Pharaoh

The term that is used for monarchs in ancient Egypt and is transliterated as “Pharaoh” in English is translated in Finnish Sign Language with the sign signifying the “fake metal beard (postiche)” that was used by Pharaohs during official functions. (Source: Tarja Sandholm)


“Pharaoh” in Finnish Sign Language (source )

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Pharaoh .

complete verse (Exodus 7:23)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 7:23:

  • Kupsabiny: “But that ruler returned to his home without listening to what Moses told him.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Pharaoh had no concern whatever and returned towards his Royal palace.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The king returned to his palace, and he did- not even -pay-attention to that-(event).” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “Therefore the great chief of the Isip people returned back to his house. This event didn’t cause him to be worried at all.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “He left from them, went entered house. And it not him heart go.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “The king turned and went back to his palace, and he did not think any more about it.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exod 7:23

Pharaoh turned means that the king “turned away” from Moses and Aaron, and possibly from his own magicians as well. He had evidently been standing there beside the river with his officials while all this was taking place. Went into his house suggests that the palace was close to the river. But this is not clearly indicated, so Good News Translation has “he turned and went back to his palace.”

He did not lay even this to heart is another idiom meaning “without paying any attention even to this” (Good News Translation). The word for heart may also refer to the mind or the inner self. In 9.21 the same idiom, with a different word for lay, is rendered in Revised Standard Version as “did not regard,” and in Good News Translation as “paid no attention to.” Other possible renderings are he “dismissed the matter from his mind” (New English Bible), “taking no notice even of this” (New Jerusalem Bible), and “paying no regard even to this” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh).

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 .