brought her to the man

The Hebrew that is translated as “brought her to the man (or: him)” is translated in Northeastern Dinka grammatically ambiguously since 3rd person pronouns do not show any gender distinction: “brought him/her to the man.”

LORD God / Lord God

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated in English as “Lord God” or “Lord God” encountered an issue in Tok Pisin. Norm Mundhenk explains why (in The Bible Translator 1985, p. 442ff. ):

“I am not aware of any serious objections to either the word God [for “God”] or Bikpela [for YHWH] alone. However, when trying to translate the expression ‘the Lord God,’ the translators first tried to use Bikpela God. But Bikpela is also an adjective meaning ‘big’ and in the expression Bikpela God, it would usually be understood as “Big God,’ as though there were other smaller gods around also.

“In the Old Testament, as the recent articles have clearly pointed out, the English word ‘Lord‘ often stands for the Hebrew name of God, YHWH, which is usually spelled these days as Yahweh. With this in mind, the name Yawe was tried in Tok Pisin, but it was felt that most readers did not connect this strange name with God. Eventually, we decided to keep Bikpela, but to translate ‘Lord God’ as God, Bikpela, literally ‘God, the Lord.’

“The reason for this decision was really only that the words could be used naturally in this order, without the problem of giving a wrong meaning which we had when putting Bikpela first. It was not until some people asked if it was right to ‘turn around’ the name and the title in this way that we realized that there was really a deeper reason for doing what we did. In fact, for most speakers of Tok Pisin, God is the only God they know, and it seems likely that God is understood as the personal name of God, rather than as a class name. Bikpela, on the other hand, is a class name — there can be more than one Bikpela, though it is recognized that God is the greatest of them and there is no confusion when he is referred to simply as Bikpela. Thus, in Hebrew an expression like ‘YHWH, the God of Israel,’ has the personal name first, followed by the class name explaining who he is. And we have exactly the same situation in Tok Pisin when we say God, Bikpela bilong Isrel. I suspect that in many other languages which have borrowed the word ‘God,’ we might find that it has been borrowed basically as a personal name, rather than as a class name.”

complete verse (Genesis 2:22)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 2:22:

  • Kankanaey: “Then he took the rib that he had removed and he turned-it-into a woman. When the man got-up/woke-up, right-there was the woman that God had taken to him. They two were naked, but they were not ashamed. The man said, ‘Now this is the one that suits me, because my bone, that is her bone just the same, and my flesh (muscle), that is her flesh also. I name her woman, because she came-from man.’ That is the reason that a man leaves his father and mother so-that he will take-into-his-home his wife, and they will become one.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Newari: “From that very rib the LORD God made a female human and brought [her] to the man.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The rib that the LORD God had-taken from the man he made (it) into a woman, and he brought her to the man.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Yahweh then made a woman from the rib that he had taken from the man’s body, and he brought her to the man.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Genesis 2:22

And the rib … he made into a woman: made is literally “built,” which is another term again meaning “create, make, form.”

Because verse 21 has already said that the LORD took one of his ribs, Good News Translation does not repeat all these words. Translators may wish to follow Good News Translation. However, in some languages a demonstrative pronoun or other linking device may be necessary; for example, “this rib.”

For woman see the discussion in verse 23.

And brought her to the man: brought is the same action as God did with the animals in verse 19.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .