thunder

The Greek, Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated in English as “thunder” is translated in Q’anjob’al with the existing idiom “the sun trembles.” (Source: Newberry and Kittie Cox in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. )

In Matumbi njai means “thunder” and/or “lightning.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)

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.

complete verse (Job 39:25)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 39:25:

  • Kupsabiny: “When the horn is blown, it is ready to charge,
    feeling the flames of the battle before it reaches
    and hearing the leaders/commanders give morale to the soldiers.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Hearing the sound of the trumpet, it snorts.
    It understands the scent of battle, sound of battle
    and the voice of the commanding general at a great distance.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “He neighs when he heard the sound of a trumpet. He smells the battle even-though he is still far, and he can-heard the shouting of battle and the commands of the commanders.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Job 39:25

Verse 25 has three lines, as in Revised Standard Version. When the trumpet sounds, he says depicts the horse as a human speaker. When translates a phrase meaning “As often as” or “Whenever.” Trumpet is the same word used in verse 24. In Revised Standard Version the horse says, Aha, which in Hebrew resembles the sound a person makes when discovering something joyful, he-ach. Aha may come close to the Hebrew expression if the horse is to speak English, but Good News Translation is more realistic, with “at each blast of the trumpet they snort.” New Jerusalem Bible translates “he neighs exultantly.” Neighing refers to the sounds a horse makes. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy says “At the sound of the trumpet he answers by neighing.”

He smells the battle from afar means he picks up the scent of, or detects, the enemy troops and their horses from a great distance. The thunder of the captains … may also be the object of smells in the previous line. Smells may be used poetically in a wider meaning such as “recognizes, is aware of.” Bible en français courant translates “discerns” in line b and applies it by implication to line c. Good News Translation supplies the verb “hear” in line c, and this is probably the best thing to do in translation. In line c thunder translates the same word used in 26.14, and refers to the commands and instructions being shouted to the soldiers by their leaders. The shouting is most probably an extension of the noise made by the officers, and so Good News Translation has combined thunder and shouting into “officers shouting commands.” Translators may wish to rearrange the order of lines in verse 25 to begin with line b: “He smells the battle in the air while still a long way off. He senses the leaders shouting out commands to the soldiers, and when the trumpet calls he snorts.”

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 .