altar

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The Greek, Latin and Hebrew that is translated as “altar” in English is translated in a number of ways:

  • Obolo: ntook or “raised structure for keeping utensils (esp. sacrifice)” (source: Enene Enene)
  • Muna: medha kaefoampe’a or “offering table” (source: René van den Berg)
  • Luchazi: muytula or “the place where one sets the burden down”/”the place where the life is laid down” (source: E. Pearson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 160ff. )
  • Tzotzil: “where they place God’s gifts” (source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation, March 1965, p. 2ff.)
  • Tsafiki: “table for giving to God” (source: Bruce Moore in Notes on Translation 1/1992, p. 1ff.)
  • Noongar: karla-kooranyi or “sacred fire” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “offering-burning table” (source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “place for sacrificing” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “burning-place” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tibetan: mchod khri (མཆོད་​ཁྲི།) or “offering throne” (source: gSungrab website )
  • Bura-Pabir: “sacrifice mound” (source: Andy Warrren-Rothlin)
  • Kalanga: “fireplace of sacrifice” (source: project-specific notes in Paratext)
The Ignaciano translators decided to translate the difficult term in that language according to the focus of each New Testament passage in which the word appears (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight

Willis Ott (in Notes on Translation 88/1982, p. 18ff.) explains:

  • Matt. 5:23,24: “When you take your offering to God, and arriving, you remember…, do not offer your gift yet. First go to your brother…Then it is fitting to return and offer your offering to God.” (The focus is on improving relationships with people before attempting to improve a relationship with God, so the means of offering, the altar, is not focal.)
  • Matt. 23:18 (19,20): “You also teach erroneously: ‘If someone makes a promise, swearing by the offering-place/table, he is not guilty if he should break the promise. But if he swears by the gift that he put on the offering-place/table, he will be guilty if he breaks the promise.'”
  • Luke 1:11: “…to the right side of the table where they burn incense.”
  • Luke 11.51. “…the one they killed in front of the temple (or the temple enclosure).” (The focus is on location, with overtones on: “their crime was all the more heinous for killing him there”.)
  • Rom. 11:3: “Lord, they have killed all my fellow prophets that spoke for you. They do not want anyone to give offerings to you in worship.” (The focus is on the people’s rejection of religion, with God as the object of worship.)
  • 1Cor. 9:13 (10:18): “Remember that those that attend the temple have rights to eat the foods that people bring as offerings to God. They have rights to the meat that the people offer.” (The focus is on the right of priests to the offered food.)
  • Heb. 7:13: “This one of whom we are talking is from another clan. No one from that clan was ever a priest.” (The focus in on the legitimacy of this priest’s vocation.)
  • Jas. 2:21: “Remember our ancestor Abraham, when God tested him by asking him to give him his son by death. Abraham was to the point of stabbing/killing his son, thus proving his obedience.” (The focus is on the sacrifice as a demonstration of faith/obedience.)
  • Rev. 6:9 (8:3,5; 9:13; 14:18; 16:7): “I saw the souls of them that…They were under the table that holds God’s fire/coals.” (This keeps the concepts of: furniture, receptacle for keeping fire, and location near God.)
  • Rev. 11:1: “Go to the temple, Measure the building and the inside enclosure (the outside is contrasted in v. 2). Measure the burning place for offered animals. Then count the people who are worshiping there.” (This altar is probably the brazen altar in a temple on earth, since people are worshiping there and since outside this area conquerors are allowed to subjugate for a certain time.)

See also altar (Acts 17:23).


In the Hebraic English translation of Everett Fox it is translated as slaughter-site and likewise in the German translation by Buber / Rosenzweig as Schlachtstatt.

complete verse (Hosea 10:2)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Hosea 10:2:

  • Kupsabiny: “(They) hid themselves in lies,
    and so they are punished for their sin.
    God will tear down those places with altars
    and overturn those pillars.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “They are deceitful.
    Now they must receive punishment for their guilt.
    The LORD will destroy their altars
    and tear down their sacred stone pillars.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “They are deceitful, and now they should suffer because of their sins. The LORD will-ruin their altars and remembrance stones.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “The minds of Israelita are not sincere (naimposoan: heartfelt), therefore now it-is-necessary that they suffer to bear-(the consequences) for their sins. Later indeed (predictive formula) God will destroy their altars and vertically-set-up places-of-worship.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • English: “They are deceitful;
    so now they are guilty and must be punished.
    I, Yahweh, will tear down their altars
    and smash those pillars.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Hosea 10:2

Their heart is false …: The plural pronouns Their/their and they refer to Israel. In the previous verse the Hebrew text uses mostly singular pronouns for Israel. Good News Translation makes the referent for these pronouns clear by using “The people” and plural pronouns in both verses. Translators are advised to use a solution that best fits their language.

It is clear that heart should not be understood as the physical organ, but in a figurative sense, it represents the thinking and/or the will of human beings. Not all receptor languages are able to make the same figurative extension of this word, so translators should find an acceptable solution. For the first line of this verse Bible en français courant adjusts the imagery, saying “Its [Israel’s] people are false to the heart.” Bijbel in Gewone Taal uses nonfigurative language: “That is how they have betrayed the Lord.”

In this context is false (Good News Translation “are deceitful”) renders well a Hebrew verb meaning “to be smooth or slippery.” King James Version‘s “is divided” translates another verb with the same consonants, reflected in the Vulgate and some other ancient translations. New Jerusalem Bible follows this reading with “Theirs is a divided heart” (similarly Jerusalem Bible, Bible de Jérusalem), and so does Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch with “But they were only with a half heart with the LORD.” The meaning of this reading is similar to the one in Revised Standard Version, but we believe Revised Standard Version‘s reading fits the context better.

Now they must bear their guilt: The adverb now introduces a message of judgment. They must bear their guilt renders a single Hebrew verb that means basically “they have sinned,” but it also marks the sinners as the guilty persons who must bear the consequences of what they have done. The same verb has been used in 4.15 and 5.15.

The LORD will break down their altars, and destroy their pillars: In Hebrew The LORD is literally “he” (King James Version, Revised Standard Version footnote). Revised Standard Version makes the referent for this pronoun clear, and so does Good News Translation with “God.” God will destroy the Israelites’ pagan altars and sacred stones. The Hebrew here states that God will do this himself, but in 10.6 it becomes clear that the Assyrians will be God’s instruments for doing it. Translators may wish to use an instrumental form of the verbs here, but it is important to retain the language of God doing it himself, if at all possible in the receptor language. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch and Einheitsübersetzung begin these two lines with “The LORD himself….”

The Hebrew verb for break down is also used for breaking an animal’s neck, thus slaughtering the animal in a way that did not drain the blood, making it unfit as a sacrificial animal (see, for example, Exo 13.13; 34.20; Deut 21.4). Wolff suggests that this verb may signify breaking off the horns of altars. It carries the connotation of ending the effective life of such places of worship and making them ceremonially unclean. If the receptor language allows the use of the verb “slaughter” in a figurative sense in this context, it would be a nice solution.

The Hebrew verb for destroy has the connotation of violence accompanying the destruction as expressed by the verb “smash” in New Living Translation.

A translation model for this verse is:

• These people are so deceitful!
Now they must pay for their guilt.
The LORD will break down their altars,
he will shatter their sacred pillars.

Quoted with permission from Dorn, Louis & van Steenbergen, Gerrit. A Handbook on Hosea. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2020. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .