The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “brother” in English is translated in Kwere as sekulu, in Elhomwe as mbalaawo´, and in Mandarin Chinese as gēgē (哥哥), all “older brother.”
Note that Kwere also uses lumbu — “older sibling” in some cases. (Source for Kwere and Elhomwe: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext; Chinese: Jost Zetzsche)
In Lama it is translated as “older or younger brother.” (Source: Neal Brinneman)
The Hebrew that is translated as “hair” in English (relating to body hair is translated in Kwere as upipi — a word indicating small hairs. In Makonde, there is also a differentiation between body and head hair with the former being the same than animal hair. (source for both: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
The Hebrew word that is translated into English as “hairy” is translated in Idoma as “has much body hair.” Idoma has distinct terms for head and body hair and since in Idoma culture it is not possible to refer to someone as not having hair at all, Esau needs to be distinguished as having “much hair.” (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
The Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Aramaic that is translated into English as “(to) bless” or “blessed” is translated into a wide variety of possibilities.
The Hebrew term barak (and the Aramaic term berak) also (and originally) means “kneel” (a meaning which the word has retained — see Gen. 24:11) and can be used for God blessing people (or things), people blessing each other, or people blessing God. While English Bible translators have not seen a stumbling block in always using the same term (“bless” in its various forms), other languages need to make distinctions (see below).
In Bari, spoken in South Sudan, the connection between blessing and knees/legs is still apparent. For Genesis 30:30 (in English: “the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned”), Bari uses a common expression that says (much like the Hebrew), ‘… blessed you to my feet.'” (Source: P. Guillebaud in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 189ff. .)
Other examples for the translation of “bless” when God is the one who blesses include (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):
“sprinkle with a propitious (lit. cool) face” (a poetic expression occurring in the priests’ language) (Toraja Sa’dan) (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
“give good things” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
“ask good” (Yakan) (source: Yakan Back Translation)
“praise, say good things” (Central Yupik) (source: Robert Bascom)
“showing a good heart” (Kutu) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
“good luck — have — good fortune — have” (verbatim) ꓶꓼ ꓙꓳ ꓫꓱꓹ ꓙꓳ — ɯa dzho shes zho (Lisu). This construction follows a traditional four-couplet construct in oral Lisu poetry that is usually in the form ABAC or ABCB. (Source: Arrington 2020, p. 58)
wodala — denoting a person who is considered fortunate because he/she has something good that the majority of people do not have. It also acknowledges someone as a causative agent behind “being blessed.” (Chichewa) (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
In Tagbanwa a phrase is used for both the blessing done by people and God that back-translates to “caused to be pierced by words causing grace/favor” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation) and in Benabena a term denoted “good spell” or “good magic” (source: Renck 1990, p. 112).
Ixcatlán Mazatec had to select a separate term when relating “to people ‘blessing’ God” (or things of God): “praise(d)” or “give thanks for” (in 1 Cor. 10:16) (“as it is humans doing the ‘blessing’ and people do not bless the things of God or God himself the way God blesses people” — source: Robert Bascom). Eastern Bru and Kui also use “praise” for this a God-directed blessing (source: Bru back translation and Helen Evans in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) and Uma uses “appropriate/worthy to be worshipped” (source: Uma back translation).
When related to someone who is blessing someone else, it is translated into Tsou as “speak good hopes for.” In Waiwai it is translated as “may God be good and kind to you now.” (Sources: Peng Kuo-Wei for Tsou and Robert Hawkins in The Bible Translator 1962, pp. 164ff. for Waiwai.)
Some languages associate an expression that originally means “spitting” or “saliva” with blessing. The Bantu language Koonzime, for instance, uses that expression for “blessing” in their translation coming from either God or man. Traditionally, the term was used in an application of blessing by an aged superior upon a younger inferior, often in relation to a desire for fertility, or in a ritualistic, but not actually performed spitting past the back of the hand. The spitting of saliva has the effect of giving that person “tenderness of face,” which can be translated as “blessedness.” (Source: Keith Beavon)
Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the DanishBibelen 2020, comments on the translation of this term: “As for ‘blessing’, in the end we in most instances actually kept the word, after initially preferring the expression ‘giving life strength’. The backlash against dropping the word blessing was too hard. But we would often add a few words to help the reader understand what the word means in a given context — people often understand it to refer more to a spiritual connection with God, but in the Hebrew texts, it usually has to do with material things or good health or many children. So when e.g. in Isaiah 19:25 the Hebrew text says ‘God bless them’, we say ‘God bless them’ and we add: ‘and give them strength’. ‘And give them strength’ is not found in the overt Hebrew text, but we are again making explicit what we believe is the meaning so as to avoid misunderstanding.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 27:23:
Kankanaey: “That’s what he said because he did not recognize (empathy particle) that it was Jacob because of his hairy hands. He would-have blessed him,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Newari: “Because there was hair on Jacob’s hand like Esau’s, he was not able to recognize Jacob. Once again he asked [him] to give the blessing –” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Isaac did- not -recognize Jacob, for his arms (were) hairy like those of Esau. Before he blessed Jacob,” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Isaac did not recognize Jacob, because he was blind and because Jacob’s hands were now hairy, like those of his older brother, Esau. So Isaac prepared to bless Jacob.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
And he did not recognize him: he is Isaac and him is Jacob, and so it may be necessary to say, for example, “Isaac did not recognize that it was really Jacob.”
Because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands: in some languages it is more natural for the reason clause to be placed ahead of the result clause; for example, “Because his hands were hairy, Isaac did not recognize that it was really Jacob.” For hands were hairy see suggestions in verse 11; however, in this context it may not be possible to use the same expressions as in verse 11, because Jacob’s hands were not naturally hairy like Esau’s—they only felt hairy because of the goat skins that covered them. It may be necessary to say something like “Isaac didn’t recognize Jacob, because Jacob had goat skins covering his arms, making them hairy like the arms of Esau” or “… because he didn’t discover what was making the arms seem hairy like Esau’s.”
So he blessed him: Revised Standard Version translates blessed as a completed action. This is followed by many other modern translations. Good News Translation, however, understands the imperfect form of the verb bless to mean “was about to give him his blessing,” which may also be expressed, for example, “started to bless him.” The actual blessing does not begin until verse 27, and so blessed in verse 23 is not to be rendered as if the ritual blessing is accomplished in verse 23. Speiser, who translates “Still, as he was about to bless him,” argues that this aspect of the verb is one of many senses of the Hebrew imperfect. In a similar manner Biblia Dios Habla Hoy says “But when he was going to give him his blessing,” and Bible en français courant has “But before giving him his blessing.” Good News Translation, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Bible en français courant, and Speiser are suitable translation models in this case. In some languages it is more natural to express this sense as “So he got ready to bless him….”
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 .
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