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)
  • Cherokee: “fire nurturing place” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 26) (note that the Jewish priest is “fire feeder” in Cherokee
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.

Ephraim

The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Ephraim” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “palm tree” referring to the palm of Deborah in the land of Ephraim (see Judges 4:5. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


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

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

For Deborah, see here.

More information about Ephraim and the Tribe of Ephraim .

sin

The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is typically translated as “sin” in English has a wide variety of translations.

The Greek ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō) carries the original verbatim meaning of “miss the mark” and likewise, many translations contain the “connotation of moral responsibility.”

  • Loma: “leaving the road” (which “implies a definite standard, the transgression of which is sin”)
  • Navajo (Dinė): “that which is off to the side” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: kasalan, originally meaning “transgression of a religious or moral rule” and in the context of the Bible “transgression of God’s commandments” (source: H. van der Veen in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 21ff. )
  • Kaingang: “break God’s word”
  • Bariai: “bad behavior” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Sandawe: “miss the mark” (like the original meaning of the Greek term) (source for this and above: Ursula Wiesemann in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 36ff., 43)
  • Nias: horö, originally a term primarily used for sexual sin. (Source: Hummel / Telaumbanua 2007, p. 256)
  • Mauwake: “heavy” (compare forgiveness as “take away one’s heaviness”) (source: Kwan Poh San in this article )

In Shipibo-Conibo the term is hocha. Nida (1952, p. 149) tells the story of its choosing: “In some instances a native expression for sin includes many connotations, and its full meaning must be completely understood before one ever attempts to use it. This was true, for example, of the term hocha first proposed by Shipibo-Conibo natives as an equivalent for ‘sin.’ The term seemed quite all right until one day the translator heard a girl say after having broken a little pottery jar that she was guilty of ‘hocha.’ Breaking such a little jar scarcely seemed to be sin. However, the Shipibos insisted that hocha was really sin, and they explained more fully the meaning of the word. It could be used of breaking a jar, but only if the jar belonged to someone else. Hocha was nothing more nor less than destroying the possessions of another, but the meaning did not stop with purely material possessions. In their belief God owns the world and all that is in it. Anyone who destroys the work and plan of God is guilty of hocha. Hence the murderer is of all men most guilty of hocha, for he has destroyed God’s most important possession in the world, namely, man. Any destructive and malevolent spirit is hocha, for it is antagonistic and harmful to God’s creation. Rather than being a feeble word for some accidental event, this word for sin turned out to be exceedingly rich in meaning and laid a foundation for the full presentation of the redemptive act of God.”

In Warao it is translated as “bad obojona.” Obojona is a term that “includes the concepts of consciousness, will, attitude, attention and a few other miscellaneous notions.” (Source: Henry Osborn in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 74ff. ). See other occurrences of Obojona in the Warao New Testament.

Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the Danish Bibelen 2020, comments on the translation of this term: “We would explain terms, such that e.g. sin often became ‘doing what God does not want’ or ‘breaking God’s law’, ‘letting God down’, ‘disrespecting God’, ‘doing evil’, ‘acting stupidly’, ‘becoming guilty’. Now why couldn’t we just use the word sin? Well, sin in contemporary Danish, outside of the church, is mostly used about things such as delicious but unhealthy foods. Exquisite cakes and chocolates are what a sin is today.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )

See also sinner.

complete verse (Hosea 8:11)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Hosea 8:11:

  • Kupsabiny: “Ephraim made many sacrifices which should have swept away sin,
    but they sinned much when they made those sacrifices.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Ephraim built many altars for Sin Offerings.
    Those very altars have become his altars for sinning. ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “(It is) true that they made/built many altars for the offerings of becoming-clean, but these altars became a place where they are-sinning.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Although the people of Israel built many altars to present offerings to their idols to take away their guilt for sinning,
    those altars have become places where they commit more sins.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Hosea 8:11

Although the discourse of chapter 8 continues as an overall unit, a subsection has clearly ended with verse 10, so at least a paragraph should begin here (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation). In verses 11-13 God complains that the Israelites do not take sin and his teachings seriously, even when they observe outwardly the sacrificial system. Verse 13 therefore announces God’s punishment. Some translators may wish to have a separate heading for verses 11-13. Jerusalem Bible uses “Against the outward show of worship.”

Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have become to him altars for sinning: According to 5.6 and 6.6, sacrifices without dedication and love are not acceptable to God. Here God says that for many Israelites the offerings “for removing sin” (Good News Translation) became an excuse, even an opportunity, “for sinning” (Good News Translation), since they knew even before committing a sin that they would have the means for removing the guilt.

The Hebrew word ki rendered Because can also be understood as an emphatic particle, so it may be translated “Indeed” or “Truly” (see comments on 8.6-7). Good News Translation expresses the emphasis by saying “The more … the more….”

