15You shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, someone among them will invite you, and you will eat of the sacrifice,
The Greek, Latin, and Hebrew that is typically translated as “prostitute” in English (in some, mostly earlier translation also as “harlot” or “whore”) is translated in the 2024 revision of the inter-confessional LatvianJauna Pārstrādāta latviešu Bībele as netikle or “hussy.” This replaced the previous translation mauka or “whore.” Nikita Andrejevs, editor of the Bible explains the previous and current translations: “The translators at the time felt that this strong word best described the thought contained in the main text. Many had objections, as it seemed that this word would not be the most appropriate for public reading in church.” (Source: Updated Bible published in Latvia ).
Other translations include:
Bariai: “a woman of the road” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “a woman who sells her body” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Uma: “a woman whose behavior is not appropriate” or “a loose woman” (source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “a bad woman” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “a woman who make money through their reputation” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “a woman who makes money with her body” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “a woman whose womanhood is repeatedly-bought” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
The Hebrew, Greek, Ge’ez, and Latin that are translated as “covenant” in English are translated in a variety of ways. Here are some (back-) translations:
Natügu: nzesz’tikr drtwr: “oneness of mind” (source: Brenda Boerger in Beerle-Moor / Voinov, p. 164)
Tagalog: tipan: mutual promising on the part of two persons agreeing to do something (also has a romantic touch and denotes something secretive) (source: G. Henry Waterman in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 24ff. )
Tagbanwa: “initiated-agreement” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Cherokee: “that which is told” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 16)
Guhu-Samane: “The concept [in Mark 14:24 and Matthew 16:28] is not easy, but the ritual freeing of a fruit and nut preserve does afford some reference. Thus, ‘As they were drinking he said to them, ‘On behalf of many this poro provision [poro is the traditional religion] of my blood is released.’ (…) God is here seen as the great benefactor and man the grateful recipient.” (Source: Ernest Richert in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. )
Chichewa: pangano. This word can also be translated as a contract, agreement, or a treaty between two parties. In Chewa culture, two people or groups enter into an agreement to help each other in times of need. When entering into an agreement, parties look at the mutual benefits which will be gained. The agreement terms are mostly kept as a secret between the parties and the witnesses involved. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Law (2013, p. 95) writes about how the Ancient GreekSeptuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew berith was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments (click or tap here to read more):
“Right from the start we witness the influence of the Septuagint on the earliest expressions of the Christian faith. In the New Testament, Jesus speaks of his blood being a kaine diatheke, a ‘new covenant.’ The covenant is elucidated in Hebrews 8:8-12 and other texts, but it was preserved in the words of Jesus with this language in Luke 22:20 when at the Last Supper Jesus said, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Jesus’s blood was to provide the grounds for the ‘new covenant,’ in contrast to the old one his disciples knew from the Jewish scriptures (e.g., Jeremiah 31:31-34). Thus, the earliest Christians accepted the Jewish Scriptures as prophecies about Jesus and in time began to call the collection the ‘Old Testament’ and the writings about Jesus and early Christianity the ‘New Testament,’ since ‘testament’ was another word for ‘covenant.’ The covenant promises of God (berith in Hebrew) were translated in the Septuagint with the word diatheke. In classical Greek diatheke had meant ‘last will, testament,’ but in the Septuagint it is the chosen equivalent for God’s covenant with his people. The author of Hebrews plays on the double meaning, and when Luke records Jesus’ announcement at the Last Supper that his blood was instituting a ‘new covenant,’ or a ‘new testament,’ he is using the language in an explicit contrast with the old covenant, found in the Jewish scriptures. Soon, the writings that would eventually be chosen to make up the texts about the life and teachings of Jesus and the earliest expression of the Christian faith would be called the New Testament. This very distinction between the Old and New Testaments is based on the Septuagint’s language.”
The Hebrew that is translated as “prostitute oneself” or “play the prostitute” in English is translated in Vidunda as “(practice) sexual immorality.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 34:15:
Kupsabiny: “Be careful. Do not make any agreement with people who live in that country where you are going to. If/When they make sacrifices to the things they kneel for/worship, they might invite you join the group and you follow their lifestyle of eating meat which was sacrificed (to idols).” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Be careful, do not make a treaty with the people of that countries, otherwise they will also invite you the feast of worshiping with sacrifice to their god then you will eat their feast.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “You should- not -make agreement/covenant with the people who live in the land where you (plur.) were going. For you might be tempted to eat their sacrifices when they invite you to their sacrifice and worship to their gods.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Bariai: “‘And watch out well. You (pl.) can’t/mustn’t strike a decision/agreement with the people in that land. For they will lift up the names of their gods with their practice of sexual immorality, and so they kill animals to be their offering to them. And when they do like that, then they’re going to pull you so that you go together with them, and then you’ll be eating their offering food.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
Opo: “you not (imp.) with them [ear] agree, because when they entreat god their, giving it thing on altar, they will call you you go do it with them together, and you will eat [flesh] animal of god their,” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
English: “Do not make peace agreements with any group that lives in that land. When they worship their gods and offer sacrifices to their gods, and they invite you to join them, do not join them. If you join them, you will eat the food that they sacrifice to their gods, and you will not be faithful to me. You will be like people who commit adultery, who are not being faithful to their spouses.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Lest you make a covenant … land is identical with verse 12. And when they play the harlot is just one word in the Hebrew that means, literally, “and they will commit adultery” or “engage in prostitution.” After their gods uses ʾelohim for gods. The expression is often used figuratively to describe the Israelites’ unfaithfulness to Yahweh when they worshiped other gods. The intended meaning here may suggest the actual sexual immorality practiced by the pagan religions as part of their worship, or it may simply be an Israelite way of describing all pagan worship. Good News Translation abandons the figure entirely, “when they worship their pagan gods,” but New Revised Standard Version has “when they prostitute themselves to their gods.” The translation, however, should not suggest that these inhabitants of the land actually engaged in sexual intercourse with their gods. Translators may use the figure of “prostitution” if it will be natural in the receptor language. Otherwise it will be better to follow the idea of “worshiping other gods.”
And sacrifice to their gods is literally “and they will sacrifice to their ʾelohim.” The idea of when, both here and in the preceding clause, is implied by the main clause, you eat of his sacrifice, at the end of the verse. And one invites you is literally “and he calls to you [singular].” Revised Standard Version renders this as the third part of a long temporal clause introduced by when. New Revised Standard Version has changed this to the main clause, “someone among them will invite you.” Good News Translation adds the implied meaning, “they will invite you to join them.”
You eat of his sacrifice, literally “and you will eat from his sacrifice,” is the main clause in Revised Standard Version. This is the danger referred to by the word lest at the beginning of the verse. In some translations this clause is interpreted as a prediction of what will definitely happen (similarly New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). But the force of the word lest, which probably continues even through verse 16, makes this only a possibility. So Good News Translation has “you will be tempted to eat the food they offer to their gods.” And New American Bible has “one of them may invite you and you may partake of their sacrifices.” (For a similar New Testament situation, see 1Corinthians 8.) Good News Translation‘s model will be a good one for many translators.
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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