is Angguruk Yali which uses a system that ends at the number 27. To circumvent this limitation, the Angguruk Yali translators adopted a strategy where a large number is first indicated with an approximation via the traditional system, followed by the exact number according to Arabic numerals. For example, where in 2 Samuel 6:1 it says “thirty thousand” in the English translation, the Angguruk Yali says teng-teng angge 30.000 or “so many rounds [following the body part tally system] 30,000,” likewise, in Acts 27:37 where the number “two hundred seventy-six” is used, the Angguruk Yali translation says teng-teng angge 276 or “so many rounds 276,” or in John 6:10 teng-teng angge 5.000 for “five thousand.”
This strategy is used in all the verses referenced here.
And the sons of Levi is better understood as “the Levites” (Good News Translation), or “The men of the Levi tribe” (Contemporary English Version). (See the comment at verse 26.) Did according to the word of Moses is literal, using the noun davar (“word”). But it may be more natural to say “did as Moses commanded” (New Revised Standard Version), or “followed his orders” (Contemporary English Version), or simply “the Levites obeyed” (Good News Translation).
And there fell of the people that day is literally “and he [or, it] fell from the people in that day.” The word is often used for falling in battle. This, of course, means that they were “killed” (Good News Translation). About three thousand men means approximately three thousand males. The word for men (ʾish) usually distinguishes them from the women, but this is not explicit here. Probably some women were among those killed, even though Moses commanded the sons of Levi to kill their brothers (verse 27). Some translations therefore translate “people” instead of men (New International Version, Revised English Bible, New Revised Standard Version, and others). In languages that do not use the passive voice, one may follow Good News Translation‘s model and say “The Levites obeyed, and killed about three thousand men that day.”
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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