priest

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Greek that are typically translated as “priest” in English (itself deriving from Latin “presbyter” — “elder”) is often translated with a consideration of existing religious traditions. (Click or tap for details)

Bratcher / Nida (1961) say this:

“However, rather than borrow local names for priests, some of which have unwanted connotations, a number of translations have employed descriptive phrases based on certain functions: (1) those describing a ceremonial activity: Pamona uses tadu, the priestess who recites the litanies in which she describes her journey to the upper or under-world to fetch life-spirit for sick people, animals or plants; Batak Toba uses the Arabic malim, ‘Muslim religious teacher;’ ‘one who presents man’s sacrifice to God’ (Bambara, Eastern Maninkakan), ‘one who presents sacrifices’ (Baoulé, Navajo (Dinė)), ‘one who takes the name of the sacrifice’ (Kpelle, and ‘to make a sacrifice go out’ (Hausa); (2) those describing an intermediary function: ‘one who speaks to God’ (Shipibo-Conibo) and ‘spokesman of the people before God’ (Tabasco Chontal).”

In Obolo it is translated as ogwu ngwugwa or “the one who offers sacrifice” (source: Enene Enene), in Mairasi as agam aevar nevwerai: “religious leader” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Ignaciano as “blesser, one who does ritual as a practice” (using a generic term rather than the otherwise common Spanish loan word sacerdote) (source: Willis Ott in Notes on Translation 88/1982, p. 18ff.), and in Noongar as yakin-kooranyi or “holy worker” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

For Guhu-Samane, Ernest Richert (in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. ) reports this: “The [local] cult of Poro used to be an all-encompassing religious system that essentially governed all areas of life. (…) For ‘priest’ the term ‘poro father’ would at first seem to be a natural choice. However, several priests of the old cult are still living. Although they no longer function primarily as priests of the old system they still have a substantial influence on the community, and there would be more than a chance that the unqualified term would (in some contexts particularly) be equated with the priest of the poro cult. We learned, then, that the poro fathers would sometimes be called ‘knife men’ in relation to their sacrificial work. The panel was pleased to apply this term to the Jewish priest, and the Christian community has adopted it fully. [Mark 1:44, for instance, now] reads: ‘You must definitely not tell any man of this. But you go show your body to the knife man and do what Moses said about a sacrifice concerning your being healed, and the cause (base of this) will be apparent.'”

For a revision of the 1968 version of the Bible in Khmer Joseph Hong (in: The Bible Translator 1996, 233ff. ) talks about a change in wording for this term:

​​Bau cha r (បូជា‌ចារ្យ) — The use of this new construction meaning “priest” is maintained to translate the Greek word hiereus. The term “mean sang (មាន សង្ឃ)” used in the old version actually means a “Buddhist monk,” and is felt to be theologically misleading. The Khmer considers the Buddhist monk as a “paddy field of merits,” a reserve of merits to be shared with other people. So a Khmer reader would find unthinkable that the mean sang in the Bible killed animals, the gravest sin for a Buddhist; and what a scandal it would be to say that a mean sang was married, had children, and drank wine.

See also idolatrous priests.

complete verse (Numbers 19:3)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 19:3:

  • Kupsabiny: “That cow is to be given to the priest Eleazar and taken outside the camp, and then to be killed with Eleazar also being there.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Give that cow to Eleazar the priest. It must be taken outside the camp and killed in his presence.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “[You (plur.)] give it to Eleazar the priest, and bring it outside of the camp and slaughter in front of him.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Give it to Eleazar, the priest. He must take it outside the camp and slaughter it and drain the blood in a basin.” (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 Numbers 19:3

And you shall give her to Eleazar the priest: The Hebrew pronoun for you is plural, referring to Moses and Aaron, to whom the LORD is still speaking. Good News Translation refers to them in the third person with the pronoun “they,” since the Israelites are the addressees here in Good News Translation (see the comments on the previous verse). The book of Numbers introduces Eleazar the priest at 3.2-4. The job of organizing and supervising this ritual of purification passes from Moses and Aaron to Eleazar, Aaron’s son, and the other priests in general (verses 6-7), since it was to be “a perpetual statute” (verse 10).

And she shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered before him is literally “and someone shall take her outside the camp and slaughter her before him,” that is, someone must kill the cow under the supervision of Eleazar. This type of impersonal verbal construction where the subject is not specified may be natural in some languages. It is clear from the phrase before him as well as from the verses that follow that Eleazar does not slaughter the cow himself. As Rashi and Rashbam noted, this is done by another person, so the footnote in Good News Translation is not a credible alternative. The cow had to be killed outside the camp since the impurity transferred to it would have made the Israelite camp ritually unclean. There is no basis in the Hebrew for the rendering this phrase as “to the east of the camp” in Good News Translation‘s footnote (see verse 4).

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 .