The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and Latin that is transliterated “Levites” in English (only the Contemporary English Version translates it as “temple helpers”) is translated in Ojitlán Chinantec as “temple caretakers,” Yatzachi Zapotec as “people born in the family line of Levi, people whose responsibility it was to do the work in the important church of the Israelites,” in Alekano as “servants in the sacrifice house from Jerusalem place,” and in Tenango Otomi as “helpers of priests.” (Source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
In American Sign Language with a sign that combines “temple” + “servant.” (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Levite” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 3:49:
Kupsabiny: “So, Moses took out that money with which those first-borns were to be redeemed.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “According to this Moses collected the value of the extra people who were redeemed by the Levites.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “So Moises collected the money that would-be-used-to-redeem the first-born children of the Israelinhon which exceeded the number of the descendants of Levi.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “So Moses/I did that. He/I collected the silver from those 273 males.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The name that is transliterated as “Moses” in English means “taken out of the water,” “saved out of the water,” “a son.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )
American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here ).
In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:
The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).
In Swiss-German Sign Language (and Hungarian Sign Language) it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).
In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the eye make up he would have worn as the adopted son of an Egyptian princess. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)
“Moses” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL
In Korean Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the arms held up by Moses to assure the Israelites victory over the Amalekites (see Exodus 17:11).
In these verses Moses carries out the LORD’s instructions of verses 45-48.
So Moses took the redemption money from those who were over and above those redeemed by the Levites: The redemption money, which is literally “the silver of the redemption,” may be rendered “the ransom money.” The Hebrew word for redemption comes from the same root as the one in verse 46 (see the comments there). Those who were over and above those redeemed by the Levites refers to the 273 firstborn Israelite sons who were in excess of the 22,000 whom the Levite males replaced (see verse 46).
From the first-born of the people of Israel he took the money, one thousand three hundred and sixty-five shekels: Moses took the silver from the firstborn Israelite sons who paid for their ransom. The total amount he collected from them was one thousand three hundred and sixty-five shekels (273 x 5 = 1,365), which is equivalent to about 15.5 kilograms (34 pounds) of silver (see verse 47).
Reckoned by the shekel of the sanctuary: See verse 47.
And Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and his sons: See verse 48.
According to the word of the LORD, as the LORD commanded Moses: Moses did what God instructed him to do. According to the word of the LORD is literally “upon the mouth of the LORD” (see the comments on verse 16). To avoid the repetition here, Good News Translation has simply “Moses obeyed” at the beginning of these verses. But this rendering is unnecessarily free. The repetition here stresses the notion of explicit obedience, which is an important feature of these legislative texts. Bijbel in Gewone Taal provides a better model for these verses which is more accurate as well as concise. Bijbel in Gewone Taal combines verses 49-51 into a single sentence as follows:
• Moses collected 1,365 silver pieces and gave these to Aaron and his sons [on behalf of the 273 extra firstborn persons], as the Lord had commanded [Moses].
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 .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.