complete verse (Leviticus 11:46)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 11:46:

  • Kupsabiny: “So these are the laws about animals, birds, everything that lives in water and everything that pulls itself along the ground.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “’ This is the regulations concerning all living beings, [those] animals, birds, and living creature that live in the waters and everything that crawls on the ground. ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Through these regulations/instructions concerning all kinds of animals,” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “’Those are the regulations concerning animals and birds, all the living creatures that live in water or scurry across the ground.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

law

The Greek, Hebrew, and Ge’ez that is translated in English as “Law” or “law” is translated in Mairasi as oro nasinggiei or “prohibited things” (source: Enggavoter 2004) and in Noongar with a capitalized form of the term for “words” (Warrinya) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

In Yucateco the phrase that is used for “law” is “ordered-word” (for “commandment,” it is “spoken-word”) (source: Nida 1947, p. 198) and in Central Tarahumara it is “writing-command.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

In a 1922 translation into Chagatai, a precursor language of both Uzbek and Uighur, it is translated with the Arabic loan word shari’at (شريعت), originally meaning “(Islamic) law (Shari’a).” (Source: F. Erbay and F.N. Küçükballı in Acta Theologica 2025 45/2, p. 133ff. )

See also teaching / law (of God) (Japanese honorifics).

Translation commentary on Leviticus 11:46

Verses 46-47 are not a part of the words of the LORD. They are a kind of editorial statement by the writer, given to summarize the main points of the chapter. Similar summary statements are found at the end of each section in the third part of Leviticus (see 12.7b; 13.59; 14.32, 54-57; 15.32-33). Moffatt translates “Such is the law…,” while New Jerusalem Bible has “These are the instructions….”

The law: in many languages the collective nature of this word is best shown by translating it as a plural, “These, then, are the laws.” See 6.9.

That moves through the waters: see verses 10-12.

That swarms upon the earth: see verse 44.

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 .