sell

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “sell” in English is translated in Noongar as wort-bangal or “away-barter.” Note that “buy” is translated as bangal-barranga or “get-barter.” (Source: Bardip Ruth-Ang 2020)

See also buy and buying / selling.

year of Jubilee

The Hebrew that is translated as “(year of) Jubilee” in English is translated in Kwere as mwaka wa kubweleza or “year of return.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

complete verse (Leviticus 25:50)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 25:50:

  • Kupsabiny: “He must ask that foreigner who bought him and count the years from when he sold himself until the year of release that is coming. What is to be paid is like what is paid to a person who was hired to work.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Counting from the time the person was sold until the Year of Jubilee, [he] can redeem himself by repaying the money from the account of the wages of a hired worker.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “What he is-to-do (is) he and the-one-who-bought him are-to-add-up/count how many (were) the years of his service and how-much would-be-suitable if he had-been paid just-like/same as it is-done for a hired worker. The suitable price/amount he will-subtract from the price which was-paid for him back-then when he was-bought as a slave. (That amount/price was-based on the number of years since he was-bought until the Year of Setting-Free and Returning.) And if (there-is) a remaining amount that is what he is-to-pay to-redeem him.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The man who wants to pay for his own release must count the number of years until the next Year of Celebration. The price he pays to the man who bought him will depend on the pay that would be given to a hired worker for that number of years.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Leviticus 25:50

He: this seems to refer to the slave himself, in the case where he had prospered and was able to pay for his own freedom. But it may also envision the case where one of his relatives appears with the money necessary to buy him back. In this case it will still be the unfortunate Israelite who sold himself into slavery who must now go through the accounting procedure with the man who originally bought him. In any case it may be better in some languages to translate the pronoun he as “the Israelite slave” or something similar.

According to the number of years: that is, according to the time remaining until the next Year of Restoration. Here the principle is the same as in other cases of redemption before the jubilee year (see, for example, verse 27). The equivalent of the wages of a hired laborer for the remaining period was to be paid. The idea behind this was that, since the Israelites were the property of the LORD, they were simply hired out to others for a limited period. This seems to indicate that a person who was heavily in debt could sell himself and then be redeemed by a relative for a lesser amount.

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 .