As usual, Good News Translation identifies Ephraim as “the people of Israel” for clarity (see comments on 4.17). Altars are the tables or platforms on which people offer gifts or burn sacrifices to their gods. If there is no word for altars in a language, translators may say “tables [or, platforms] for sacrifice.” Sinning renders the most generic Hebrew term for “sin.” It refers to a wrongful act against God or against other people. The context makes it clear that God’s Law is the benchmark in this regard.

Revised Standard Version follows the Hebrew quite closely by repeating altars for sinning, but this repetition sounds strange and does not make sense. Some translations omit the first occurrence; for example, Moffatt says “Many an altar has Ephraim raised, altars that only serve for sin” (similarly Jerusalem Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Zürcher Bibel). New International Version emends the Hebrew text of the first occurrence slightly, using different vowels, so that it reads “altars for sin offerings.” Good News Translation is similar with “altars … for removing sin.” This reading makes good sense and avoids the awkward repetition in the Hebrew (so also New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Einheitsübersetzung).

Wolff suggests that this verse consists of three lines, not two, with “Altars for sinning!” as the final line, using repetition to express surprise and shock over the situation (similarly Bible en français courant, De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling). This suggestion does not require emendation of the Hebrew text, which Hebrew Old Testament Text Project gives a {B} rating. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch also retains the Hebrew without emendation, but expands the verse to make the impact explicit: “Oh, yes, Ephraim has multiplied its altars; but they only serve him for burdening himself with new failures [sins]; they are altars for sinning!”

Altars for sinning in the second line can be thought of, first, as altars that make it easy to sin because sacrificing is easy; second, as altars to gods other than Yahweh, thus involving the sin of idolatry; or third, altars at which worship involved temple prostitutes, and thus encouraging further sinning. It will be wise for translators to avoid a translation that would restrict itself to any one of these interpretations, since all of them may have been involved.

A translation model for this verse is:

• How many altars has Ephraim built!
But just for sinning!
Altars for sinning!

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Hosea 8:11

Paragraph 8:11–14

This paragraph describes how the people of Israel sinned when they offered sacrifices to the LORD. There is a contrast between the many altars that the people built for sinning (8:11) and the many teachings that the LORD wrote for the people’s good (8:12). In both situations, the people rejected what God wanted them to do. As a result, the LORD did not accept their sacrifices (8:13), so their cities faced total destruction (8:14).

8:11

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:

11a “Though Ephraim multiplied the altars for sin,

11b
they became his altars for sinning.

In Hebrew, these clauses are more literally:

11a…Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning,

11b
they have become for him altars for sinning.

The same Hebrew word, “sinning,” is used in each line. However, in 11a, the word probably means “to sacrifice an animal as a sin offering.” In 11b, it probably means “to sin.”

8:11a–b

There are two main ways to interpret the relationship between 8:11a and 8:11b:

(1) Verse 8:11a describes an existing situation that led to the unexpected result in 8:11b. The people built many altars as places to offer their sin offerings, so they expected the Lord to take away their sin. Instead, the altars became places where their sin increased. For example:

11a “Although Israel built more altars to remove sin, 11b they have become altars for sinning. (New Century Version)

(2) Verse 8:11a describes the situation that caused the result in 8:11b. There is no emphasis on whether the result was expected or not. For example:

11a Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, 11b they have become to him altars for sinning. (English Standard Version)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1) along with most versions.

Here are some other ways to translate the relationship between 8:11a and 8:11b:

• Emphasize the unexpected consequence in 8:11b. For example:

Although Ephraim has built many altars for sin offerings, these have become altars for sinning! (NET Bible)
-or-
When Ephraim multiplied altars to expiate sin, they became to him altars for sinning. (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
Israel has built many altars to take away sin, but these very altars became places for sinning!

• Emphasize the direct relation between the number of altars and the number of places for sinning. For example:

The more altars the people of Israel build for removing sin, the more places they have for sinning! (Good News Translation)

Use a natural way in your language to indicate one of these options.

8:11b

they became his altars for sinning: Here are some other ways to translate this line:

they became places where people’s sins increased when they offered sacrifices
-or-
they became altars where people committed various kinds of sin when they sacrificed

became: The word became indicates that the function of the altars changed. They were now places that violated God’s original command. In Deuteronomy 12, God repeatedly commanded that all twelve tribes worship him at one location with one altar. The people disobeyed God’s command in at least two ways: they built many altars, and they often sacrificed to false gods on these altars.

In some languages, it may be helpful to make some of this information explicit. For example:

these altars became places where people increased their sins ⌊by disobeying God’s commands ⌋.

It may also be helpful to add a footnote that gives some of the OT context. Here is a suggested footnote:

See Deuteronomy 12:5–6, 11, 13–14. In these verses, God commanded that the people from all twelve tribes of Israel worship him in one location and offer sacrifices to him on one altar. He wanted them to be different from the Canaanite people around them who worshiped false gods at many different altars.

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