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) and in Elhomwe as “fire offering.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

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).

complete verse (Leviticus 1:6)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 1:6:

  • Kupsabiny: “The person shall skin the bullock and then cut it into pieces.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Then the person who is offering the burnt offering must peel off the skin of the animal which has been offered and cut its flesh into pieces.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Then the-one-who-is-offering (it) will-skin the animal and cut-(it)-into-pieces.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “You must remove the skin of the animal and cut the animal into pieces. You must wash the inner parts and the legs of the bull.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Leviticus 1:6

He: the reference here is to the lay person who is making the offering and not to the priests mentioned in verse 5, since that would require a plural subject.

Flay the burnt offering: the reference is clearly to the bull which has not yet been burned, so Good News Translation says “the animal.” It also has the common language “skin” in place of the technical term flay. But in other languages it will be clearer to say “remove the skin of the animal” or “take away the skin from the animal.”

Cut it into pieces: the animal is simply cut into quarters, with the head and the suet (or fat) as separate pieces, so the translation should not give the impression that it is carved into many small pieces as if preparing to cook it for eating. Since it would be difficult to place the entire bull on the altar, it was a matter of practical necessity to cut it into manageable parts, but it was not necessary to cut it into small pieces.

The actions of verses 6 and 7 are probably simultaneous so that it is also possible to translate “While the man skins the animal … the priests light the fire….”

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 .