idol / idols

The Hebrew, Greek and Latin that is translated as “idol(s)” in English is translated in Central Subanen as ledawan or “images.” (Source: Robert Brichoux in OPTAT 1988/2, p. 80ff. )

In German, typically the term Götze is used. Originally this was used as a term of endearment for Gott (“God” — see here ), later for “icon” and “image, likeness.” Luther started to use it in the 16th century in the meaning of “false god, idol.”

Other terms that are used in German include Götzenbild(er) (“image[s] of idols”) or Bildnis (“image” — Protestant) / Kultbild (“cultish image” — Catholic) (used for instance in Exodus 20:4 and Deuteronomy 5:8). The latest revision of the Catholic Einheitsübersetzung (publ. 2016) also uses the neologism Nichtse (“nothings”) in 1 Chron. 16:26 and Psalm 96:5. (Source: Zetzsche)

See also worthless idols.

cantaloupe / muskmelon

New Revised Standard Version, updated edition renders the Hebrew words qishshu’ah and miqshah as “cucumber.” Zohary (Plants of the Bible. Cambridge University Press, 1982) argues forcefully that these words refer to the Muskmelon Cucumis melo or cantaloupe, and that “garden cucumbers did not exist in Egypt in biblical times” (page 86). Hepper (Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants: Flowers and Trees, Fruits and Vegetables, Ecology. Baker Book House, 1992) concurs with this.

Cultivated muskmelons started out in and around Persia (now Iran) before moving into northern India, Kashmir, and Afghanistan. Although truly wild forms of Cucumis melo have not been found in those regions, several related wild species have been noted.

A picture of offerings presented at a funeral in Egypt around 2400 B.C. contains fruit that some experts take to be muskmelons. The Greeks appear to have known the fruit in the third century B.C., and in the first century after Christ it was definitely described by the Roman philosopher Pliny, who said it was something new in Campania in Italy. The Greek physician Galen, in the second century A.D., wrote of its medicinal qualities, and Roman writers of the third century gave directions for growing it and preparing it with spices for eating. The Chinese apparently did not know the muskmelon until it was introduced to their country around the beginning of the Christian Era from the regions west of the Himalayas.

The muskmelon vine has round leaves and tendrils and creeps along the ground like a pumpkin or cucumber. It has tendrils and yellow flowers that develop into a fruit 10-40 centimeters (4-16 inches) in diameter. The fruit becomes yellowish or light green when ripe. The muskmelon is so named because of the distinctive smell of its ripe fruits. “Musk” is a Persian word for a kind of perfume; “melon” is a French word, from the Latin melopepo, meaning “apple-shaped melon.” Latin took words of similar meaning from Greek.

According to Numbers 11:5, the wandering Israelites remembered muskmelons and other tasty food that they had enjoyed in Egypt and complained to Moses. Isaiah 1:8 uses the melon patch (after harvest) as a picture of abandonment, dereliction, and desolation.

Many varieties of muskmelon are known around the world in warm countries. If it is not known, it may be translated contextually. Numbers 11:5 is non-rhetorical, and a transliteration from a major language is recommended (for example, French cantaloupe, Spanish and Portuguese cantalupo, Arabic abd el lawi). However, the reference to the temporary shelter in the melon patch in Isa 1.8 is metaphorical, so a cultural equivalent representing a lonely or abandoned place could be considered. In this verse translators should keep in mind its parallel images, which are “a booth in a vineyard” and “a besieged city.”

Muskmelon (cantaloupe) fruit, photo by Rob Koops

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

complete verse (Jeremiah 10:5)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 10:5:

  • Kupsabiny: “That thing is made to look like a person
    so it might scare off birds in the field.
    Because it is a thing that does not talk and does not walk around,
    truly that thing is simply carried around.
    Do not be afraid of things like that
    because they can do no harm to you,
    and they cannot also do anything good.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “These little-gods/false-gods are like a scarecrow/[lit. man-man or person/person] in the middle of the fields that can- not -speak. It still needs to-be-lifted-up for it can- not -walk. You (plur.) do- not -be-afraid of these little-gods/false-gods for they can- not -harm. They can- not -do (any) good too.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Then the idol stands there like a scarecrow in a field of cucumbers/melons!
    It cannot speak,
    and people must carry it,
    because it cannot walk.
    Do not be afraid of idols,
    because they cannot harm anyone,
    and they cannot do anything good to help anyone.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 10:5

As Revised Standard Version indicates, idols is literally “They” in Hebrew. However, this meaning is clearly intended, and it may be brought out in translation without the necessity of a footnote. Moffatt, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New International Version, and Good News Translation all have “idols,” while Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “gods.” Translators can also say “these carvings [or, statues] of gods.”

Not all societies are familiar with scarecrows, objects that look like a person and that people put up in fields to frighten away the birds so they won’t eat the seed that has been planted or the new crops, in this case the cucumbers. If there is no word in the language for scarecrows, translators can say something like “objects that look like a person,” or even “figures people put in fields to frighten birds.”

The noun translated cucumber field is found only here and in Isa 1.8. The interpretation of the word is in dispute, and it may mean “melon patch” (New Jerusalem Bible, followed by Good News Translation). If cucumber is not known, translators may use another gourd or food that grows on vines, or possibly a more general term such as “vegetable.” For the first line of this verse, Bassa in Liberia has “Their idols and a stick that a person decorates with clothes and sets in a farm are alike.”

And they cannot speak … they cannot walk: This explains how they are like scarecrows in a cucumber field. The presence of the Hebrew connecting particle translated and in the construction and they cannot speak is deceptive, for it suggests a comparison other than that of like scarecrows. In such a construction the function of the particle is explanatory rather than linking. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch introduces a new sentence: “They cannot produce a word, and they must be carried around, because they are not able to walk by themselves.”

Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil can be expressed as “There is no reason to be afraid of them, because they can’t cause anything bad to happen [to you].”

Neither is it in them to do good reflects a Hebrew expression that may more naturally be rendered “and they can do you no good” (Good News Translation) or “and they don’t have the ability to do you any good either.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .