10“If anyone of the house of Israel or of the aliens who reside among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut that person off from the people.
Targumim (or: Targums) are translations of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic. They were translated and used when Jewish congregations increasingly could not understand the biblical Hebrew anymore. Targum Onqelos (also: Onkelos) is the name of the Aramaic translation of the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) probably composed in Israel/Palestine in the 1st or 2nd century CE and later edited in Babylon in the 4th or 5th century, making it reflect Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. It is the most famous Aramaic translation and was widely used throughout the Jewish communities.
In many, but not all, cases the translation of Targum Onqelos avoids anthropomorphisms (attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions) as they relate in the original Hebrew text to God.
The Hebrew of Leviticus 17:10, 20:3, 20:5, and 26:17 that is typically translated in English as “face” is translated in Targum Onqelos as “anger” or “wrath” (Source: Schochet 1966, p. 15)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 17:10:
Kupsabiny: “If it happens that an Israelite or a foreigner who lives among you eats any blood, I shall turn my back on that person and make him get out from their people.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “’If anyone among Israelites or the foreigners living with them eats blood, I will oppose that blood-eating person, and [I] will drive him/her out from his/her own people. ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Any one of you (plur.) who eats blood the LORD will-be-against (him) and you (plur.) are-to- no-longer -consider him a member of-you (plur.).” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “‘I will reject any Israeli or any foreigner who is living among you who eats any blood, and I will command that he no longer be allowed to associate with my people.” (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.
Eats any blood: it may be necessary to say “eats any meat from which the blood has not been drained” in many languages. Since blood is liquid, it cannot be “eaten” in many cultures. Moffatt‘s “tastes any blood” is probably too strong a statement. New Jerusalem Bible makes the prohibition more general with “consumes blood.”
I will set my face against: if the receptor-language translation has chosen to use indirect rather than direct quotation, then the pronoun I should be translated “the LORD.” The expression “set one’s face against” may be translated in some languages as “turn one’s back on” or “look away from” (see 20.3, 6; 26:17; Ezek 14.8; 15.7). The basic meaning is “to reject” or “to repudiate,” implying hostile action.
Against that person who eats blood: since this expression has already been used at the beginning of this verse, it may be replaced by a pronoun here, “against him,” or else simply “against that person.”
Cut off …: in this context it is the LORD who is the subject of the verb (the pronoun I in the more literal rendering of Revised Standard Version). The basic meaning of the verb is, however, essentially the same as in verses 4 and 9 as well as in 7.20, where it is passive in form. See the remarks at 7.20.
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 .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.