Passover

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The Hebrew and Greek pesach/pascha that is typically translated in English as “Passover” (see below) is translated in a variety of descriptive ways of various aspects of the Jewish festival. (Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):

  • Ojitlán Chinantec: “the feast of the passing by of God’s angel”
  • Lalana Chinantec: “the day would come which is called Passover, when the Israel people remember how they went out of the land of Egypt”
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “the celebration when they ate their sheep”
  • Umiray Dumaget Agta: “the celebration of the day of their being brought out of bondage”
    (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Obolo: ijọk Iraraka — “Festival of Passing” (source: Enene Enene)
  • Guhu-Samane: “special day of sparing” (source: Ernest Richert in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 198ff. )
  • Yakan: “The festival of the Isra’il tribe which they call For-Remembering” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Wolof: “Festival of the day of Salvation” (“the term ‘pass over’ brings up the image of a person’s crossing over a chasm after death”) (source: Marilyn Escher)
  • Bura-Pabir: vir kucelir fəlɓəla kəi — “time-of happiness-of jumping-over house”
  • Berom: Nzem Gyilsit Nelɔ — “Festival-of jumping-of houses”
  • Nigerian Fulfulde: Humto Ƴaɓɓitaaki / Humto Sakkinki — “Festival-of passing-over”
  • Hausa: Bikin Ƙetarewa — “Festival-of going-over” (source for this and three above: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
  • Jula: “Feast of end of slavery” (source: Fritz Goerling)
  • Bafanji: laiŋzieʼ — “pass-jump over” (source: Cameron Hamm)
  • Tiéyaxo Bozo / Jenaama Bozo: “Salvation/Rescue (religious) feast” (source: Marko Hakkola)
  • Sabaot: Saakweetaab Keeytaayeet — “Festival of Passing-by” (source: Iver Larsen)
  • Language spoken in India and Bangladesh: “Festival of avoidance”
  • Vlax Romani: o ghes o baro le Nakhimasko — “the Day of the Passing”
  • Saint Lucian Creole: Fèt Délivwans — “Feast of Deliverance” (source: David Frank)
  • Finnish: pääsiäinen (“The term is very probably coined during the NT translation process around 1520-1530. It is connected to a multivalent verb päästä and as such refers either to the Exodus (päästä meaning “to get away [from Egypt]”) or to the end of the Lent [päästä referring to get relieved from the limitations in diet]. The later explanation being far more probable than the first.”)
  • Northern Sami: beas’sážat (“Coined following the model in Finnish. The Sami verb is beassat and behaves partly like the Finnish one. Many Christian key terms are either borrowed from Finnish or coined following the Finnish example.”)
  • Estonian: ülestõusmispüha — “holiday/Sunday of the resurrection” — or lihavõttepüha — “holiday/Sunday of returning of meat”
  • Karelian: äijüpäivü — “the great day” (“Here one can hear the influence of the Eastern Christianity, but not directly Russian as language, because the Russian term is Пасха/Pasha or Воскресение Христово/Voskresenie Hristovo, ‘[the day of] the resurrection of Christ,’ but the week before Easter is called as the great week.”) (Source for this and three above: Seppo Sipilä)
  • Russian (for Russian speaking Muslims): праздник Освобождения/prazdnik Osvobozhdeniya — “Festival of-liberation” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
  • Spanish Sign Language: pass through + miracle (source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )


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

  • English: Passover (term coined by William Tyndale that both replicates the sound of the Hebrew original pesah — פסח as well as part of the meaning: “passing over” the houses of the Israelites in Egypt) — oddly, the English Authorized Version (King James Version) translates the occurrence in Acts 12:4 as Easter
  • Low German: Osterfest “Easter” (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006)

Many Romance languages follow the tradition from Latin that has one term for both “Easter” and “Passover” (pascha). Portuguese uses Páscoa for both, Italian uses Pascha, and French has Pâque for “Passover” and the identically pronounced Pâques for “Easter.”

In languages in francophone and lusophone (Portuguese speaking) Africa, indigenous languages typically use the Romance word for “Easter” as a loanword and often transliterate pesach/pascha. In Kinyarwanda and Rundi Pasika is used, in Swahili and Congo Swahili Pasaka, and in Lingala Pasika. In some cases, the transliteration of “Passover” is derived from the European language, such as Umbundu’s Pascoa (from Portuguese) and Bulu’s Pak (from French).

