Passover

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The Hebrew and Greek pesach/pascha that is typically translated in English as “Passover” (see below) is translated in a variety of descriptive ways of various aspects of the Jewish festival. (Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):

  • Ojitlán Chinantec: “the feast of the passing by of God’s angel”
  • Lalana Chinantec: “the day would come which is called Passover, when the Israel people remember how they went out of the land of Egypt”
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “the celebration when they ate their sheep”
  • Umiray Dumaget Agta: “the celebration of the day of their being brought out of bondage”
    (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Obolo: ijọk Iraraka — “Festival of Passing” (source: Enene Enene)
  • Guhu-Samane: “special day of sparing” (source: Ernest Richert in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 198ff. )
  • Yakan: “The festival of the Isra’il tribe which they call For-Remembering” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Wolof: “Festival of the day of Salvation” (“the term ‘pass over’ brings up the image of a person’s crossing over a chasm after death”) (source: Marilyn Escher)
  • Bura-Pabir: vir kucelir fəlɓəla kəi — “time-of happiness-of jumping-over house”
  • Berom: Nzem Gyilsit Nelɔ — “Festival-of jumping-of houses”
  • Nigerian Fulfulde: Humto Ƴaɓɓitaaki / Humto Sakkinki — “Festival-of passing-over”
  • Hausa: Bikin Ƙetarewa — “Festival-of going-over” (source for this and three above: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
  • Jula: “Feast of end of slavery” (source: Fritz Goerling)
  • Bafanji: laiŋzieʼ — “pass-jump over” (source: Cameron Hamm)
  • Tiéyaxo Bozo / Jenaama Bozo: “Salvation/Rescue (religious) feast” (source: Marko Hakkola)
  • Sabaot: Saakweetaab Keeytaayeet — “Festival of Passing-by” (source: Iver Larsen)
  • Language spoken in India and Bangladesh: “Festival of avoidance”
  • Vlax Romani: o ghes o baro le Nakhimasko — “the Day of the Passing”
  • Saint Lucian Creole: Fèt Délivwans — “Feast of Deliverance” (source: David Frank)
  • Finnish: pääsiäinen (“The term is very probably coined during the NT translation process around 1520-1530. It is connected to a multivalent verb päästä and as such refers either to the Exodus (päästä meaning “to get away [from Egypt]”) or to the end of the Lent [päästä referring to get relieved from the limitations in diet]. The later explanation being far more probable than the first.”)
  • Northern Sami: beas’sážat (“Coined following the model in Finnish. The Sami verb is beassat and behaves partly like the Finnish one. Many Christian key terms are either borrowed from Finnish or coined following the Finnish example.”)
  • Estonian: ülestõusmispüha — “holiday/Sunday of the resurrection” — or lihavõttepüha — “holiday/Sunday of returning of meat”
  • Karelian: äijüpäivü — “the great day” (“Here one can hear the influence of the Eastern Christianity, but not directly Russian as language, because the Russian term is Пасха/Pasha or Воскресение Христово/Voskresenie Hristovo, ‘[the day of] the resurrection of Christ,’ but the week before Easter is called as the great week.”) (Source for this and three above: Seppo Sipilä)
  • Russian (for Russian speaking Muslims): праздник Освобождения/prazdnik Osvobozhdeniya — “Festival of-liberation” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
  • Spanish Sign Language: pass through + miracle (source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff.)


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

  • English: Passover (term coined by William Tyndale that both replicates the sound of the Hebrew original pesah — פסח as well as part of the meaning: “passing over” the houses of the Israelites in Egypt) — oddly, the English Authorized Version (King James Version) translates the occurrence in Acts 12:4 as Easter
  • Low German: Osterfest “Easter” (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006)

Many Romance languages follow the tradition from Latin that has one term for both “Easter” and “Passover” (pascha). Portuguese uses Páscoa for both, Italian uses Pascha, and French has Pâque for “Passover” and the identically pronounced Pâques for “Easter.”

In languages in francophone and lusophone (Portuguese speaking) Africa, indigenous languages typically use the Romance word for “Easter” as a loanword and often transliterate pesach/pascha. In Kinyarwanda and Rundi Pasika is used, in Swahili and Congo Swahili Pasaka, and in Lingala Pasika. In some cases, the transliteration of “Passover” is derived from the European language, such as Umbundu’s Pascoa (from Portuguese) and Bulu’s Pak (from French).

