complete verse (Exodus 34:33)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 34:33:

  • Kupsabiny: “When Moses had finished talking to those people, he covered his eyes/face.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “When finished speaking with them he covered his face with veil.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “After Moises finished speaking to them, Moises covered his face.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “Moses talked to them and was done, and then he hid his face with a small cloth.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “When Moses tell for them it had finished, he cover his face with cloth.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “When Moses/I finished talking to the people, he/I put a veil over his/my face.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Moses

The name that is transliterated as “Moses” in English is signed in Spanish Sign Language and Polish Sign Language in accordance with the depiction of Moses in the famous statue by Michelangelo (see here ). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )


“Moses” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

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:


“Moses” in French Sign Language (source )

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).


“Moses” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

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

In Estonian Sign Language Moses is depicted with a big beard. (Source: Liina Paales in Folklore 47, 2011, p. 43ff. )


“Moses” in Estonian Sign Language, source: Glossary of the EKNK Toompea kogudus

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Moses .

Translation commentary on Exod 34:33

And when Moses had finished speaking with them is literally “And Moses finished from speaking with them.” Most translations follow the same pattern of making this a temporal clause (when) and using the English pluperfect (had finished).

He put a veil on his face uses a word found only here and the next two verses, so its meaning is not certain. The context makes clear that it was a covering of some kind. Some scholars have suggested it may have been a face mask, similar to what the Egyptian priests wore to represent the “face” of their god. But this theory has not been widely accepted, so most translations call it a veil, which suggests a cloth covering that would conceal his face but still allow him to see. Translator’s Old Testament simply calls it “a covering.”

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 .