41On the next day, however, the whole congregation of the Israelites rebelled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 16:41:
Kupsabiny: “And on the following day, all the people of Israel said to Moses and Aaron, ‘You are the ones who killed some people belonging to God.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “The next day the whole community of Israel people complained, speaking against Moses and Aaron like this, "You have killed the LORD’s people."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “But the next day, the whole community of Israel complained again to Moises and Aaron. They said, ‘You (plur.) have-killed the people of the LORD.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “But the following morning, all the Israeli people started to complain against Aaron and Moses/me, saying ‘You have killed many people who belonged to Yahweh!’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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 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
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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).
But on the morrow all the congregation of the people of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying: The Israelites still complained after the deadly message, so the conjunction But fits well here. New Revised Standard Version renders on the morrow as “On the next day” (similarly Good News Translation). For the Hebrew word rendered congregation (ʿedah), which is better translated “community,” see 1.2. For the verb murmured, see verse 14.2.
You have killed the people of the LORD: Good News Translation says “You have killed some of the LORD’s people” to describe the situation more accurately, since not all of his people were killed during the preceding events. However, this clause in Hebrew is an instance of hyperbole, so we do not recommend Good News Translation‘s model here. Its rendering diminishes the people’s exaggerated, even irrational emotional outburst. In fact, Moses and Aaron did not kill anybody; the rebels died due to the direct punitive action of the LORD. But Moses and Aaron are treated like scapegoats here—the people wanted to blame someone for the frustration that they were feeling. You renders an emphatic Hebrew pronoun, which may be expressed by saying “It is you who…” or “You two are the ones who….”
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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