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.

complete verse (Ezekiel 10:16)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 10:16:

  • Kupsabiny: “When they went/moved, the wheels followed. When they opened the wings to fly, the wheels did not leave them.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “When the cherubim would-move/walk, the wheels moved-with them too, and when they flew, the wheels also went-with.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “When the winged creatures moved, the wheels moved with them. When the winged creatures spread their wings to fly over the ground, the wheels did not leave them.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 10:16

And when the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them: This sentence is the same as the first one in 1.19 (see the comments there), except that cherubim has replaced “living creatures.”

And when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth: This clause adds a detail that was not explicit in chapter 1, namely, that the creatures lifted up their wings (“spread their wings” in New International Version) when they rose from the ground. All Ezekiel told us in chapter 1 was that they “let down their wings” when they stopped (see 1.24-25).

The wheels did not turn from beside them: This clause also is slightly different from the account in chapter 1. It is just another way of saying the wheels moved together with the living creatures when they moved. Although they were not actually connected, they always moved in unison. This clause may be rendered “the wheels did not roll away from their side” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “the wheels did not leave their place beside them” (New Century Version).

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .