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 41:20)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 41:20:

  • Kupsabiny: “The wall of the House of God was decorated from bottom to the top of the entrance with things of palm trees and cherubs.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “from the floor up to the top, including the outer wall of the Holy Place.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “They covered all the walls, from the floor to the top of the walls.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 41:20

From the floor to above the door cherubim and palm trees were carved on the wall: Verse 20 repeats some of the information in verses 16-18 (see the comments there). Instead of on the wall, the Hebrew text has two words that read literally “and the wall of the main room [of the Temple].” Good News Translation has omitted these words. Revised Standard Version changes the Hebrew text by following verse 25, but it is not necessary to do so. Here the two Hebrew words should be taken as an additional comment to remind the reader that even the wall of the Holy Place had the pattern of cherubim and palm trees carved on it (compare English Standard Version “similarly the wall of the nave”). New International Reader’s Version provides a good model for this verse, saying “Cherubim and palm trees decorated the wall of the Holy Room. They were carved from the floor all the way up to the area above the entrance.” In languages where it is more natural to make the participants explicit, translators may say:

• People had even carved cherubim and palm trees on the walls of the Holy Place, from the floor all the way up to the area above the entrance.

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 .