35the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining, and Moses would put the veil on his face again until he went in to speak with him.
Some translations specifically reproduce the voice of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament / Hebrew Bible.
English: the Children of Israel would see Moshe’s face,
that the skin of Moshe’s face was radiating;
but then Moshe would put back the veil on his face,
until he came in to speak with him.
Source: Everett Fox 1995
German: sahen die Söhne Jissraels Mosches Antlitz,
daß die Haut des Antlitzes strahlte;
dann aber legte Mosche den Schleier wieder über sein Antlitz,
bis er kam, mit ihm zu reden.
Source: Buber / Rosenzweig 1976
French: Les Benéi Israël voient les faces de Moshè:
oui, la peau des faces de Moshè rayonnait.
Moshè retourne le voile sur ses faces,
jusqu’à sa venue pour parler avec lui.
Source: Chouraqui 1985
For other verses or sections translated with a Hebraic voice, see here.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 34:35:
Kupsabiny: “those people were seeing his face glittering. Then he covered his eyes/face until the time when he entered into the Tent to share news with God.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Then the Israelites saw Moses face was radiant. He kept his face covered until he entered inside to speak with the Lord.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “and the Israelinhon would see that his face was bright. Then Moises would cover his face again until he went-back/returned to the Tent to speak with the LORD.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Bariai: “then they saw [that] his face was very shiny. Therefore always Moses took that small cloth and then hid his face with it until he went to talk together with him again.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
Opo: “they were seeing his face with its skin flashing. Therefore, Moses again [was] covering his face with cloth until he had returned to God to speak.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
English: “The Israeli people would see that Moses’/my face was still shining. Then he/I would put the veil back on his/my face again until the next time that he/I went into the Sacred Tent to talk with Yahweh.” (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
The people of Israel saw the face of Moses continues the sentence from verse 34, as well as the idea of repeated action; that is, every time Moses came out of the tent, “they would see his face shining” (Good News Translation). That the skin of Moses’ face shone uses the same verb first mentioned in verse 29. Most translations combine this phrase with the first part of the verse, as in Good News Translation. Revised English Bible begins a new sentence, “The Israelites would see how the skin of Moses’ face shone.”
And Moses would put the veil upon his face again is literally “and Moses used to cause to return [or, replace] the covering over his face.” This suggests that Moses did not wear the veil while he was reporting to the people what Yahweh had commanded him to say (verse 34). Until he went in to speak with him is literally “until his entering to speak with him.” This means that Moses evidently wore the veil most of the time, removing it only when entering the tent of meeting to speak with Yahweh and then reporting Yahweh’s commands to the people.
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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