10When the cloud went away from over the tent, Miriam’s skin had become diseased, as white as snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam and saw that she was diseased.
The Hebrew that is transliterated as “Miriam” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “tambourine” referring to Exodus 15:20. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
In some Semitic languages, the transliteration for “Miriam” is identical to “Mary,” testifying to the fact that these names are identical (Arabic and the many translations that are reliant on Arabic: مَرْيَم, Hebrew: מִרְיָם, Ge’ez / Amharic and related languages: ማርያም).
The Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic that is translated in English as “(as white as) snow” is translated in San Miguel El Grande Mixtec as “(as white as) volcano frost,” the only white kind of frost that is known in that language (source: Nida 1947, p. 160.). Likewise, it is translated in Chichewa as matalala or “hail stones,” since “hail in Central Africa, when it occurs, is also white” (source: Wendland 1987, p. 72).
In Obolo it is translated as abalara: “white cloth” (source: Enene Enene), in Bambam and Bura-Pabir as “like the white of cotton” (source: Phil Campbell in Kroneman 2004, p. 500 and Andy Warren-Rothlin), in Muna as “white like cotton flowers” (source: René van den Berg), in Sharanahua as “like fresh Yuca root” (source: Holzhauen / Riderer 2010, p. 72), in Tagbanwa as “white like just broken waves” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation), in Chitonga as “as the cattle egret ” (source: Wendland 1987, p. 130), in Nabak as “white as a white cockatoo ” (source: Grace Fabian ), in Cerma “white like the full moon,” except in Psalm 51:7 where the Cerma translators chose “wash me with water until I shine” (source: Andrea Suter in Holzhauen / Riderer 2010, p. 36), and in Elhomwe as cotton or ntuura / “ash” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext).
In Gbaya, in most cases an ideophone (term that expresses what is perceived by the five senses) is employed to depict strong intense whiteness (either ndáká-ndáká or kpúŋ-kpúŋ are used for the ideophones), sometimes in combination with “cotton.” Interestingly, for Rev. 1:14 where the color of the hair of the “Son of Man” is described, the use of cotton was questioned since it “would create the unpleasant image of an untidy person with disheveled hair or of a mourner with unkempt appearance.” It was eventually used, but only with a footnote that gives additional information by mentioning the French loan word neige for “snow.” In the two cases where the color white refers to the color of the skin of leprosy (Numbers 12:10 and 2 Kings 5:27), the image of hail is used in the first to describe the pale white of leprous skin, while the ideophone ndáká-ndáká is used for dramatic effect in the second. (Source: Philip Noss)
The Greek and Hebrew terms that are often translated as “leprosy (or: defiling/skin disease)” or “leprous (person)” in English is translated in Mairasi as “the bad sickness,” since “leprosy is very common in the Mairasi area” (source: Enggavoter 2004).
Usila Chinantec “sickness like mal de pinta” (a skin disease involving discoloration by loss of pigment) (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
Hiligaynon: “dangerous skin disease” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “fearful skin disease” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “terrible rotting” (source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Newari: “infectious skin disease” (source: Newari Back Translation)
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 Leviticus 13 and 14 it translates tzaraat as a “quarantining affliction” — focusing “on what occurs to individuals after they suffer the affliction; the person is isolated from the community.” (Source: Israel Drazin in this article ). Similarly, the English Jewish Orthodox ArtScroll Tanach translation (publ. 2011) transliterates it as tzaraat affliction.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 12:10:
Kupsabiny: “And when that cloud had gone up/left from that Tent, the body of Miriam at once developed a rash that was white like frost. Aaron turned around and when he looked, he saw the body of Miriam with a big rash.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “As soon as the cloud moved from above the tent, Miriam, having become a leper, looked as white as snow. When Aaron looked at Miriam he saw that she had become a leper.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “When the cloud has- now -left above the Tent, suddenly had-grown on Meriam (a) dangerous disease on the skin, and her skin became- very -white. When- Aaron -saw her,” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “When the cloud rose up from the Sacred Tent, Aaron looked at Miriam, and he saw that her skin was as white as snow, because she now had leprosy.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them: For this figurative expression of the LORD’s burning anger, see the comments on verse 11.1.
And he departed; and when the cloud removed from over the tent: Good News Translation says “and so as he departed and the cloud left the Tent.” A more accurate rendering is “and he [the LORD] departed. When the cloud lifted from over the Tent.” This model helps to show that the LORD’s departure and the cloud’s removal go together. The first three clauses of verses 9-10 are closely connected in the Hebrew as a dramatic way of building up to the climactic behold.
Behold, Miriam was leprous: The Hebrew sentence structure here and the word for behold (hinneh) indicate that Miriam’s disease came suddenly, immediately when the cloud left. Good News Translation renders behold as “suddenly,” but other languages may have another way of introducing the dramatic revelation here, perhaps quite close to the original; for example, Chewa says “just have a look!” For the Hebrew word rendered leprous, see the comments on “leper” at 5.2.
As white as snow is literally “as snow” (NET Bible), so the point of comparison between Miriam’s skin and snow is not necessarily the color white, but rather the damp, watery appearance of melting snow. As a footnote in NET Bible points out, wetness or moistness could also be in view, referring to open wounds and sores of pus. This idea seems to be suggested by Aaron’s later figurative description in verse 12. If skin color or quality had been an issue when Miriam called attention to Moses’ Cushite wife, she was now appropriately punished.
And Aaron turned towards Miriam, and behold, she was leprous: The description of what happened to Miriam is repeated from Aaron’s perspective (the first time perhaps being that of Moses himself). Good News Translation removes some of the repetition here by rendering and behold, she was leprous as “and saw that she was covered with the disease,” but in some languages it may be retained for emphasis.
Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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