The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “love” in English is typically translated in Hakka Chinese as thung-siak / 痛惜 or “pain-love” when it refers to God’s love.
The same term is used for a variety of Hebrew terms that cover a range of English translations that refer to God as the agent, including “love,” “compassion,” and “mercy.”
Paul McLean explains: “[Thung-siak / 痛惜] has been used for many years in a popular Hakka-Christian mountain song based on John 3:16. The translation team decided that for this and other reasons it would be a good rendering here. It helps point to the fact that God’s ‘love’ is a compassionate (cum passio, with suffering) love.”
The Greek and Hebrew term that is translated into English as “yoke,” the Afar translation uses koyta (poles of camel pack) which refers to two poles in front of the hump and two behind; elsewhere in agricultural Ethiopia the yoke is only in front of the hump.
In Chol it is translated with tajbal, a term for “headband” (for carrying) (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.). Likewise, in Kele, it is translated with njɛmbɛ, “a carrying strap worn around the head and across the chest or shoulders to support a burden of firewood, garden produce or even a child carried by this on the back or hip” (source: William Ford in The Bible Translator 1957, p. 203ff. ).
In Matumbi it is translated as “rope” and “yoke is easy” is translated as “rope is slack/soft.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
In Kwasio it is translated with a term that refers to a “bulky piece of wood attached to the neck of a goat, preventing it from roaming freely in the brushy undergrowth.”
Joshua Ham explains: “When checking this verse in Kwasio, I was surprised to find that the Kwasio had a word for yoke. You see, none of the language groups we have worked with have a tradition of using animals to pull carts or plows. Since yokes don’t exist in the culture, there’s no need for a word for that concept in these languages.
“When I asked the Kwasio team about their word for yoke, they said that they don’t use yokes to help animals pull plows; rather, their word for yoke refers to a bulky piece of wood attached to the neck of a goat, preventing it from roaming freely in the brushy undergrowth. So while the exact use of a Kwasio yoke is not the same as a biblical yoke, there are a lot of similarities: in both cases, it’s a piece of wood around an animal’s neck that serves to keep the animal under control. While the overlap isn’t perfect, it’s pretty good — and almost certainly better than trying to squeeze in a distracting explanation of how yokes function in the biblical cultures.”
Adam Boyd (in The PNG Experience ) tells this story about finding the right term in Enga: “Jesus’s words in Matthew 11:29-30 are some of the most difficult to translate into the Enga language. From the time that I became a Christian, I was taught that a yoke is a wooden crosspiece that is fastened over the neck of two animals and attached to a plough or cart that they are to pull. This is an easy enough concept to understand for people who come from societies that make use of beasts of burden, but in Papua New Guinea, there are no beasts of burden. Consequently the concept of a yoke placed on animals is completely foreign. Thus, we have struggled greatly in our attempt to translate Matthew 11:29-30.
“Recently, however, I came to learn that a yoke can also refer to a wooden frame that a person places on his neck or shoulders to make it easier to carry a heavy load. Indeed, the Bible often makes figurative use of the word ‘yoke’ as it refers to people and not to beasts of burden (see 1 Kings 12:4-14). As I was pondering that idea, I began to notice that when Engan men carry heavy logs on one shoulder, they often balance the load by supporting it with a small stick placed across the other shoulder. A few weeks ago, it clicked in my mind that the small stick they use to make it easier to carry a heavy log is like a yoke.
“Excited by this realization, I quickly asked my friend Benjamin if the stick that men use to make it easier to carry a heavy log has a name in Enga. Sure enough it does. It is called a pyakende. With great anticipation, I asked the translation team if we could use the word pyakende to translate the word ‘yoke’. After wrestling with the phrasing for a little while, we came up with the following translation: ‘In order to remove the heaviness from your shoulders, take my pyakende. When you have taken it, you will receive rest. As my pyakende helps you, what I give you to carry is not heavy and you will carry it without struggling.’”
