33The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let it live.”
Hand colored stencil print on momigami by Sadao Watanabe (1972).
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 is a stained glass window in the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Chiang Mai, Thailand:
Photo by Jost Zetzsche
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 22:33:
Kupsabiny: “And if your donkey had not seen me and moved aside three times, I could have killed you this very moment and left the donkey alive.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “This donkey saw me three times and turned away from before me. If it would not have turned away from before me, I surely would have killed you. The donkey, however, [I] would have left without killing it."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Your (sing.) donkey saw me and she turned-away from me three times. If she had- not -turned-away from me, I would have-killed you (sing.) already, and I let your (sing.) donkey live.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Three times your donkey saw me and turned away from me. If it had not done that, I would certainly have killed you already, but I would have allowed the donkey to live.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “donkey” in English was translated in the 1900 Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) translation (a newer version was published in 2000) as siutitôĸ or “‘something with big ears.” “[This] is based on the word siut ‘ear’ combined with the same suffix –tôĸ (-tooq).” (Source: Lily Kahn & Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi in The Bible Translator 2019, p. 125ff.)
These Hebrew and Greek words (with the exception of pōlos and hupozugion — see discussion below) all definitely refer to the Domestic Donkey equus asinus. However the different words do have slight semantic differences among them.
Chamor and onos are the generic words for donkey while ’athon (feminine gender) refers specifically to a saddle donkey or a donkey used for riding. A saddle donkey is usually a large strong female donkey the males are too difficult to control when they are near a female in heat. The Hebrew word is derived from a root that means “strong”.
‘Ayir refers to the young male or jack donkey (probably with an emphasis on its liveliness and the difficulty in controlling it since the Hebrew root means something like “frisky”).
Onarion means a young donkey of either sex. Some languages will have a special word for a young donkey. This will be appropriate for translating onarion.
The word hupozugion often translated “donkey,” actually indicates any beast of burden. Walter Bauer, the famous German New Testament scholar, has argued very convincingly that the animal referred to in Matthew 21:5 in the expression epi pōlon huion hupozugiou is the foal of a horse not a donkey (1953:220-229). In some languages it will be possible to express this in a way that does not designate a specific species of animal`, as in “beast of burden.”
Pōlos usually refers to a foal, that is a young horse, unless a word for donkey follows.
Donkeys are domestic animals belonging to the same family as the horse, but they are smaller and have longer ears. The donkey bred and used in the Middle East is the domesticated Nubian or Somali Wild Ass Equus Asinus africanus. In its original wild state this was a gray ass with pale, whitish belly and dark rings on the lower part of the legs. It was domesticated in Egypt as early as 2500 B.C. In its domesticated version, as a result of interbreeding with donkeys from Europe and Persia, the donkey came to be a variety of colors from dark brown, through light brown to the original gray and occasionally white. The Hebrew chamor comes from a root meaning “reddish brown.”
Donkeys are good pack animals being able to carry as much as the larger mule without the latter’s unpredictable moods. They also have great stamina and are easy to feed since they eat almost any available vegetation. Larger individual animals (usually females) are also often used for riding.
Donkeys were highly prized in biblical times especially females since they were suitable for packing and riding and had the potential for producing offspring. Donkeys were seen as man’s best friend in the animal kingdom. They were the common man’s means of transport and many ordinary families owned a donkey. They were used for plowing and for turning large millstones as well as a means of transport.
Today domestic donkeys are found all over savannah Africa the Middle East South and Central Asia Europe Latin America and Australia. They do not seem to be reared in rain forest or monsoon areas but they are nevertheless often known in these areas.
A donkey was considered to be a basic domestic requirement and thus the number of donkeys available was a means of measuring the relative prosperity of a society at any given time. While only powerful political or military people rode horses (which were usually owned by the state) the common people rode donkeys. This is the significance of the passage in Zechariah 9:9: the victorious king would return to the city riding a donkey thus identifying himself as a common Israelite rather than a victorious warlord.
In the majority of languages there is a local or a borrowed word for donkey. This is the obvious choice. In areas of Southeast Asia, Papua New Guinea, West Africa, and other places, where donkeys are rare or unknown, the word from the dominant major language or trade language (for example, English, Spanish, French, Chinese, or Arabic) is often transliterated.
