9So Moses made a serpent of bronze and put it upon a pole, and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.
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 )
The Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “bronze” in English is translated in Newari as “bell-metal,” since bells are made of bronze in Nepal (source: Newari Back Translation).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 21:9:
Kupsabiny: “So, Moses made from bronze a snake and nailed it on a post. When a snake bit a person and that person looked at the snake of bronze on the post, he became well.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Right away Moses made a bronze serpent and hung it on a pole. Then anyone among the ones bitten by a serpent who looked at that bronze serpent, that person lived.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “So Moises made a bronze snake and put it on the end/tip of a pole. And anyone who was-bitten by the snake only/just looked-at this bronze snake and he/she did- not -die.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “So Moses/I made a snake from bronze and attached it to the top of a pole. Then, when those who had been bitten by a snake looked at the bronze snake, they recovered!” (Source: Translation for Translators)
So Moses made a bronze serpent: For bronze see the comments on 16.39. Some scholars feel that the Hebrew term for bronze is better rendered “copper” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) in this context, since copper looks fiery with its reddish color (so Wenham, page 157; Ashley, page 405). The Hebrew words for bronze (nechoshet) and serpent (nachash) sound similar, so there is a wordplay here.
And set it on a pole: See verse 8. A pole is literally “the pole” (La Nouvelle Bible Segond) since it is known at this point in the story. Revised Standard Version and most other translations say “a pole” for naturalness.
And if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live may be rendered “Then when a snake bit anyone, that person looked at the bronze snake and lived” (New Century Version). See verse 8.
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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