As John Ellingworth (in The Bible Translator 1980, p 445f. ) points out “in most contexts only the presence or absence of the definite article distinguishes them [in French la pâque for Passover and Pâques for Easter]. Since most African languages do not have definite articles, there remains no way to distinguish between the two terms where the general population has borrowed the word for Easter and the Bible translators have borrowed the word for Passover to use in their translation. Some even consider the references to [Passover] before the death of Christ as prophetic!”

See also this devotion on YouVersion .

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Passover .

family / clan / house

The Hebrew terms that are translated as “family” or “clan” or “house” or similar in English are all translated in Kwere as ng’holo or “clan.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

See also tribe.

Translation commentary on Numbers 3:33 - 3:34

The Hebrew has no past tense verbs in these verses. From the book’s point of view, only verse 34 is bound to refer to the past. La Nouvelle Bible Segond translates with the present tense in verse 33, and with the past tense in verse 34. In some languages it may be possible to bring out the list character of the text by leaving out verbs altogether.

Of Merari were the family of the Mahlites and the family of the Mushites: these are the families of Merari: Verse 20 already refers to Merari and his sons. As in verse 20, the Hebrew word for family and families (mishpachah) is better rendered “clan” and “clans” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, La Nouvelle Bible Segond). As in verses 21 and 27, Bible en français courant provides a good model here that is not repetitive: “Merari was the ancestor of the Merarites, [who were] divided into two clans, those of the Mahlites and of the Mushites.” Another possible model is “The descendants of Merari were divided into two clans, those of….” Good News Translation‘s model here is misleading by saying “The clan of Merari,” because there were two Merarite clans.

Their number according to the number of all the males from a month old and upward was six thousand two hundred: See the comments on verse 22.

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 .

Translation commentary on Numbers 33:3-4

Only here at the beginning of the journey account and at one significant point along the way (to note the death of Aaron, verses 37-39) does the formulaic record of the Israelites’ movements and campsites include a brief narrative segment, serving a theological purpose.

They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month: The pronoun They refers to the Israelites, which Good News Bible makes explicit by saying “The people of Israel.” The Hebrew verb rendered set out can also mean “move off,” “journey further,” or “march” (see 2.9, where it is translated “set out … on the march”). It comes from the same Hebrew root as the noun rendered “stages” in verses 1-2. Rameses was an Egyptian city they had built during their slavery (Exo 1.11). As mentioned at 9.1 (see the comments there), the first month in the Hebrew calendar corresponds to mid-March to mid-April.

On the day after the passover refers to the fifteenth day of the first month. For passover see 9.2.

The people of Israel went out triumphantly in the sight of all the Egyptians: It may be helpful to begin a new sentence here (so Good News Bible). The Hebrew expression for triumphantly is literally “with a raised hand,” which is a gesture that can also mean “defiantly” (NET, Revised English Bible) or “boldly” (New Revised Standard Version, New International Version). In some cultures, however, this meaning can be expressed with a similar gesture. Good News Bible says “Under the LORD’s protection,” which seems to lose the meaning of this gesture. The word triumphantly (or “victoriously”) conveys the miraculous nature of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt. See A Handbook on Exodus at Exo 14.8, where this same expression occurs. In the sight of all the Egyptians is literally “to the eyes of all the Egyptians” (similarly Bible en français courant, PV, De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling), which implies “without the Egyptians doing anything to stop them.” Chewa says “while all the Egyptians were watching.”

While the Egyptians were burying all their first-born …: This activity is not mentioned in Exo 12. In some languages it will be appropriate to start a new sentence here; for example, De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling has “The Egyptians were then burying their firstborn…,” and New Living Translation has “Meanwhile, the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn sons….” These two models show the overlap in time of verses 3-4 and the contrast between the situation of the Israelites in verse 3 and that of the Egyptians in verse 4.

Whom the LORD had struck down among them: See 3.13, where the Hebrew verb for struck is rendered “slew.” The pronoun them refers to the Egyptians. Good News Bible renders this clause simply as “that the LORD had killed.”

Upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments: Another new sentence may be needed here in some languages (so Good News Bible). The Hebrew construction here puts emphasis on their gods. New Revised Standard Version expresses this emphasis well by rendering this clause as “The LORD executed judgments even against their gods.” The ten plagues and the exodus of the Israelites were a clear demonstration of the impotence of the gods of Egypt in the face of Yahweh, the all-powerful God of Israel. Helpful models for this clause are “Thus the LORD had punished even their gods” (similarly Dutch Common Language Version) and “The LORD had defeated the gods of Egypt that night with great acts of judgment!” (New Living Translation). This sentence resonates with the LORD’s prediction in Exo 12.12. See the discussion in A Handbook on Exodus at that point.

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 .