Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Hosea 14:6:
Kupsabiny: “Their branches shall sprout and grow and become beautiful like olive trees. They shall smell sweet like the forest of Lebanon.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “His young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar tree of Lebanon.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “They will-multiply like the branches that put-forth-new-shoots. They will-become honorable like the olive tree which is beautiful and the cedar tree of Lebanon which smells-good.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Their twigs will grow-long and their appearance will be lovely/fine like the olive (loan olivo), and they will smell-fragrant like the tree that is cedar (loan sidro) in Lebanon.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
English: “Their good influence will spread like the branches of a tree. They will be like beautiful olive trees, and they will be as delightful as the aroma of the cedar trees in Lebanon.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The olive family has over four hundred species in the world. Many of them grow in Africa, India, and Australia, but it is the one in the Bible, the European Olive Olea europaea, that has become famous. It is likely that the olive was domesticated in Egypt or the eastern Mediterranean basin in the third millennium B.C. The botanist Newberry argued that Egypt was its original home. We know from the Bible that olives grew in the hills of Samaria and in the foothills. There is a wild variety, called Olea europaea sylvestris, that is smaller than the domestic one; it produces a smaller fruit with less oil. The Apostle Paul refers to this wild variety in Romans 11:17 and 11:24. Olives are easily propagated by cuttings and by grafting fruitful species into less fruitful ones. They grow best on hillsides where the rain drains off quickly. The fruit forms by August but does not ripen until December or January.
The olive is not a big tree, reaching up to perhaps 10 meters (33 feet), but with pruning it is usually kept to around 5 meters (17 feet) tall. The leaves are grayish green above, and whitish underneath. The bark of young trees is silvery gray but gets darker and rougher as the tree ages. The trunk also gets twisted and hollow and may reach over a meter in thickness. Olives grow for hundreds of years, and some in Israel have possibly reached two thousand years.
The fruit of the olive is about 2 centimeters (1 inch) long and a bit more than a centimeter (1/2 inch) thick. It has a hard stone inside and a soft skin that covers the oily flesh. Today a mature tree may yield 10-20 kilograms (22-44 pounds) of fruit, which, when processed, will yield 1.3-2.6 kilograms (3.6 pounds) of oil.
For the Jews the “big three” trees were the vine, the fig, and the olive. People ate olive fruits, but more importantly, they squeezed the oil from the fruits, and used it for cooking, for lamps, for rubbing on the body, for medicine, and in religion. Jacob poured olive oil on the stone where he saw a vision of angels, declaring it a holy place (Genesis 28:18). Moses, similarly, anointed the Tabernacle and its equipment with olive oil mixed with sweet-smelling resins (Exodus 40:9). Aaron and the priests who served in the Tabernacle were also anointed (Exodus 29:21).
Some types of wild olive grow in Africa, India, and Australia, but are not well-known. The so-called “African olive” produces a black, oil-bearing fruit much like an olive. It is common as a snack in northern Nigeria. The “Chinese olive” is also a species of Canarium and may be a possible cultural substitute, if it produces edible fruit and oil. The “Russian olive” grown in dry regions of the world is a member of the Elaeagnus family and not a true olive. A variety of olive (Olea cuspidate) is used for building in India and Nepal, but it is probably not possible to use it in the Bible except perhaps in a study Bible where you could say that the biblical olive was related to this tree.
Since most of the kinds of olive trees in the world do not have edible fruit, it may not be possible to substitute a local variety. If it is done, however, a footnote would be required saying that the Palestinian kind produced edible fruit and oil. If a variety of Canarium is eaten in your area, you could use the local name for it. Otherwise transliterate from a major language.
The imagery of trees continues in this verse, using three new figures: (1) shoots that signify the abundance of new life; (2) olive trees that stand for beauty; and (3) fragrance of cedar trees representing feelings of pleasure and desirability.
In this verse Revised Standard Version continues to speak of Israel as a single person (his), as in the Hebrew text, while Good News Translation uses the plural pronoun “They.”
His shoots shall spread out: The Hebrew word for shoots refers to the new, green twigs that multiply and spread out to become the many branches of a tree. The Hebrew verb rendered spread out literally means “go” or “walk.” The receptor language may have another verb for this specific kind of movement. The Hebrew here refers to new branches appearing on a tree, not to new trees growing up from the roots next to the mother tree. The shoots can refer to growth of a vine or of a tree. The context suggests the latter. Good News Translation uses a more general image for this line: “They will be alive with new growth.”
His beauty shall be like the olive: The olive refers to the entire olive tree (Good News Translation “olive trees”). This tree is beautiful. People ate olive fruits, but also squeezed the oil from these fruits to use for cooking, for lamps, for medicine, and for other purposes. If the tree is unknown in the receptor language area, a local variant may be available. However, it is essential that edible fruit and oil are produced by the tree. Otherwise, a footnote for clarification may have to be added.
The Hebrew word for beauty does not refer to just ordinary beauty, but to “splendor” (New International Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible) and “majesty,” such as someone would look for in a king in full majestic splendor. Such is the majesty of the olive tree.
And his fragrance like Lebanon refers to the odor of the cedar trees on the mountains of Lebanon. Even today, cedar trees, such as grown in Lebanon, are known for a fragrance that lasts long after their wood has been cut and divided into boards. Good News Translation renders like Lebanon as “like the cedars of Lebanon” for clarity. “Cedars” are not specifically mentioned in the Hebrew text but are certainly understood. Many translations include the idea of “cedars.”
A translation model for this verse is:
• Their shoots will sprout abundantly,
their beauty will be like an olive tree,
and their fragrance will be like the cedar trees of Lebanon.
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 .
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