horn

The musical instrument that is most often translated as “(ram’s) horn” or “trumpet” in English is translated in the following ways:

  • Yakan: tabuli’ (big sea shell used to give signals) (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Mairasi / Bariai: “Triton shell trumpet” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • German Luther translation: Posaune, today: “trombone,” originally with the meaning of a wind instrument made from cow horn (from Latin bucina [bovi- / “cow” + the root of cano / “sing”]. Incidentally, bucina is also used in the Latin Vulgate translation). By the time of Luther’s translation it referred to the natural trumpet or a fanfare trumpet (see also trumpet). Once the meaning morphed to “trombone” in the 19th century, trombone ensembles started to play a central role in Protestant German churches and do so to the present day. In 2016, “Posaunenchöre” became added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list . (Note that Exodus 19:13 is the only exception in the Luther Bible. From the 1956 revision on, Widderhorn or “ram’s horn” is used here) (source: Zetzsche)

In the UBS Helps for Translators‘ Human-made Things in the Bible (original title: The Works of Their Hands: Man-made Things in the Bible) it says the following:

Description: The horn was a wind instrument made from the horn of an animal, usually a male sheep.

Usage: The animal horn was softened so that it could be shaped. The point of the horn was cut off to leave a small opening through which the user blew. The vibration of the lips produced the sound.

The ram’s horn served two general purposes:

1. It was blown in certain religious contexts, not as musical accompaniment to worship but as a signal for important events. Some of these events were the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, the Day of Atonement, the bringing of the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, and the coronation of kings.

2. It also served as a signal or alarm when war was approaching. Such references are particularly common in the prophetic books, when the prophets are calling the people to repent (Hosea 5:8; 8:1; Joel 2:1; 2:15; Amos 3:6).

Translation: In many passages the purpose of the ram’s horn called shofar in Hebrew was to sound an alarm. This will be easy to express in those cultures where the horns of animals are used as musical instruments to give signals to large groups of people. In other cultures it may be possible to find another instrument that is used for an equivalent purpose. In some languages, for example, instruments such as bells or drums are the warnings for war. Some translations have transliterated the word shofar. Unless the instrument is well known, such a borrowing should normally be accompanied by a footnote or a glossary entry.

In some passages it will be necessary to expand the translation in order to indicate that the blowing of the ram’s horn was not just for music; for example, in Ezekiel 7:14 Contemporary English Version has “A signal has been blown on the trumpet,” and the German Contemporary English Version says “An alarm is sounded” [elsewhere, the same German version refers to the horns as Kriegshörner or “war horns.”]

Man blowing ram’s horn (source: Knowles, revised by Bass (c) British and Foreign Bible Society 1994)

Quoted with permission.

Judah, Judea

The name that is transliterated as “Judah” or “Judea” in English (referring to the son of Jacob, the tribe, and the territory) is translated in Spanish Sign Language as “lion” (referring to Genesis 49:9 and Revelation 5:5). This sign for lion is reserved for regions and kingdoms. (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. and Steve Parkhurst)


“Judah” and “Judea” 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 .

See also Judah, Judah (son of Jacob) , and Tribe of Judah .

Jerusalem

The name that is transliterated as “Jerusalem” in English is signed in French Sign Language with a sign that depicts worshiping at the Western Wall in Jerusalem:


“Jerusalem” in French Sign Language (source: La Bible en langue des signes française )

While a similar sign is also used in British Sign Language, another, more neutral sign that combines the sign “J” and the signs for “place” is used as well. (Source: Anna Smith)


“Jerusalem” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Jerusalem .

complete verse (Jeremiah 4:5)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 4:5:

  • Kupsabiny: “Then God said to me,
    Proclaim/Announce these words to Juda and Jerusalem:
    Blow (plur.) in horns everywhere in the land.
    Shout loudly that,
    ‘Gather yourselves and go, people of Juda and of Jerusalem!
    Let us flee to any city that has a wall!’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘Tell Juda and Jerusalem that they will-sound the trumpet throughout the land! Shout aloud that they will-flee and hide in the stone-walled towns.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 4:5

Declare … proclaim … cry aloud … say: In the Hebrew of this verse there is much repetition with regard to verbs of speaking. As a comparison of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation will indicate, the restructuring of Good News Translation is much more economical. The use of the four verbs in parallel phrases here does not add to the information content of the verse, and therefore translators may or may not retain the four, depending on what is more natural in their own language. However, these commands are addressed to the heralds or messengers who will sound the trumpet of alarm and summon the people to prepare for war.

Blow the trumpet is another command to these same messengers. Therefore, most translators will in fact find it more natural to restructure the verse somewhat as Good News Translation has; for example, “Blow the trumpet throughout Judah and in Jerusalem, and cry out the warning. Tell the people….” For those languages where it is necessary to say who these commands are addressed to, translators may say, “You messengers, announce to the people….”

The trumpet used was an animal horn with a hole in it, so it could be blown to make a loud sound. It might be used as a signal by the attacking army to begin the siege of a city. However, it might also be used to warn the inhabitants of a city to run for refuge, which seems to be its function in this verse. Although people lived in fortified cities, they had to go outside the walls to work in their fields. If an attacking army were approaching, the trumpet would be blown as a signal for the people to return to the city for protection. Some translators have “blow the trumpet of warning.”

The people are told to assemble and go into the fortified cities. This may be expressed as indirect speech, “Tell the people to gather together and flee to the fortified cities,” or in direct speech, as in “Cry out this warning to the people: ‘You should all gather together [or, We must all gather together] and flee….’ ”

Fortified cities (see 1.18) can be expressed as “the cities with walls around them” or “the walled cities where we will be protected.”

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 .