stork

The Hebrew that is translated as “stork” in English is translated in Maan as “big water bird,” as the stork is not locally know. (Source: Don Slager)

In the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) with mulungu wachilendo it is translated as kakowa or “egret.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

 

There is almost complete agreement that chasidah is the stork. There are two species of stork that pass over Israel, where they stay for a few days as they migrate from Europe to Africa and vice versa. These are the White Stork Ciconia ciconia and the Black Stork Ciconia nigra.

Both of these storks are large birds with long legs and long necks. They are heavier than most herons or cranes. The white stork has a white body, black wings, and a red beak and legs. The black stork is a glossy brownish black color with a white belly. It also has a red beak and legs. These storks migrate from central and eastern Europe to East and Central Africa, occasionally reaching Zimbabwe and parts of South Africa in good rainy seasons. Both types spend most of the time on the ground or in shallow water searching for food. The white stork eats mainly locusts, grasshoppers, and other insects, as well as frogs, lizards, and the chicks of ground-nesting birds. The black stork prefers fish and frogs but also eats the same things as the white stork.

When storks are about to move to another feeding ground, they usually soar around in upward currents of air called thermals, reaching great heights, and then they soar off in the direction they have chosen, conserving their energy by only occasionally beating their wings.

It is possible that the name chasidah is derived from the word chesed, meaning “kindness” or “faithfulness”, perhaps a reference to the fact that they seem to take especially good care of their young when nesting.

Storks of various species are found in most parts of the world, and many of them have migrating habits. There are species of stork that migrate from Europe to India and the Far East, some that migrate from Southeast Asia to Australia, and one, the Abdim’s Stork Ciconia abdimii, which migrates from Ethiopia to Zimbabwe and Botswana, signaling the arrival of the rainy season wherever it goes.

In the few areas where storks are not known, a borrowed word or a transliteration can be used, perhaps with a footnote to indicate that this is a big bird that migrates long distances over Israel.

White stork, Wikimedia Commons
Black stork, Wikimedia Commons

Source: All Creatures Great and Small: Living things in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

See also snow (color).

happiness / joy

The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated in English as “joy” or “happiness” is translated in the Hausa Common Language Bible idiomatically as farin ciki or “white stomach.” In some cases, such as in Genesis 29:11, it is also added for emphatic purposes.

Other languages that use the same expression include Southern Birifor (pʋpɛl), Dera (popolok awo), Reshe (ɾipo ɾipuhã). (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

See also Seat of the Mind / Seat of Emotions, rejoiced greatly / celebrated, the Mossi translation of “righteous”, and joy.

ostrich

The Hebrew that is translated as “ostrich” in English was translated in the 1900 Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) translation (a newer version was published in 2000) as ĸatigagtûssatdlo or “back-like ones.” “The Greenlandic translation of the term for ‘ostriches’ is a descriptive term based on the noun ĸatigak (modern qatigak) ‘back,’ followed by the participial suffix –toĸ (modern –toq), and then the suffix –usaĸ (modern –usaq) ‘something resembling,’ the entire word meaning ‘some- thing resembling something that has a back.’” (Source: Lily Kahn & Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi in The Bible Translator 2019, p. 125ff.)

 

Both of the Hebrew words refer to the ostrich, and some scholars believe that they are really the singular and plural forms of the same word, written slightly differently as the result of a spelling mistake by a scribe. In ancient Hebrew writing they are very similar.

The word renanim may be related to a verb root that means “to call loudly”, a reference to the booming call of the male ostrich.

The Ostrich Struthio camelus is the largest living bird on earth. It cannot fly, because it has underdeveloped wings. It has a long neck and long legs and is about 2 meters (6 feet) tall. The head and neck are almost bald, being covered in short bristles. The male’s body is black with long white feathers on its wings. Its tail is white, gray, or light brown. The females are a uniform grayish brown.

Ostriches feed mainly on seeds, fallen fruit, and shoots and may occasionally eat a lizard or a frog. They also pick up and swallow small pebbles to aid their digestion. They live in small flocks of about twenty, of which four or five are males. They have very unusual nesting habits. The nest is nothing more than a large shallow hollow scraped in the sand. As many as ten females may lay their eggs in the one nest. Only one female and one male will incubate the eggs, however, with the female on the nest in the daytime, and the male taking over later in the afternoon. This is probably because the black male has better camouflage at night. Since ostriches breed at any time of the year, there are often three or four nests occupied by a flock.

During the day a female that is sitting on the eggs will leave the nest to feed. If any danger threatens, she will also leave the eggs and try to lure the threatening animal or human away from the nest. Since the eggs will keep warm in the hot sand the female may be away from the nest for a long time. Once the chickens are hatched, they follow the female that incubated them for a while, but females with chicks will fight among themselves until all the chicks of the flock are taken over by one dominant female. At any sign of danger, the chicks lie motionless under a bush, while the “mother” will try to lure the danger away.

