Hand colored stencil print on washi by Sadao Watanabe (1979).
Image taken with permission from the SadaoHanga Catalogue where you can find many more images and information about Sadao Watanabe. For other images of Sadao Watanabe art works in TIPs, see here.
The following artwork is part of a series of 56 paintings on biblical themes by Kazakh artist Nelly Bube (born 1949):
The following is a stained glass window from the Three choir windows in the Marienkirche, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany, of the 14th century:
Source: Der gläserne Schatz: Die Bilderbibel der St. Marienkirche in Frankfurt (Oder), Neuer Berlin Verlag, 2005, copyright for this image: Brandenburgisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologisches Landesmuseum
Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 21:6:
Kupsabiny: “Immediately God sent to those people snakes that had poison. They bit the people so many died.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “So the LORD sent poisonous serpents to their place and the serpents bit the people and many Israelites died.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “So, the LORD sent them venomous snakes and they were-bitten, and many of them died.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “So Yahweh sent poisonous snakes among them. Many of the people were bitten by the snakes and died.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people: The Hebrew waw conjunction rendered Then (literally “And”) suggests not merely temporal sequence, but consequence as well, so it may be translated “As a result” or “So” (New Living Translation, New Century Version). In some languages the LORD sent is better rendered “the LORD caused … to go.” The Hebrew expression for fiery serpents (literally “the snakes the fiery ones”) refers to “poisonous snakes” (Good News Translation). The word for serpents is the common generic Hebrew term for snake and does not indicate what kind of snake. The word for fiery is derived from the Hebrew root meaning “to burn.” This term describes the burning effect of poisonous snakes’ venom as it inflames the skin of victims they bite (so Rashi). Hope believes this word refers to the poisonous snakes called vipers. The Septuagint renders fiery as “deadly,” but many translations say “poisonous” (New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). In some languages there will be different words for snakes, depending on whether they are poisonous or not. The poisonous variety should be chosen here. If no generic term for a poisonous snake is available, then some type of common local “viper” may have to be used.
And they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died may be rendered “and the snakes began to bite the Israelites, and many of them died.”
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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