“Yoke” is illustrated for use in Bible translations in East Africa by Pioneer Bible Translators like this:
Image owned by PBT and Jonathan McDaniel and licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing how yokes were used in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
The Good News Translation footnote warns us that there are serious problems for understanding the Hebrew text of this verse. The Hebrew text may be presenting images from farming that are used poetically to describe Yahweh watching over Israel from childhood. But alternative interpretations are possible. In this verse translators must decide whether the figures compare Israel to a child, as in the preceding verses, or to a cow, as in 4.16 and 10.11. Since the text is using farm images, the cow image is more likely. But at the same time, these images describe poetically how one brings up a child. In a country where loving care was applied both to cattle and to raising children, the same idioms may have developed for both.
I led them with cords of compassion, with the bands of love: Instead of cords of compassion, the Hebrew text reads “cords of a man” (King James Version) or “ropes of humankind” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). These two lines fit with the figure of Israel as a cow that is guided by cords and bands. To strengthen this image the word “reins” can also be used in English. The receptor language may have similar terminology to make the imagery more readily understood. Good News Translation takes the literal “cords of a man” to be a figure for human “affection” as something that binds one person to another. Bands of love is then simply a figure for “love.” So Good News Translation‘s translation of these two lines fits with the figure of Israel as a child, but of course the original image of comparison with a cow is lost. The ability to keep the cattle imagery largely depends on the receptor culture. In societies where cattle play a central role, the imagery may be easily understood. If so, we recommend keeping the imagery of cords and bands. It makes the translation more vivid than Good News Translation‘s nonfigurative rendering.
And I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them: This imagery is consistent with the cattle metaphors that are employed in this verse. The picture here seems to be as follows: When it is time to feed the cow, the yoke is removed so the cow can be fed. Yahweh claims to both lift the yoke and feed Israel.
Who eases the yoke on their jaws follows the standard Hebrew text. But a yoke is not on the jaws of an animal, but on its neck and shoulders. The Hebrew word for yoke resembles the word for “baby” or “child.” This word has the same consonants, but a different vowel mark. Good News Translation, New English Bible, Jerusalem Bible, and New American Bible follow this reading of “baby” or “child.” It is supported by some recent commentators and fits with the figure of Israel as a child. This figure has the advantage of continuing the figure of a child, as used in the preceding verses. But again, this may have been a play on words by which God uses the word yoke, which resembles the Hebrew word for “child,” so that people will think about caring for a child. The original readers or hearers would have had no problem understanding this play on words. But a wordplay is usually very difficult to express in another language. In any case, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends the Hebrew text by reading “yoke” (a {B} decision). Hebrew Old Testament Text Project understands that farmers lift up the yoke in order to let the cattle chew easily, because then the jaws are free to move. If translators follow the other reading, a possible model for lines three and four is “I showed them the same tenderness as a person who picks up a child and holds it to his cheek.” Here “cheek” has been substituted for the jaw of the animal.
I bent down to them and fed them shows the action of a taller person bending over to feed those who are shorter or smaller. Fed them follows the Septuagint and makes good sense. Instead of a word meaning them, the Hebrew text has a word meaning “not,” which is the first word in the next verse, where some scholars believe it does not seem to make sense. Therefore they believe the word belongs at the end of this verse and change it to read “them,” which sounds like the Hebrew word for “not.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project retains the Hebrew word meaning “not” in verse 5 (a {B} decision). After all, in this context of the verb fed, the pronoun them can be implied in Hebrew.
The following literal translation of this verse retains the text decisions of Hebrew Old Testament Text Project:
• With harness-cords for a human I led them,
with ties of love.
And I was to them as those lifting the yoke [from] upon their jaws.
And I bent down to him and fed [him].
A more natural model in English is:
• I guided them with reins of compassion,
with cords of love.
As someone lifting their yoke allowing them to eat,
I even stooped down to feed them.
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 .
This verse gives another example of the LORD’s love and care for the people of Israel. Here the example is a farmer or a herdsman who cares for his animals.
11:4a–b
Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:
4a I led them with cordsof kindness,
4b with ropesof love;
There is an ellipsis in the second line. In some languages, it may be necessary to supply the missing words from the first line. For example:
4b
⌊ I led them⌋with ropesof love.
Each line is a metaphor that compares the way that the LORD led Israel to the way that a caring herdsman leads his animals.
I led them: The Hebrew word for led can mean to pull an animal with a rope. It can also have the figurative meaning “to lead a person.” In this context, the word may refer to the time when the LORD led his people out of Egypt.
with cords of kindness, with ropes of love: These phrases describe how the LORD led his people. He did so with kindness and love.
The Hebrew words for cords and ropes have the same meaning. Both words mean “rope/cord.”
In Hebrew, the first phrase is literally “with ropes of human.” The meaning may be that these ropes are intended to guide humans in contrast to ropes for animals. The phrase indicates kindness or gentleness instead of harshness.
The parallel phrase ropes of love has a similar meaning. It implies that the LORD showed love toward his people when he led them. He was like a gentle herdsman who cared for his animals with compassion.
11:4c
I lifted the yoke from their necks: This clause is more literally “and I was to them like [those who] lift a yoke on their jaws.” There are two main ways to interpret the Hebrew phrase “lift a yoke on their jaws:”
(1) The phrase means to remove the yoke along with the harness. For example:
and I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws (New American Standard Bible)
(2) The phrase means to lighten the weight on the yoke and loosen the harness. For example:
and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws (English Standard Version)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1) along with most versions. However, some scholars think that interpretation (2) better fits the common usage of some of the Hebrew words in this phrase. So it is recommended that you add a footnote with the other interpretation. For example:
Another interpretation of this phrase in Hebrew is: I became to them as one who lightens the weight of the yoke on their jaws.
Here is another way to translate this verse part:
I removed the yokes from their necks (God’s Word)
The phrase lifted the yoke from their neck may refer figuratively to freeing the people of Israel from slavery. In this metaphor, their hardship was compared to the yoke that was attached by a harness so that the animal could pull a plow or cart.
yoke: There is a textual issue concerning the word yoke in this clause:
(1) The Masoretic Text has yoke. For example:
and I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws (New American Standard Bible)
(2) Some scholars think that the original text had “infant.” For example:
I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. (New Revised Standard Version)
It is recommended that you follow option (1) along with a majority of versions and commentaries.
A yoke is an arched frame normally placed on the shoulders of a work animal at the base of its neck. Generally the yoke is fastened to two animals and is attached to a cart or plow that they pull together.
their necks: In Hebrew, this phrase is literally “their jaws.” This probably indicates that here the word “yoke” refers both to the yoke and also to the halter or bridle around the animal’s jaws, that was used to direct the animal. See the 2nd ML in the Display for 11:4c for a way to make this explicit in your translation.
and bent down to feed them: The Hebrew phrase here is literally “and I bent down to him I fed.” There are three main interpretations of the Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as bent down :
(1) The Hebrew word means “I bent down.” For example:
I bent down to them and fed them. (English Standard Version)
(2) The Hebrew word means “gently.” For example:
and gently fed them (NET Bible)
(3) The Hebrew word means “I offer.” For example:
and I laid meat unto them (King James Version)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1) along with most versions. It follows a common meaning of the Hebrew word. Some scholars also support interpretation (2). In both interpretations, the LORD feeds them in a loving way.
feed them: The Hebrew text has “I fed.” English versions supply the object them or “him,” which is required to make the translation sound more natural in English. You may also need to supply an object here if it will sound more natural in your language.
General Comment on 11:4
The Hebrew text uses both plural and singular pronouns to refer to those whom the LORD cared for. In many languages, it is not natural to alternate pronouns in this way. Many versions translate all the pronouns in 11:4 as plural or else all the pronouns as singular. You should translate the pronouns in a natural way in your language. The Display uses plural pronouns, as in the Berean Standard Bible. An example of using singular pronouns is the New Living Translation (2004):
I led Israel along with my ropes of kindness and love. I lifted the yoke from his neck, and I myself stooped to feed him. (New Living Translation (2004))
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