As John Ellingworth (in The Bible Translator 1980, p 445f. ) points out “in most contexts only the presence or absence of the definite article distinguishes them [in French la pâque for Passover and Pâques for Easter]. Since most African languages do not have definite articles, there remains no way to distinguish between the two terms where the general population has borrowed the word for Easter and the Bible translators have borrowed the word for Passover to use in their translation. Some even consider the references to [Passover] before the death of Christ as prophetic!”

See also this devotion on YouVersion .

the Jews (Jewish people)

In the English Good News Bible (2nd edition of 1992), this occurrence of the Greek hoi Ioudaioi, traditionally “the Jews” in English, is translated with a term that refers to the Jewish people or is not translated at all if it implicitly refers to the Jewish people (for example “Passover” instead of “Passover of the Jews”). For an explanation of the differentiated translation in English as well as translation choices in a number of languages, see the Jews.

complete verse (John 11:55)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 11:55:

  • Uma: “At that time, it was nearly the big day of the Yahudi religion called Paskah Day. Before that big day arrived, many people from other towns went to Yerusalem, to wash themselves following the customs of their religion.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then the festival of the Yahudi was near which they call the Festival For-Remembering. Many people from the different places went ahead of time to Awrusalam to purify their bodies before they were included in the festival.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Not long from then was the feast of the Jews called Passing By. And before the feast arrived, many people climbed up there to the village of Jerusalem coming from the other villages because they will carry out the religious belief of the Jews of cleansing.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “The fiesta of the Jews called Passed-By was near-in-time. So many went-uphill to Jerusalem from the barrios to fulfill their custom that they had to bathe before (lit. so that then) they could attend-the-fiesta.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “The fiesta of the Judio was coming near again which was called Fiesta of Passed-by. Many were those from the provinces who went to Jerusalem before the fiesta arrived, so that they could do what was their custom in cleansing.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “It was close to the time the Jews had a celebration, which was called the Passover. Many people went to Jerusalem to atone for their sins at the church before the celebration began.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

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)

Translation commentary on John 11:55

The three verses 55-57 form a transition to the following section. In this respect they are similar to 7.11,13.

The time … was near may be rendered in some languages “It was almost the day” or “It was only a few more days before the day” or “In a few days it would be the day.”

For the third time in John’s Gospel the Passover Festival is definitely mentioned (2.13; 6.14), though it may be that the festival mentioned in 5.1 is also a Passover (see there). Many people did go up to the Passover Festival. During the Passover season the population of Jerusalem, normally about 25,000 swelled to more than 100,000.

Went up is the same verb used in 2.13 (went to). It is the normal word used of a pilgrimage to the Holy City.

It was customary for persons coming from the countryside to purify themselves before a major festival. Especially was this true of persons who lived near Gentiles or who had business dealings with Gentiles. One may recall here Paul’s actions in Acts 31.24-26.

To perform the ritual of purification (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “they wanted to purify themselves before the feast according to the prescribed regulations”) is more literally “in order that they might purify themselves.” Ceremonial purification was necessary if a man were to keep the Passover correctly (Num 9.10); and this ritual of purification could last as long as an entire week, depending on the degree of pollution experienced by the worshipper. The verb “to purify” does not appear again in John’s Gospel; but it does appear in 1 John 3.3 as a reference to spiritual purification.

It may be difficult to translate perform the ritual of purification. In some languages it is rendered simply “to do what was necessary in order to be purified” or “… to be pure.” Other languages, however, ave no word which suggests purification in the ritual sense. Some employ such a phrase as “to be clean before God” or “to be clean in God’s eyes.” However, in some languages there is no relation at all between physical cleanliness and spiritual purity. It may be necessary to say “to do what was necessary in order to be free from sin.” But such an expression may suggest the concept of atonement. If so, one may say instead “to do what was necessary in order that God would look upon them as being good” or “… that God would accept them.”

There is no textual evidence to support the omission of the phrase before the festival, as in Jerusalem Bible.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .