17the five men who had gone to spy out the land proceeded to enter and take the idol of cast metal, the ephod, and the teraphim. The priest was standing by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war.
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)
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Greek that are typically translated as “priest” in English (itself deriving from Latin “presbyter” — “elder”) is often translated with a consideration of existing religious traditions. (Click or tap for details)
Bratcher / Nida (1961) say this:
“However, rather than borrow local names for priests, some of which have unwanted connotations, a number of translations have employed descriptive phrases based on certain functions: (1) those describing a ceremonial activity: Pamona uses tadu, the priestess who recites the litanies in which she describes her journey to the upper or under-world to fetch life-spirit for sick people, animals or plants; Batak Toba uses the Arabic malim, ‘Muslim religious teacher;’ ‘one who presents man’s sacrifice to God’ (Bambara, Eastern Maninkakan), ‘one who presents sacrifices’ (Baoulé, Navajo (Dinė)), ‘one who takes the name of the sacrifice’ (Kpelle, and ‘to make a sacrifice go out’ (Hausa); (2) those describing an intermediary function: ‘one who speaks to God’ (Shipibo-Conibo) and ‘spokesman of the people before God’ (Tabasco Chontal).”
In Obolo it is translated as ogwu ngwugwa or “the one who offers sacrifice” (source: Enene Enene), in Mairasi as agam aevar nevwerai: “religious leader” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Ignaciano as “blesser, one who does ritual as a practice” (using a generic term rather than the otherwise common Spanish loan word sacerdote) (source: Willis Ott in Notes on Translation 88/1982, p. 18ff.), and in Noongar as yakin-kooranyi or “holy worker” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
For Guhu-Samane, Ernest Richert (in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. ) reports this: “The [local] cult of Poro used to be an all-encompassing religious system that essentially governed all areas of life. (…) For ‘priest’ the term ‘poro father’ would at first seem to be a natural choice. However, several priests of the old cult are still living. Although they no longer function primarily as priests of the old system they still have a substantial influence on the community, and there would be more than a chance that the unqualified term would (in some contexts particularly) be equated with the priest of the poro cult. We learned, then, that the poro fathers would sometimes be called ‘knife men’ in relation to their sacrificial work. The panel was pleased to apply this term to the Jewish priest, and the Christian community has adopted it fully. [Mark 1:44, for instance, now] reads: ‘You must definitely not tell any man of this. But you go show your body to the knife man and do what Moses said about a sacrifice concerning your being healed, and the cause (base of this) will be apparent.'”
For a revision of the 1968 version of the Bible in Khmer Joseph Hong (in: The Bible Translator 1996, 233ff. ) talks about a change in wording for this term:
Bau cha r (បូជាចារ្យ) — The use of this new construction meaning “priest” is maintained to translate the Greek word hiereus. The term “mean sang (មាន សង្ឃ)” used in the old version actually means a “Buddhist monk,” and is felt to be theologically misleading. The Khmer considers the Buddhist monk as a “paddy field of merits,” a reserve of merits to be shared with other people. So a Khmer reader would find unthinkable that the mean sang in the Bible killed animals, the gravest sin for a Buddhist; and what a scandal it would be to say that a mean sang was married, had children, and drank wine.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Judges 18:17:
Kupsabiny: “The five men who had gone to spy out that land went to that house where they pray from, and then they took the idols and that ceremonial cloth. They also took the two other things molded from silver.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Right while the priest was standing at the main door together with the 600 men who were holding weapons, the five men who came to spy out the country went inside the house, and took the image, the idol, the ephod and the household gods.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “While the priest and the 600 armed men of the tribe of Dan were-standing at the gate of the town, the five spies entered into the house of Micas and they took-away the special cloth, the image that was-overlayed/coated with silver, and the other little-gods.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “The five men who had explored the land went into Micah’s house, and took all the idols, the sacred vest, and the statue. While they did that, the 600 men stood outside the gate, talking with the priest.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
This verse is a good example of Hebrew’s love of repetition, as almost every phrase here has occurred previously.
And the five men who had gone to spy out the land …: See verse 18.14. Once again, the focus shifts back to the five Danite spies, obviously the leaders of the group. They were not brave heroes, but rather lowly Israelites set on robbing and defaming their own countrymen.
The Hebrew verb rendered went up (ʿalah) has a military sense here (see verse 1.1).
And entered and took is literally “they came there [and] they took.” Surprisingly, the Hebrew verbs here occur without the waw conjunction. The verb took links this episode back to the beginning of this whole story when Micah confessed to his mother that he “took” her silver (verse 17.2). Now the Danites in turn rob Micah! Translators should render took in the same way as in verse 17.2 to preserve the link back to Micah’s initial theft, since part of the message here is that Micah is being paid back for his bad actions.
The graven image, the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image: See verse 17.3, verse 5. The order of the items in this list varies slightly from the order in verse 18.14. The separate mention of graven image and molten image would lead us to believe that these are indeed two rather than one image.
While the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war renders an independent clause in Hebrew, which is literally “and the priest was standing by the entrance of the gate and the six hundred men armed with weapons of war.” This clause repeats previous expressions, and this repetition along with the picture presented here make it highly ironic. The young Levite stands helplessly as he watches the Danites confiscate the objects of worship. They came to ask about his “welfare/peace” (verse 18.15), but now they take away his livelihood with instruments of war. The priest refers to the young Levite whom Micah installed as his priest (see verse 17.12), even if he is not a true priest. Here again the narrator chooses his words with care, as the mere mention of the priest evokes strong irony. Translators should be careful to render the text as it stands and not put “the Levite” in place of the priest. For stood by the entrance of the gate, see verse 18.16; for six hundred men armed with weapons of war, see verse 18.11.
Quoted with permission from Zogbo, Lynell and Ogden, Graham S. A Handbook on Judges. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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