cubit

The Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek that is translated as “cubit” or into a metric or imperial measurement in English is translated in Kutu, Kwere, and Nyamwezi as makono or “armlength.” Since a cubit is the measurement from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, one armlength (measured from the center of the chest to the fingertips) equals two cubits or roughly 1 meter. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

Similarly, in Akoose, the translation is “arm distance.” (Source: Joseph Nkwelle Ngome and Marlie van Rooyen & Jacobus A. Naudé in Communicatio 2009, p. 251ff.)

In Klao it is converted into “hand spans” (app. 6 inches or 12 cm) and “finger spans” (app. 1 inch or 2 cm). (Source: Don Slager)

complete verse (Genesis 6:16)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 6:16:

  • Kankanaey: “Make it with three stories (lit. grades) and roof it and leave-a-space of 18 inches. Also make a doorway in its wall.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Make a roof, leaving about one cubit of the ship for light to come. Build the ship, making three stories. Then make a door on one side.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Put-a-roof-on the ship, and put a distance that is one and a half feet [between] the wall and the roof. Make the ship to-have three stories. Put also a door on the side.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Make a roof for the boat. Leave a space of about 18 in./.5 meter between the sides and the roof to let air and light enter (OR, the middle of the roof should be 18 inches higher than the sides). Build the boat with three decks inside, and put a door in one side.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Genesis 6:16

The instructions in this verse concern what is possibly the roof, a door, and three levels or decks.

Make a roof: both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation have footnotes indicating that the word translated roof may possibly mean “window.” The translation roof is uncertain, as the Hebrew word occurs only here, and roof is based on the meaning of a similar word meaning “back” in Arabic. The reference may be to a window in the roof, or a skylight.

And finish it to a cubit above is the literal rendering of an obscure Hebrew clause. From current knowledge of the text, it is not possible to say for certain what this means. Good News Translation has “leave a space of 18 inches between the roof and the sides,” taking it to mean that a space of 18 inches (45 centimeters) is to separate the lower edge of the roof from the top edge of the wall that surrounds the upper deck. Bible en français courant agrees with this rendering. New English Bible takes the clause to mean that the “fall” or slope of the roof is to be 18 inches, that is, the difference between the highest point and the lowest point on the roof is to be 18 inches or 45 centimeters. Moffatt translates “You must put windows in the barge 18 inches from the roof.” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy says “with a window a half meter from the roof.” Since it is not possible to suggest a correct rendering of this instruction, the translator is free to follow any of the possibilities mentioned above.

Many recent translations have followed the understanding of Good News Translation and Bible en français courant; but it is still not easy to describe the construction that this refers to. The following are two attempts to make the picture clear:
(1) When you make the roof, don’t let the roof be hard against the sides. Leave about half a meter between the roof and the sides, to let the light come inside.
(2) When you make the house of the ship, don’t fill in the sides all the way up to the roof. Leave the two sides open at the top, with the open space about half a meter high, to let the air in.

Set the door of the ark in its side: this instruction seems to be clear enough. It means “put a door in the side of the boat.” The instructions do not say in which side.

The final instruction is make it with lower, second, and third decks. Decks refer to the floors, as in a house with three floors or stories. In languages in which more than one floor is unknown in a building, it may be necessary to say, for example, “Make a wooden floor in the boat, and above it make a second floor, and higher still make a third floor.” One translation that follows this approach has “Make three floors or decks in it, one down below, one in the middle, and one on top.” Another translation uses the image of a stack: “Build the boat with three parts [or, divisions] as in a stack, one down, another one in the middle, another one above.”

Good News Translation places the instruction for the decks before that of the door. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy places the instructions for the decks at the beginning of verse 16.

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 .