ark of the covenant

The Hebrew, Greek, and Latin that is sometimes translated as “ark of the covenant” in English (other English options: “pact chest” [translation by John Goldingay, 2018] or “Coffer of the Covenant” [translation by Everett Fox, 1995]) is translated in various ways:

  • Mairasi: Anasi Farjora or “Covenant Place” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Uma: “Promise Box” (source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Covenant Chest” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Chest of the Agreement” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Chest of the Initiated-agreement” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “law box” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Mairasi: “Covenant Place” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Danish Bibelen 2020: kisten med den hellige aftale or “chest with the holy agreement” (source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )

Following is reverse applique stitching (“mola”) by an unknown Guna artist depicting the ark:

Source: Sacred Art Pilgrim website .

Following is an artwork by Sister Marie Claire , SMMI (1937–2018) from Bengaluru, India:

For more information about images by Sister Marie Claire and ways to purchase them as lithographs, see here . For other images of Sister Marie Claire paintings in TIPs, see here.

In American Sign Language it is translated with a sign that combines “box” and the wings of the cherubim on top of the ark (see Exod 25:18 and following). (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)


“Ark of the covenant” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor

See also covenant (tablets), cherub and tabernacle (noun).

complete verse (Exodus 40:3)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 40:3:

  • Kupsabiny: “After that, someone place the Covenant Box inside and conceal the Inner Room with (the) curtain.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Keeping the ark of Testimony on it hang the curtain before of it.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Put inside of it the Box of-the Covenant/Agreement, and shield/cover-over it with-a curtain/hang the curtain to-enclose it.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “And put the law box into my shelter, and when it’s done then hang the big cloth which splits my shelter’s interior so that it becomes two, and then put the law box so that it remains behind it.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “Afterwards, sacred box which have stone be flat of word of my covenant on it, you (sing., imp.) put it within it, protect it with cloth of door.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “Put inside it the sacred chest that contains the stone slabs on which are engraved the Ten Commandments, and hang the curtain in front of it.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exod 40:3

And you shall put in it is literally “And you [singular] shall place there.” The ark of the testimony, of course, refers to the “ark of the covenant” (New Revised Standard Version), as at 25.22. This expression focuses on the idea of “reminder,” which refers to the terms of the covenant written on the stone tablets. So Good News Translation has “the Covenant Box containing the Ten Commandments.”

And you shall screen the ark with the veil is literally “and you [singular] shall isolate the ark with the veil.” The word for veil is the same word used in 26.31, which is distinguished from the “screen” in 26.36. However, the word for screen here is the verb from which the noun “screen” is derived. It means to block off, or “screen off” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), or “shield” (New International Version).

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 .