hyssop

The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated in English as “hyssop” is translated in Lokạạ as yisoki. Yisoki “is the name of a local bitter herb that is used for ritual cleansing in the traditional religion. It was, therefore, perceived by the translators as functionally adequate for ‘hyssop.’ The translation is thus symbolic in that it uses an indigenous Lokạạ botanical term and simultaneously indexical in that the translators believed that the translation points to the functional significance of the incipient term.” (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )

Likewise in Kwere mfumbasi is used, a local plant that both looked similar to hyssop and is traditionally used for sprinkling in rituals. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

For more information see Hyssopus officinalis .

scroll

The Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek that is translated in English as “scroll” is translated in Khoekhoe with xamiǂkhanisa or “rolled-up book.” (Source: project-specific notes in Paratext)

See also roll up the scroll.

complete verse (Hebrews 9:19)

Following are a number of back-translations of Hebrews 9:19:

  • Uma: “After Musa delivered all the commands that are in the Law of the Lord to all the Yahudi people, he took the blood of a calf and the blood of a male goat and mixed it with water. After that, he also took hisop grass/plants that were tied-in-a-bundle with red sheep fur, he dipped it in the blood, and he sprinkled it on the Book of the Law of the Lord and on the people/crowd.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “It was like this. At first Musa informed the people of all of God’s commandments in the law. After that he fetched the blood of (a) cow and the blood of (a) goat and mixed it with water, and then he sprinkled that on the holy-book in which was written God’s law and he also sprinkled all the people. For sprinkling he used a branch of the plant called hisup and sheep’s wool dyed red.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And because of this, when Moses first taught to all of the people all that God wanted them to fulfill in the Law, he got some blood of some young cows which he had been sacrificed and he mixed it water. He moistened it in the hair of a sheep which had been dyed red and a branch of a tree named hysop. And he sprinkled with that the book where the Law was written and he sprinkled also all the people.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because what Moses did back then, he told all the commands of the law to the collective-people. Then he got-some-of the blood of butchered calves (lit. offspring of cows) and diluted it with water. He also got sheep’s hair that was colored red and wrapped it around a small-branch of hisopo. After that he dipped it in the blood and sprinkled it on the rolled-up paper on which was written the law and on the collective-people.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For when Moises explained to all the people the explanation of each law, he took the blood of cows and goats, blood which was mixed with water. He also took sheep wool which had been dyed red, attached it to a small-branch of isopo, and then dipped it into that blood, for he then sprinkled the crowd of people and the things-on-which-were-written those laws of God.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Moses, after telling the people all the words commanded by the law, took up a stick of hyssop on which was some red wool. There where there was some blood of cows and of goats in which was placed water, there was dipped the stick. Then the blood was sprinkled by him on the Book of the Law. And he also put the blood on all the people.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

law

The Greek that is translated in English as “Law” or “law” is translated in Mairasi as oro nasinggiei or “prohibited things” (source: Enggavoter 2004) and in Noongar with a capitalized form of the term for “words” (Warrinya) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

In Yucateco the phrase that is used for “law” is “ordered-word” (for “commandment,” it is “spoken-word”) (source: Nida 1947, p. 198) and in Central Tarahumara it is “writing-command.” (wsource: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

See also teaching / law (of God) (Japanese honorifics).

Moses

The name that is transliterated as “Moses” in English is signed in Spanish Sign Language and Polish Sign Language in accordance with the depiction of Moses in the famous statue by Michelangelo (see here ). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )


“Moses” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here).

In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:


“Moses” in French Sign Language (source )

The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).

Even at the time of his translation, Jerome likely was not the only one making that decision as this article alludes to (see also Moses as Pharaoh’s Equal — Horns and All ).

In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).


“Moses” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the eye make up he would have worn as the adopted son of an Egyptian princess. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)


“Moses” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL

In Estonian Sign Language Moses is depicted with a big beard. (Source: Liina Paales in Folklore 47, 2011, p. 43ff. )


“Moses” in Estonian Sign Language, source: Glossary of the EKNK Toompea kogudus

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

See also Moses and Elijah during the Transfiguration.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Moses .

Translation commentary on Hebrews 9:19

First may be expressed as “The first thing Moses did.”

Proclaimed: a word suggesting speaking, such as “told,” “declared” (Revised Standard Version), or “recited” (New English Bible), is better than a word suggesting reading, as in Bijbel in Gewone Taal and Knox. There is nothing to suggest that the author sees any importance in the exact order in which the ceremonies were performed. However, the probable order of events implied in Exodus 24 is: (a) the Law is told to the people; (b) the Law is written down (verse 4); (c) oxen are sacrificed (verse 5); (d) half the blood is thrown on the altar (verse 6); (e) Book of the Covenant is read out (verse 7); (f) half the blood is thrown on the people (verse 8).

The people is strictly “all the people,” “the whole people,” in the first half of the verse as well as the second. Good News Translation omits “all” (Revised Standard Version) to avoid repetition. The writer combines references to Exodus 24.3, 6-8; Leviticus 14.4; and Numbers 19.6. Throughout this passage the Greek word for “all” is repeated three times in verse 19 and once each in verses 21 and 22.

All the commandments as set forth in the Law may be expressed as “all that God had commanded, as written down in the laws,” as in a number of languages it is impossible to use a singular form, “the Law,” since “Law” cannot be used as a collective term for a series of commandments or rules.

Bulls and goats: there is a minor textual problem. Many good manuscripts add “and goats” after bulls. These words are included in square brackets in the third edition of the UBS Greek New Testament, and are included in the fourth edition of Good News Translation, but not in Bible en français courant, New English Bible, and Translator’s New Testament. It is more likely that the author wrote the words translated “and goats,” but that copyists omitted these words because goats are not mentioned in Exodus 24.5.

Though in English it is easy to speak of the blood of bulls and goats, in some languages it is necessary to use a plural, since the substances are different; for example, “the bloods of bulls and goats” or “the blood of bulls and the blood of goats.” It may also be necessary in rendering took to indicate the way in which the blood was taken or carried. If a plural is used in referring to the blood, it is usually necessary to make the appropriate modifications in the pronominal references of it.

The book of the Law may have to be expressed as “the book which contained the laws.” It may even be preferable to use “the scroll” rather than “the book.”

It may be necessary to distinguish the different senses in which the book and the people are sprinkled with blood and water, hyssop and red wool. The situation is complicated by the fact that “hyssop” is not known in many areas, and no one can be sure exactly which plant is meant here or in Numbers 19.6. Small branches of the “hyssop” plant were probably tied together with “scarlet wool,” dipped into the mixture of “blood” and “water,” and used as a “sprinkler.” FRCL’s glossary note reads: “Small plant whose branches were used to scatter blood in certain ceremonies of Jewish worship.” A different plant may be mentioned in John 19.29. Good News Translation fourth edition makes the meaning clear: and before some red wool implies “tied with.” For red, earlier editions of Good News Bible had “scarlet,” and Bijbel in Gewone Taal has “deep red.”

The final phrase expressing means, namely, using a sprig of hyssop and some red wool, may be best expressed as a separate sentence; for example, “He did this by means of a sprig of hyssop and some red wool.” The relation between the small sprig or branch of hyssop and the red wool may be expressed as “He used a small twig of hyssop to which some red wool had been tied” or “… tied with some red wool.”

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Letter of the Hebrews. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .