30Then Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood that was on the altar and sprinkled them on Aaron and his vestments and also on his sons and their vestments. Thus he consecrated Aaron and his vestments and also his sons and their vestments.
The Greek and Hebrew that are translated as “consecration” or “consecrate” in English is translated in Poqomchi’ as “set apart” (when applying to a ritual not to a moral status). (Source: Robert Bascom)
In Newari it is translated as “make holy” (source: Newari Back Translation) and in Kwere as “put to holy work” when it refers to making someone or something suitable for priestly duties, when it refers to individual consecration outside of the priestly duty, “offer (yourselves) for my sake” is also used. (Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Bura-Pabir: “sacrifice mound” (source: Andy Warrren-Rothlin)
Kalanga: “fireplace of sacrifice” (source: project-specific notes in Paratext)
The Ignaciano translators decided to translate the difficult term in that language according to the focus of each New Testament passage in which the word appears (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight
Willis Ott (in Notes on Translation 88/1982, p. 18ff.) explains:
Matt. 5:23,24: “When you take your offering to God, and arriving, you remember…, do not offer your gift yet. First go to your brother…Then it is fitting to return and offer your offering to God.” (The focus is on improving relationships with people before attempting to improve a relationship with God, so the means of offering, the altar, is not focal.)
Matt. 23:18 (19,20): “You also teach erroneously: ‘If someone makes a promise, swearing by the offering-place/table, he is not guilty if he should break the promise. But if he swears by the gift that he put on the offering-place/table, he will be guilty if he breaks the promise.'”
Luke 1:11: “…to the right side of the table where they burn incense.”
Luke 11.51. “…the one they killed in front of the temple (or the temple enclosure).” (The focus is on location, with overtones on: “their crime was all the more heinous for killing him there”.)
Rom. 11:3: “Lord, they have killed all my fellow prophets that spoke for you. They do not want anyone to give offerings to you in worship.” (The focus is on the people’s rejection of religion, with God as the object of worship.)
1Cor. 9:13 (10:18): “Remember that those that attend the temple have rights to eat the foods that people bring as offerings to God. They have rights to the meat that the people offer.” (The focus is on the right of priests to the offered food.)
Heb. 7:13: “This one of whom we are talking is from another clan. No one from that clan was ever a priest.” (The focus in on the legitimacy of this priest’s vocation.)
Jas. 2:21: “Remember our ancestor Abraham, when God tested him by asking him to give him his son by death. Abraham was to the point of stabbing/killing his son, thus proving his obedience.” (The focus is on the sacrifice as a demonstration of faith/obedience.)
Rev. 6:9 (8:3,5; 9:13; 14:18; 16:7): “I saw the souls of them that…They were under the table that holds God’s fire/coals.” (This keeps the concepts of: furniture, receptacle for keeping fire, and location near God.)
Rev. 11:1: “Go to the temple, Measure the building and the inside enclosure (the outside is contrasted in v. 2). Measure the burning place for offered animals. Then count the people who are worshiping there.” (This altar is probably the brazen altar in a temple on earth, since people are worshiping there and since outside this area conquerors are allowed to subjugate for a certain time.)
In the Hebraic English translation of Everett Fox it is translated as slaughter-site and likewise in the German translation by Buber / Rosenzweig as Schlachtstatt.
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated with “clothes” or similar in English is translated in Enlhet as “crawling-in-stuff” (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1971, p. 169ff. ) and in Noongar as bwoka or “Kangaroo skin” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
The different Hebrew and Greek terms that are translated as “(olive) oil” and “(animal) fat” in English are translated in Kwere with only one term: mavuta. (Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 8:30:
Kupsabiny: “Then Moses took part of the oil used for anointing and the blood which was on/at the altar and sprinkled it on Aaron, his sons, his clothes and those (clothes) of his sons. So, Moses set aside/dedicated Aaron and his clothes, his sons and their clothes.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Then Moses, taking a little anointing oil and a little blood from the altar splashed Aaron and his clothes and his sons and their clothing. In this way he consecrated the garments of Aaron and his sons.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Then Moises took oil which is-used-for-rubbing and (some of) the blood to the altar and he sprinkled Aaron and his children as-well-as their garments. In-this-way he offered them and their garments to the LORD.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Then Moses/I took some of the olive oil for anointing Aaron and his sons, and some of the blood that was on the altar and sprinkled it on Aaron and his sons and on their clothes. By doing that, he/I consecrated Aaron and his sons and their clothes.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The name that is transliterated as “Moses” in English means “taken out of the water,” “saved out of the water,” “a son.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )
American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here ).
In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:
The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).
In Swiss-German Sign Language (and Hungarian Sign Language) it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).
In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the eye make up he would have worn as the adopted son of an Egyptian princess. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)
“Moses” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL
Then: most English versions retain some sort of connecting word here, but Good News Translation and New English Bible have left the transition implicit. Naturalness in the receptor language should be the determining factor in deciding how to handle this.
The anointing oil: since this verse does not otherwise mention anointing, some versions have preferred to translate here “the holy (or, sacred) oil” (Bible en français courant).
The blood: see verse 24.
Note that the order of the sprinkling is different in Good News Translation, where “Aaron and his sons” are mentioned together, and “their clothes” is a combined expression for both garments. Translators should consider which is the most logical and natural order in their own language.
On the altar: the location of the anointing oil is not specified here. Grammatically the phrase which was on the altar refers only to the blood. But the two liquids were mixed and then sprinkled on the priests and their clothing.
Sprinkled …: this ritual established a special relationship between the priests (and their clothing) and the altar. From this point on only they were allowed to approach the altar and to present the sacrifices brought by the people of Israel. Only they could serve as intermediaries between God and the worshiping community.
It: referring to the mixture of the oil and blood. In some languages a plural pronoun may be required. In others it may be better to say more explicitly “the mixture,” or simply “the oil and the blood.”
So: this introduces a kind of summary statement. Good News Translation has “In this way.” But Moffatt and Wenham have “then…,” indicating more of a continuation of action.
He consecrated …: the verb used here comes from the root meaning “to set apart” or “to make holy.” See 2.3. In some languages it may be better to translate “he set them apart with their clothing to serve God” or “he made them and their clothing special in the presence of God.”
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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