gold leaf was hammered out

In Gbaya, the notion of very thin gold leaf is emphasized in Exodus 39:3 with lɛfɛ-lɛfɛ, an ideophone that designates something that is very fine, very thin.

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

purple

The Greek and Hebrew hat is translated as “purple” in English is translated as “blue-red” in Ojitlán Chinantec (source: M. Larson in Notes on Translation 1970, p. 1ff.) and in Elhomwe (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext). In Silimo it is translated with a local reference: “the colour of the wipegen berry” (source: Buzz and Myrna Maxey ).

In Kasua was a little bit more involved, as Rachel Greco recalls (in The PNG Experience ):

“The Kasua people of Western Province have no word for the color purple. They have words for many other colors: black, red, white, yellow, green, and blue, but not for the color of royalty.

“About nine New Testament passages mention people placing a purple robe on Jesus. The Kasua translation team always wanted to use the word ‘red,’ or keyalo, to describe the robe. Tommy, one of the translation team helpers, disagreed because this is not historically accurate or signifies the royalty of Jesus.

“One of the main rules of translation is that the team must stick to the historical facts when they translate a passage. If they don’t, then how can the readers trust what they’re reading is true? Other questions about truth could bubble in the reader’s minds about the Scriptures. For this reason, Tommy was not willing to change the word purple. So the team hung up the problem, hoping to revisit it later with more inspiration.

“God did not disappoint.

“Years later, Tommy hiked with some of the men near their village. They saw a tree that possessed bulbous growths growing on the side of it like fruit. These growths were ‘the most beautiful color of purple I’d ever seen,’ explained Tommy.

“’What is the name of this tree?’ Tommy asked the men.

“’This is an Okani tree,’ they replied.

“Tommy suggested, ‘Why don’t you, in those passages where we’ve been struggling to translate the color purple, use ‘they put a robe on Jesus the color of the fruit of the Okani tree’?

“’Yeah. We know exactly what color that is,’ the men said enthusiastically.

“Everyone in their village would also visualize this phrase accurately, as the Okani tree is the only tree in that area that produces this kind of purple growth. So now, among the Kasua people, in his royal purple robe, Jesus is shown to be the king that he is.”

In Numbers 4:13, Gbaya uses the ideophone soi-soi to emphasize the purple color. Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation and soi-soi designates something that has a red or purple color, or a thing with a clear or clean appearance. (Source: Philip Noss)

complete verse (Exodus 39:3)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 39:3:

  • Kupsabiny: “Gold was removed/taken and pounded/pressed until it was thin and after that, it was cut into narrow threads and woven together in a skilled way. Threads of gold were plaited/woven with others which were blue, purple and red.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “They made thin sheet of gold beating with hammer. Then they made like wires cutting the sheets in the fine linen of blue, purple and red thread as the work of skillful embroiderer.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The made gold thread by flattening the gold and cut it thin. Then they embroidered it to-the fine linen that has blue, purple and red yarn. The embroidery was-very well-done/good.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “In making those gol cords, the man of artwork took a pounding stone and then hit small pieces of gol and then cut them so that they became like small gol cords. And when it was done, then he weaved those gol cords together with needle thread which was red and somewhat red and blue, and so it was for the decoration of that cloth.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “He pound gold red [so that] it be flat, split it eye, sew it together with thread as wise people do it.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “They hammered some thin sheets of gold and cut them into thin strips which they embroidered into the fine linen and into the blue, purple, and red cloth.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exod 39:2 - 39:3

Verse 2 is identical with 28.6, with just two changes. The words “skilfully worked” are omitted here but added at the end of verse 3. And the verb he made is singular rather than plural. This probably refers to Bezalel, but some translations use the plural “they” throughout the chapter (so New International Version, Revised English Bible, and New Jerusalem Bible). Contemporary English Version uses the passive voice throughout, thus avoiding the problem. But in languages that do not have the passive voice, one may use “they,” or even “Bezalel and his helpers,” since this is the beginning of a new chapter. As explained above, the wider context clearly indicates that Bezalel was assisted by Oholiab and other skilled workers whom they also trained. (See 35.34.)

The ephod is described in 28.6-8. (The Hebrew word itself is ʾefod, as explained at 28.4.) Gold probably refers to “gold thread” (Good News Translation), which was used for the embroidery work after the cloth was woven. (See the comment at 28.5.) This is made clear in verse 3. Good News Translation places “gold thread” at the end of the verse to distinguish it from the blue and purple and scarlet stuff, which is identical with the phrase in 25.4. The fine twined linen agrees with 28.6, not with 28.5.

Verse 3 provides new information not given elsewhere. And gold leaf was hammered out is literally “and they stamped [or, beat] the leaves of gold.” This means that the workmen actually “hammered” the gold into “thin sheets” (New International Version), which were then cut into threads, or “thin strips” (Good News Translation). The verb for cut is literally “and he cut,” shifting again to the singular subject, but it is probably better to keep the plural “they.” Revised Standard Version and New Revised Standard Version change to the passive voice for both verbs (so also Contemporary English Version, Revised English Bible, and New American Bible). The word for threads comes from the verb meaning “to twist,” so Revised English Bible has “cut and twisted into braid,” but this may be reading too much into the one word.

To work into the blue … is literally “to make [or, do] into the midst of the blue….” The Hebrew word for “into the midst of” is repeated for the purple and for the scarlet stuff. It is also repeated for the fine twined linen, which is literally only “the [fine] linen.” (New Revised Standard Version has failed to remove “twisted” here as it has in 25.4 and elsewhere. See the comment there.) Good News Translation is correct in having simply “the fine linen.”

The Hebrew for in skilled design is identical with 28.6, where Revised Standard Version has “skilfully worked.” Literally it is “work of reflection,” or “something done by a thinker,” as explained at 26.1. Good News Translation has omitted it here, perhaps inadvertently, but the same expression in 28.6 is rendered as “decorated with embroidery.” (See the comment there.)

An alternative model for verse 3 may be:

• They took gold and hammered it into thin sheets. Then they cut these into strips and wove them skillfully into the fine linen and also into the blue, purple, and red thread.

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 .