In most contexts ’athon should be translated by the equivalent of “female” donkey, but in some contexts riding donkey is better.
‘Ayir should be translated according to the specific context. In Genesis 32:15 the translation should definitely be the equivalent of “male donkey”, and probably also in Judges 10:4 and Judges 12:14. The significance of these latter passages is that female donkeys were the more normal choice of mount.
In Job 11:12 the emphasis is probably on the friskiness of the donkey, and the translation should be the equivalent of “He ties his young donkey to a grapevine, his frisky young ass to the best of the vines” (indicating a certain amount of irresponsibility, and perhaps extravagance).
In Job 11:12 and Zechariah 9:9 the obvious emphasis is on the youth of the donkey, so the equivalent of “colt”, “foal”, “young donkey”, and so on should be used.
And the angel of the LORD said to him: The generic verb said may be rendered “demanded” (Good News Translation, New Living Translation), since the angel rebukes Balaam with the rhetorical question that follows this quote frame In other languages the rhetorical question itself can be marked, for example, through some special particle to indicate its particular reproving force.
Why have you struck your ass these three times?: This question does not expect an answer or an explanation from Balaam; rather, it admonishes him. It may be rendered as a strong statement by saying “You should not have beaten your donkey three times!”
Behold, I have come forth to withstand you: Revised Standard Version follows the Septuagint and the Vulgate here (so also King James Version). The Hebrew reads “Behold, I, I have come out as an adversary” (compare verse 22). New Revised Standard Version follows the Hebrew by saying “I have come out as an adversary.” However, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh renders the Hebrew more accurately by saying “It is I who came out as an adversary.” The Hebrew word hinneh rendered Behold and an independent Hebrew pronoun for I highlight the angel as an adversary. Translators may follow the Septuagint reading here since the reference to Balaam is implied in the Hebrew text. Models that follow the Septuagint and keep the focus on the angel here are “You see, it is I who have come to bar your way” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), “I myself have opposed you” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), and “I was the one who blocked your way” (Contemporary English Version).
Because your way is perverse before me: The word perverse seems to have come straight from the Vulgate (perversa in Latin). The Hebrew verb here (yarat) means “is steep/precipitous” (Die Bibel: Einheitsübersetzung der Heiligen Schrift), which has a figurative sense in this context. Models that express the sense of this imagery are “because with Me this way leads to ruin” (Bijbel: Vertaling in opdracht van het Nederlandsch Bijbelgenootschap), “because your path is a reckless one before me” (New International Version), and “because in my eyes this journey is ill-considered” (La Nouvelle Bible Segond). The alternative reading has the Hebrew verb yeraʿ, meaning “is wrong/evil” (so Septuagint, Vulgate, Samaritan Pentateuch). Revised Standard Version follows this reading, and so does Luther with “because your way is wrong in my eyes,” and Chewa with “because this here journey of yours upsets me.” Good News Translation says “because you should not be making this journey.” Good News Translation does not make a choice between the two alternatives, in spite of its footnote. It seems best to follow the reading with yarat (“is steep/precipitous”), which is the more difficult and hence preferable form here (so also Hebrew Old Testament Text).
And the ass saw me, and turned aside before me these three times: See verse 23. Translators should have a separate sentence here, as in Good News Translation, which says “But your donkey saw me and turned aside three times.”
If she had not turned aside from me: Good News Translation says simply “If it hadn’t,” which removes some of the drama and forcefulness of the angel’s words at this point. Languages that use repetition like Hebrew to express emphasis should retain it here, as in Revised Standard Version.
Surely just now I would have slain you and let her live: Good News Translation misses the emphasis of the Hebrew here by omitting surely just now, which renders the Hebrew particle ki (“indeed”) and the adverb ʿattah (“now”). Models that keep this emphasis render the first clause here as “I would have certainly killed you by now” (New Living Translation), and “Surely, I would have killed you on the spot” (Chewa). The Hebrew construction of these two clauses marks a strong contrast between you (Balaam) and her (the donkey). Alter’s translation highlights this contrast as follows: “by now it is you I would have killed, while her I would have let live.” Not only did the donkey reveal the truth to Balaam, but it also saved his life.
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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