burnt-offering

The Hebrew olah (עֹלָה) originally means “that which goes up (in smoke).” English Bibles often translates it as “burnt-offering” or “whole burnt-offering,” focusing on the aspect of the complete burning of the offering.

The Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate Bibles translate it as holokautōma / holocautōsis (ὁλοκαύτωμα / ὁλοκαύτωσις) and holocaustum, respectively, meaning “wholly burnt.” While a form of this term is widely used in many Romance languages (Spanish: holocaustos, French: holocaustes, Italian: olocausti, Portuguese: holocaustos) and originally also in the Catholic tradition of English Bible translations, it is largely not used in English anymore today (the preface of the revised edition of the Catholic New American Bible of 2011: “There have been changes in vocabulary; for example, the term ‘holocaust’ is now normally reserved for the sacrilegious attempt to destroy the Jewish people by the Third Reich.”)

Since translation into Georgian was traditionally done on the basis of the Greek Septuagint, a transliteration of holokautōma was used as well, which was changed to a translation with the meaning of “burnt offering” when the Old Testament was retranslated in the 1980’s on the basis of the Hebrew text.

In the Koongo (Ki-manianga) translation by the Alliance Biblique de la R.D. Congo (publ. in 2015) olah is translated as “kill and offer sacrifice.” (Source: Anicet Bassilua)

The English translation of Everett Fox uses offering-up (similarly, the German translation by Buber-Rosenzweig has Darhöhung and the French translation by Chouraqui montée).

See also offering (qorban).

atonement

The Greek and Hebrew that is usually translated in English as “atonement” is translated in Luchazi with minina mata: “to swallow another’s spittle.” “The human bite [is traditionally thought of] as being the most poisonous and dangerous and the poison lies in the saliva. So in swallowing another’s spittle, one takes into oneself all the poison or evil of the other and thus actually ‘becomes sin’ on behalf of the other. The substitute then proceeds to deal with the case as though he were the guilty one.” (Source: E. Pearson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 160ff. )

See also propitiation / atoning sacrifice and sacrifice of atonement / expiation / propitiation.

Translation commentary on Leviticus 1:4

He shall lay his hand upon the head: by means of this gesture the person offering the sacrifice identifies himself as the one who is offering the animal, and in a sense he offers himself to God through the sacrificial animal. This gesture is important when a larger animal is offered to the LORD, since there may be several persons who physically bring the animal to the altar (compare verses 10 and 14, where this gesture is not mentioned in connection with a smaller animal or a bird). In those languages where it is necessary to specify which hand is laid on the head of the animal, this should be the right hand.

By using the noun “man” in place of the pronoun he, Good News Translation makes it clear that it is the person offering the sacrifice and not the priest who places his hand on the head of the animal.

Upon the head of the burnt offering: the reference is clearly to the head of the animal which is brought as a burnt offering, but the gesture is made before it is actually burned.

It shall be accepted: this passive expression will have to be rendered actively in many languages. Since the implied subject is God, it may be translated “God will accept it….” Note that in the previous verse this verb is taken to refer to the person offering the sacrifice, but in this case it seems to refer to the animal that is “regarded as good” by the LORD.

To make atonement for him: the Hebrew verb translated by this phrase appears often in the ritual of sacrifices offered to obtain forgiveness from God. The original meaning of the root word in Hebrew seems to have been “cover” or possibly “wipe off,” but this meaning may have been lost. The idea of “atonement” is found nearly fifty times in Leviticus. It may signify either the means of undoing ritual defilement or the resultant reconciliation with God, who has been offended by a violation of his laws (or possibly both ideas may have been involved). The basic idea seems to be that of restoring harmony or putting things back in proper order. In this context it seems to indicate a particular ritual gesture on the part of the priest, who is charged to announce to the faithful that their sins have been forgiven (see 4.20). God is the one who pardons, and as a sign of forgiveness he accepts the animal sacrifice. In some languages it may be preferable to give a clearer statement by saying “Then the LORD will accept his offering and will pardon his sins.” In other languages the word “pardon” or “forgive” has been rendered by such idiomatic expressions as “turn his back on sin,” “heal the neck,” or “God has spat on the ground for us.”

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 .