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.

horn

The musical instrument that is most often translated as “(ram’s) horn” or “trumpet” in English is translated in the following ways:

  • Yakan: tabuli’ (big sea shell used to give signals) (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Mairasi / Bariai: “Triton shell trumpet” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • German Luther translation: Posaune, today: “trombone,” originally with the meaning of a wind instrument made from cow horn (from Latin bucina [bovi- / “cow” + the root of cano / “sing”]. Incidentally, bucina is also used in the Latin Vulgate translation). By the time of Luther’s translation it referred to the natural trumpet or a fanfare trumpet (see also trumpet). Once the meaning morphed to “trombone” in the 19th century, trombone ensembles started to play a central role in Protestant German churches and do so to the present day. In 2016, “Posaunenchöre” became added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list . (Note that Exodus 19:13 is the only exception in the Luther Bible. From the 1956 revision on, Widderhorn or “ram’s horn” is used here) (source: Zetzsche)

In the UBS Helps for Translators‘ Human-made Things in the Bible (original title: The Works of Their Hands: Man-made Things in the Bible) it says the following:

Description: The horn was a wind instrument made from the horn of an animal, usually a male sheep.

Usage: The animal horn was softened so that it could be shaped. The point of the horn was cut off to leave a small opening through which the user blew. The vibration of the lips produced the sound.

The ram’s horn served two general purposes:

1. It was blown in certain religious contexts, not as musical accompaniment to worship but as a signal for important events. Some of these events were the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, the Day of Atonement, the bringing of the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, and the coronation of kings.

2. It also served as a signal or alarm when war was approaching. Such references are particularly common in the prophetic books, when the prophets are calling the people to repent (Hosea 5:8; 8:1; Joel 2:1; 2:15; Amos 3:6).

Translation: In many passages the purpose of the ram’s horn called shofar in Hebrew was to sound an alarm. This will be easy to express in those cultures where the horns of animals are used as musical instruments to give signals to large groups of people. In other cultures it may be possible to find another instrument that is used for an equivalent purpose. In some languages, for example, instruments such as bells or drums are the warnings for war. Some translations have transliterated the word shofar. Unless the instrument is well known, such a borrowing should normally be accompanied by a footnote or a glossary entry.

In some passages it will be necessary to expand the translation in order to indicate that the blowing of the ram’s horn was not just for music; for example, in Ezekiel 7:14 Contemporary English Version has “A signal has been blown on the trumpet,” and the German Contemporary English Version says “An alarm is sounded” [elsewhere, the same German version refers to the horns as Kriegshörner or “war horns.”]

Man blowing ram’s horn (source: Knowles, revised by Bass (c) British and Foreign Bible Society 1994)

Quoted with permission.

complete verse (Leviticus 25:9)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 25:9:

  • Kupsabiny: “The tenth day in the seventh month of the forty-nineth year is to be for forgiveness. Blow a horn on that day to sound in all areas of your land.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “on the Day of Atonement, the 10th day of the 7th month, blow the sheep horn trumpet from all over the land.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “In every 49 years, on the tenth day of the seventh month which is the Day of Redeeming the People from their sins, you (plur.) are-to-sound/blow/[lit. cause-to-be-loud] the horns/trumpets throughout the whole place/(land).” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “‘Also, after every 49 years has ended, you must do this: On the tenth day of the seventh month/At the end of September of the next/50th year, blow trumpets throughout the country, to declare that it will be a day on which you request that I forgive you for the sins that you have committed.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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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).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Leviticus 25:9

This verse repeats the same information two times in parallel structure. The pronouns are singular in the first part of the verse and plural in the second part. The phrase the tenth day of the seventh month refers to “the Day of Atonement.” The verse should be translated in such a way as to avoid giving the impression that it refers to two separate events.

Send abroad the (loud) trumpet: this phrase occurs twice in this verse, but it may be translated once in those languages where the repetition is not acceptable. And since the trumpet cannot go around the land on its own, many languages will prefer to say “send someone to blow a trumpet loudly” (compare Good News Translation).

The Good News Translation rendering “send a man to blow a trumpet…” may give the impression that a single individual is to perform this action. But it is doubtful that one person would have done the job alone. If Good News Translation is taken as a model, then it will be important to change the singular to a plural in this case.

The word for trumpet in Hebrew refers to the horn of a ram, which was used as a musical instrument to give signals to large groups of people (see Josh 6.20; Judges 3.27; 1 Sam 13.3). In those cultures where the horns of animals are still used for such purposes, the receptor-language word for this instrument may be used in the translation.

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 .