Male ostriches make a series of deep booming hoots that can be heard great distances and which are often mistaken for the roar of a lion. (Fauna and Flora of the Bible is misleading in the statement that ostriches make a “hoarse complaining cry” at night.)

Even though there are only two certain references to ostriches in the Bible, both mention the heartless cruelty of this bird. This is probably a reference to the fact that a) most females lay eggs and then show no further interest in them, leaving them to another to incubate, b) the incubating female may leave the nest for long periods, and c) the hatched chicks are left to one female to care for, regardless of which other females laid the eggs or incubated them. Taken as a whole this seems to be contrary to all “natural motherly instincts.”

In savannah Africa where ostriches are well known there will be local words for ostrich. In Australasia the emu and cassowary are close equivalents, but a footnote may be needed, especially in the case of the cassowary, to indicate that the nesting habits of the ostrich are different, and since it lives in open savannah it can run much faster than the cassowary. Elsewhere a borrowing from the dominant language of the area may be necessary.

Job 39:13: This verse is difficult to make sense of in Hebrew. The general consensus among commentators is that it means something like “The wings of the ostrich beat rapidly [or, joyfully], but they certainly are not comparable to the wings of a stork.” The reference in Job 39:13 to the ostrich laughing at the horse and rider is a reference to the fact that ostriches can outrun horses. In some cultures this may need an explanatory footnote.

Source: All Creatures Great and Small: Living things in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

complete verse (Job 39:13)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 39:13:

  • Kupsabiny: “The wings of the ostrich are happily flapping
    but it is not flying like a stork.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “The wings of the ostrich flutter with joy,
    but it is not able to fly like the stork.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘(It is) beautiful to-look-at the wing(s) of the ostrits/ostrich when it flaps, but it can- not -match with the beauty of the wings of a tulabong/sort-of-white-heron.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Bury them in the ground!
    Send them to the place where dead people are,
    where they will not be able to get out!” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Job 39:13

In the Hebrew text of verse 13a, there is nothing that is fully certain. The wings of the ostrich wave proudly: ostrich translates a word that can mean “shrill cries.” The word occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament. However, from the descriptions in the following verses, the ostrich is clearly the subject of these verses. Wave proudly has been translated in countless ways. Pope has “flap wildly,” New American Bible “beat idly,” New Jerusalem Bible “beats joyously,” Dhorme “is gay,” New English Bible “are stunted,” New International Version “flap joyfully,” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project “waves gaily.” The Hebrew verb means “exult or rejoice,” and “flap joyfully” is probably as near as any. In languages in which the ostrich is unknown, translators may use a descriptive term; for example, “big bird” or “big bird called ostrich.” Otherwise it may be possible to substitute a different large bird which has some similar traits.

But are they the pinions and plumage of love? is even more uncertain than the first line, and the vast array of translations results from conjectures and changes too numerous to mention. Revised Standard Version‘s footnote says “Heb obscure.” In line b the words translated as pinions and plumage are in some sense parallel to The wings in line a. In Ezekiel 17.3 all three of these words are found: “great wings and long pinions, rich in plumage.” The word translated as wings in line a is general, while those in line b are more specific. Pinions refers to the wing feathers that spread out to enable a bird to fly. Plumage refers to the outer feathers covering the body and wings. Most interpreters accept the meanings as in Revised Standard Version.

The word translated as love is chasid, which appears to be the feminine form of the adjective chesed, which is usually rendered “constant love” and provides the basis for Revised Standard Version‘s translation. Revised Standard Version‘s rendering draws in part from the following verses, which describe the ostrich as abandoning her eggs in an unkind way. The cruelty of the ostrich was proverbial, judging from Lamentations 4.3. “… but the daughters of my people have become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project supports Revised Standard Version with “but is it a pious plumage and down?” However, “pious” is not an appropriate qualification of feathers in English. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project suggests there is a play on words between “pious” and “stork,” since the same word can also mean “stork.” The stork, in contrast to the ostrich, is known for the care it gives to its young. Furthermore Good News Translation interprets the Hebrew word at the beginning of the line, not as a question but as a negative marker. Good News Translation follows the interpretation “stork” and produces a translation that suits the context, is meaningful, and has some support in the early versions: “but no ostrich can fly like a stork.” New International Version retains the Hebrew more closely with “The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but they cannot compare with the pinions and feathers of the stork.” Both of these are good translation models to follow. In language areas in which the stork is unknown, it may be possible to substitute another large bird that is known for its flight and care of its young.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .