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 41:18)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 41:18:

  • Kupsabiny: “The wall of the most holy place of the House of God from the floor to the top of the entrance was covered with pictures of leaves of palm trees interspersed with cherubs which were engraved to beautify it. Each cherub had two heads/faces.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “were-decorated with cherubim that had two faces and with palms.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “One was a face of a human, and one was the face of a lion. Those figures were carved on the walls all around the inside of the temple.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 41:18 - 41:19

Of cherubim and palm trees: In Hebrew this verse begins with a word that is literally “and it was made/carved.” Revised Standard Version includes this word at the end of the previous verse, but it is better to place it here at the beginning of a new sentence. A pattern of cherubim and palm trees was carved on the walls of the Temple. Cherubim are the supernatural winged creatures that guarded God’s throne (see the comments on 9.3), but Ezekiel also used this term for the four-faced “living creatures” (Good News Translation) that carried the throne of God in the earlier visions Ezekiel saw (see the comments on 10.1). For carved palm trees, see 40.16. The beginning of verse 18 may be rendered “Cherubim and palm trees were carved [on the walls]” or “People had carved cherubim and palm trees [on the walls].”

A palm tree between cherub and cherub: There was a regular pattern of cherubim and palm trees one after the other.

Every cherub had two faces: the face of a man toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side: Here each cherub had two faces, one of a man, that is, “a human face” (Good News Translation), in one direction, and the other of a young lion, facing the other direction. For young lion, see the comments on 19.2. A human face and a lion’s face were two of the four faces of the cherubim in Ezekiel’s earlier visions (see 1.10). It is possible that the other two faces were not visible because these figures were not three dimensional, but carved on a flat surface. Ezekiel emphasizes the regularity of the cherub-palm tree-cherub pattern by saying the human face looked in one direction and the lion’s face looked in the other direction. A model for this whole sentence is “Each cherub had two faces. 19 A human face looked toward a palm tree in one direction, and a lion’s face looked toward a palm tree in the other direction.”

They were carved on the whole temple round about: Ezekiel repeats that these carvings were on the walls “all around” (Good News Translation) the Temple. The whole temple refers to the whole building.

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 .