complete verse (Exodus 4:3)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 4:3:

  • Kupsabiny: “God told him that, ‘Throw it down.’ He threw it down. And after he had thrown it down, the stick changed to be a snake. Moses ran away from that snake.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “The Lord said, "Throw it on the ground."
    Then Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake. Seeing it Moses was afraid and jumped back.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The LORD said, ‘Throw that on the ground.’ So Moises threw the staff/walking-stick and it became a snake. Moises was-afraid, so he ran from it.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “And then he said, ‘Throw it down to the ground.’
    Okay, Moses threw it down to the ground, and then it changed itself and became a snake. And Moses saw [it] and so was about to flee.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “And God said to him «Throw it down!» Therefore he threw it down, and it changed into serpent. He ran from it.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “He said, ‘Throw it down on the ground!’ So, he/I threw it on the ground, and it became a snake! And he/I ran/jumped away from it.” (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 .

Honorary "are" construct denoting God ("say")

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Exod 4:3

And he said, of course, means “The LORD said” (Good News Translation). Cast it on the ground is a command to “Throw it on the ground” (Good News Translation). The next clause need not repeat the same words and may even be changed to a temporal clause as in Good News Translation: “When Moses threw it down.”

And it became a serpent means that the rod “was changed into a serpent” (New American Bible). The word for serpent is the common generic term for snake and does not indicate what kind of snake. A less common term is used in 7.9. (See the comment there.) However, since Moses recoiled from the reptile, this probably indicates that he recognized it as a poisonous kind of snake. And Moses fled from it should not be taken too literally; even Good News Translation‘s “he ran away from it” may be misleading. Better perhaps is “he drew back from it” (Jerusalem Bible), or he “recoiled from it” (New Jerusalem Bible), or he “shied away from it” (New American Bible).

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 .