complete verse (Leviticus 11:35)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 11:35:

  • Kupsabiny: “If one of those animals that have died falls on a cooking place or cooking pot, those things are to be destroyed because they are no longer clean.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “If such a carcass falls down on a clay oven or stove of any kind it will be unclean. It must be completely broken to pieces.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Anything that their dead bodies fall-on will-become dirty/unclean. If the place-that- (it) -falls-on (is) a wood-oven or a cooking-pot, you (plur.) are-to-consider this dirty/unclean and this must be-broken.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Anything that one of the carcasses of those creatures falls on becomes defiled/unacceptable to me; even if it falls on an oven or a cooking pot, anything that it falls on must be broken into pieces. It becomes unacceptable to me and you must not use it again.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Leviticus 11:35

Oven: see 2.4 for a description of such an oven. While the adjective “clay” may possibly be understood as describing only the stove in Good News Translation, it is intended to qualify both the oven and the stove. It should also be noted that, while this adjective is added by Good News Translation, it is not in the original Hebrew, and according to some experts it is both unnecessary and inaccurate.

Stove: the Hebrew word found here does not occur anywhere else in the Old Testament, and its meaning is uncertain. It probably refers to a kind of portable hearth supporting two cooking pots. However, the uncertainty of its meaning is clearly seen in the variety of renderings found in English versions. In addition to stove without any further qualification, we also find “ranges for pots” (King James Version), “chafing pots” (Moffatt), “fire pot” (An American Translation), “jar-stand” (New American Bible), “cooking pot” (New International Version), and “clay stove” (Good News Translation).

It shall be broken in pieces: the future tense is used here to indicate something which must be done. The passive form will have to be translated by an active form in some languages: “They [indefinite] must destroy it” or “You must destroy it.”

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .