31“Thus you shall keep the Israelites separate from their uncleanness, so that they do not die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle that is in their midst.
The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “tabernacle” in English is translated in San Blas Kuna as “house of prayer that can be carried.” (Source: Ronald Ross)
In Bandi it is translated as “holy sitting place.” The “sitting place for the Bandi is where you live.” Therefore the tabernacle is the place where God lived. (Source: Becky Grossmann in this newsletter )
In Vidunda it is translated as “God’s tent” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext) and in Tibetan as gur mchog (གུར་མཆོག) or “perfect tent” (source: gSungrab website )
In American Sign Language it is translated with with a sign for “tent” combined with a sign referring to the outer court surrounding the tent (see Exodus 27:9 and following). (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Tabernacle” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 15:31:
Kupsabiny: “Remind the people of Israel to stay away from things/matters that make people unclean so that they do not die when/if they spoil/defile my Tent that is in their midst.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “IIn this way you must keep the Israelites away from matters that make [them] unclean. Otherwise, they will defile the holy tabernacle for me that is in their place, and they would have to die due to their uncleanness.’"” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “The LORD told Moises and Aaron that to-warn the Israelinhon concerning the things that cause- them -to-be-dirty/to-be-unclean, in-order-that they will- not -die if they go to the Tent of the LORD which (is) there in-the-middle of the camp.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “‘You must warn the Israeli people not to do things that defile them/cause them to be unacceptable to me. If they become unacceptable to me/defiled, they will cause my Sacred Tent which is among them to become an unacceptable place to worship me, and as a result they will die.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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).
Thus: some versions omit the transition word and merely begin a new paragraph. Moffatt begins “So…,” and New English Bible has “In this way….” Natural receptor-language style should be used, but in many languages this will almost certainly require some kind of transition word. In view of the context some languages may begin “As for you…,” referring to Moses and Aaron.
You: the pronoun here is plural and apparently refers to Moses and Aaron, picking up information made explicit in the first verse of this chapter. It may be useful to remind the readers and hearers again that this section is still a part of what the LORD told these two leaders.
Separate: the basic meaning of the verb used here is “to separate,” as in Revised Standard Version and New International Version. But this has presented serious problems of interpretation. An American Translation translates “to get rid of.” And Living Bible has “to cleanse.” HOTTP recommends the text with the verb separate but gives no clues about how it is to be understood. One commentator has suggested that in this context it should be rendered “to observe strict rules in respect to ritual uncleanness.” Compare Traduction oecuménique de la Bible. The majority of modern English versions, however, follow a modification of the Hebrew text which has the verb “to warn against” (New English Bible, Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible). This is judged necessary in spite of the HOTTP recommendation to the contrary. Bible en français courant, however, makes good sense of the traditional Hebrew text recommended by HOTTP, rendering it “You must ask the Israelites to keep their distance from the sanctuary when they are in an impure state….”
Lest they die: Good News Translation shifts this phrase to the end of the verse and clearly translates the meaning as a separate conditional sentence. This may be a helpful model for many other languages.
My tabernacle: if indirect discourse is used as in Good News Translation, the pronoun my will have to become “his.” Also, the word tabernacle is used here instead of the usual “Tent of the LORD’s presence,” but the meaning is the same. This is why Good News Translation translates as it does. See comments at 8.10. Another way to translate this is “the place where I live among them.”
In their midst: in the middle of their camp. This simply specifies more clearly the location of the Tent of the LORD’s presence.
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 .
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