cherub

Some key biblical terms that were directly transliterated from the Hebrew have ended up with unforeseen meanings in the lexicons of various recipient languages.

Take, for example, the English word “cherub,” from Hebrew “kĕrȗb.” Whereas the original Hebrew term meant something like “angelic being that is represented as part human, part animal” (…), the English word now means something like “a person, especially a child, with an innocent or chubby face.” Semantic shift has been conditioned in English by the Renaissance artistic tradition that portrayed cherubim in the guise of cute little Greek cupids. This development was of course impossible to foresee at the time when the first English translations borrowed this Hebrew word into the English Bible tradition, following the pattern of borrowing set by the Greek and Latin translations of the Old Testament.

In Russian, the semantic shift of this transliteration was somewhat different: the -îm ending of “kĕrūbîm,” originally signifying plurality in Hebrew, has been reanalyzed as merely the final part of the lexical item, so that the term херувим (kheruvim) in Russian is a singular count noun, not a plural one. (A similar degrammaticalization is seen in English writers who render the Hebrew plural kĕrūbîm as “cherubims.”) Apparently, this degrammaticalization of the Hebrew ending is what led the Russian Synodal translator of Genesis 3:24 to mistakenly render the Hebrew as saying that the Lord God placed a kheruvim (accusative masculine singular in Russian) to the east of the garden of Eden, instead of indicating a plural number of such beings. (Source: Vitaly Voinov in The Bible Translator 2012, p. 17ff. )

In Ngäbere the Hebrew that is translated in English as “cherub” is translated as “heavenly guard” (source: J. Loewen 1980, p. 107), in Nyamwezi as v’amalaika v’akelubi or “Cherubim-Angel” to add clarity, in Vidunda as “winged creature,” in Makonde as “winged creature from heaven” (source for this and two before: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext), in Bura-Pabir as “good spirit with wings,” and in Northern Pashto it is either translated as “heavenly creature” (Afghan Pashto Bible, publ. 2023) or “winged creature” (Holy Bible in Pakistani [Yousafzai] Pashto, publ. 2020) (source for Bura-Pabir and Northern Pashto: Andy Warren-Rothlin).

In French Sign Language it is translated with a sign that combines “angel” and “spinning sword” (referring to Genesis 3:24):


“Cherub” in French Sign Language (source: La Bible en langue des signes française )

See also seraph and ark of the covenant.

mercy seat

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “mercy seat,” “cover of the ark” or similar in English is translated by the interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) as or “the cover of that box which was the place for forgiving sins upon” (source: Wendland 1998, p. 110) and in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) with Sühnedeckel or “atonement cover.”

complete verse (Exodus 37:8)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 37:8:

  • Kupsabiny: “to join with that lid. He placed one at this end of the lid and the other at the other end.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “He placed the cherubim with the Mercy Seat at both sides making with same piece of gold.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “They also made two gold cherubim, and put/placed to each end of the lid/cover of the Box/Ark.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “One of those kerubim, he made it on the edge of box’s top at our (incl.) right side, and he made the other at our left side. He made the box’s top together with those two kerubim from one piece of gol.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “One, he made it on right, and the second he made it on left. Cherub, he forged it together with head of box which be place-of-mercy.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “One of these was put at each end of the chest. The gold with which they were made was joined to the gold from which the lid was made.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exod 37:7 - 37:8

Verses 7-8 are almost identical with 25.18-19. The verb he made, used three times, is of course changed to completed action. In verse 7 the Hebrew word order is the same, but Revised Standard Version rephrases it by placing the semicolon in a different place. In verse 8 on its two ends is literally “from its two ends,” while in 25.19 it is literally “upon its two ends.” As in 25.19, of one piece with the mercy seat is an interpretation of the literal “from the kapporeth,” which Good News Translation renders as “they formed one piece with the lid.” Either interpretation is possible. (See the comment there.)

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 .