son vs. grandson

“Son of x, son of y” must be rendered as “son of x and grandson of y” in Tibetan or else it will sound like two different people.

Note: The same translation solution is chosen in many contemporary English Bibles that emphasize easy readability, such as the Contemporary English Version, Common English Bible, Good News Translation, God’s Word, or New Living Translation.

See also father / grandfather.

priest

The Hebrew, Aramaic, 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), ‘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.

Aaron

The name that is transliterated as “Aaron” in English is translated in Catalan Sign Language and Spanish Sign Language as “stones on chest plate” (according to Exodus 28:15-30) (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff.)


“Aaron” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

In Colombian Sign Language, Honduras Sign Language, and American Sign Language, the chest plate is outlined (in ASL it is outlined using the letter “A”):


“Aaron” in ASL (source )

See also Moses and this lectionary in The Christian Century .

Translation commentary on Numbers 26:5 - 25:7

Various formulaic phrases recur throughout verses 5-62 and are almost the same for the census of every tribe, with some variation for the tribe of Levi in verses 57-62. These phrases should be rendered consistently in terms of wording and order of occurrence. For each tribe Good News Translation combines the references to the different clans into one phrase, saying “the clans of….”

Verses 5-50 of the second census correspond with 1.20-43 of the first one. The list layout, which Good News Translation and Bible en français courant have for 1.20-46, has been discussed there (see the comments there). However, a list layout would be too complicated here in chapter 26. This is because some verses provide narrative background information, which would interrupt and disturb the list layout (as can be seen in Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). So we advise translators to use a separate paragraph for each tribe (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New International Version, Bible en français courant). New International Version even places a blank line before and after each paragraph, which may help to indicate that this is a list. The numbers can be printed in figures, not only to make the translation easier to read but also because figures are probably more fitting in a numerical list of this kind. Finally, even a translation with few or no verbs would bring out the list character of verses 5-62 more clearly.

Reuben, the first-born of Israel: Good News Translation has “Jacob” instead of Israel (see the comments on 1.20). It is important to indicate that Israel the father is in view here, not Israel the nation. For that reason it may be necessary to state explicitly that Reuben was “the firstborn son of Israel.”

The sons of Reuben: The text does not refer to the actual sons of Reuben here, so New Revised Standard Version renders this phrase as “The descendants of Reuben,” which other languages may find helpful. Good News Translation has “The tribe of Reuben,” which fits well here since Reuben’s clans are listed after this phrase. Good News Translation makes this adjustment throughout verses 5-50.

Of Hanoch, the family of the Hanochites … These are the families of the Reubenites: The Hebrew word for family and families is mishpachah. This word refers to a clan, which is composed of several families (see the comments on 1.2), so New Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation say “clan[s].” The clans of Reuben descended from his sons Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi (see Gen 46.9; 1 Chr 5.3).

And their number was forty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty is literally “and their enrolled [men] were….” Their number is better rendered “the number of those enrolled” (New Revised Standard Version), since the Hebrew word for number is the verb paqad (see 1.3). Contemporary English Version moves this clause to the beginning of verses 5-7. For each tribe in verses 5-50, Contemporary English Version gives the total number at the beginning of the paragraph on that tribe, not at the end. Given the context of a census, this may be a helpful model in some languages.

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 .