metal

In Babatana there is no generic equivalent for “metal,” so silver and gold, the only metals known, were made explicit.

high places

The Hebrew that is translated as “high places” in English is translated in Chitonga as malende. Ernst Wendland (1987, p. 57) explains: “The preceding expression [‘place for worship/sacrifice on top of hills’], though intelligible linguistically, sounds rather strange to the Tonga who live on the relatively flat plains of southern Zambia. There are ‘hills’ in their country, but normally no one would ever worship regularly there. For this reason the new translation will try out a cultural substitute (see below), malende, the ‘local shrine’ of Tonga traditional religion, where the ‘priest’ (clan head, who may be a chief as well) makes sacrifices to the spirits in time of corporate calamity, especially drought. This would seem to approximate quite closely the main elements of both form and function of the term ‘high places’ in the Old Testament, which were not always or even usually set upon hills, especially in the latter days of the monarchy (cp. 2 Kings 17:9, 29).”

In the Chichewa interconfessional translation (publ. 1999), it is translated as “shrines for worshiping images there.” (Source: Ernst Wendland in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 319ff. )

complete verse (Numbers 33:52)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 33:52:

  • Kupsabiny: “and chase away all the people who live in that country, tear down the stones and metals that those people worship and where they pray.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “drive the people of that land out of their land. Then destroy all their carved figures and molten images. Also destroy the pagan shrines [where] they do worship.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “they will-drive-out all the residents there and will-destroy all their gods which were-made from stones/rocks and metal, and all their places-of-worship on the high places.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “you must force all the people who live there to leave. Destroy all their carved statues and all their idols made of metal. Wreck all the places where they worship their idols.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Numbers 33:52

Then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you: For the Hebrew verb rendered drive out, see the comments on 21.32 and 32.29, where it is translated “dispossessed.” Good News Translation begins this clause with “you must drive out,” which expresses more clearly that this is a command. (The word shall is not a future tense marker here). The same applies to the verbs that follow in verses 52-54. Good News Translation omits the phrase from before you, since it is redundant in English.

And destroy all their figured stones: In some languages it may sound more natural to begin a new sentence here and group all the items listed for destruction together (so Good News Translation). In the Pentateuch the Hebrew term for figured stones occurs only here and in Lev 26.1. As A Handbook on Leviticus notes there, this word is related to the root meaning “to look.” So some commentators take it to refer to some sort of remarkable stone or mosaic at which people look with adoration. However, most translations take it to refer to an idol carved out of wood or stone. Chewa has “engraved stones,” and NET Bible says “carved images.” In some languages if the material is stone, the images or idols are not “carved” (which is used only for wood); rather, some other appropriate verb must be used to designate the artistic action involved, for example, “decorated” or “adorned.”

And destroy all their molten images: The Hebrew word for molten images refers to idols that were made by pouring molten metal into molds. Like the figured stones, these idols were symbolic images of gods. ESV renders molten images as “metal images,” New Revised Standard Version has “cast images,” and New International Version says “cast idols.” Traduction œcuménique de la Bible is slightly more explicit with “statues of melted/cast metal.” Bible en français courant combines all their figured stones and all their molten images by saying “all the statues of stone or of metal representing their gods.” New Living Translation is more concise with “all their carved and molten images,” and so is Good News Translation with “all their stone and metal idols.”

And demolish all their high places: The Hebrew expression rendered their high places refers to places where the Canaanites had built shrines and sanctuaries to false gods. These shrines were often called high places, because they were raised stone platforms where the people could offer sacrifices. Usually such a platform was on a small hill that was a little higher than the surrounding area. While the Hebrew word here can include the element of elevation, this is not its primary focus. More important is that they were sites where religious rites and sacrifices took place. So better renderings for high places are “cult places” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “sacrificial places” (De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling), and even “altars” (Contemporary English Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Chewa uses a term from ancient traditional religious practice which is literally “ancestral worship shrines.”

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 .