sanctification, sanctify

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The Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and Ge’ez that is translated in English as “sanctify” or “sanctification” is translated in Balanta-Kentohe “separated to God.” (Source: Rob Koops)

Other translations include:

  • San Blas Kuna: “giving a man a good heart”
  • Panao Huánuco Quechua: “God perfects us”
  • Laka: “God calls us outside to Himself” (“This phrase is derived from the practice of a medicine man, who during the initiation rites of apprentices calls upon the young man who is to follow him eventually and to receive all of his secrets and power. From the day that this young man is called out during the height of the ecstatic ceremony, he is identified with his teacher as the heir to his position, authority, and knowledge.”) (Source for this and above: Nida 1952, p. 147)
  • Mezquital Otomi: “live a pure life”
  • Hopi: “unspotted”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “clean-hearted”
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “be servants of God”
  • Central Tarahumara: “only live doing good as God desires” (source for this and four above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Mairasi: “one’s life/behavior will be very straight” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Enlhet: “new / clean innermost” (“Innermost” or valhoc is a term that is frequently used in Enlhet to describe a large variety of emotions or states of mind [for other examples see here].) (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
  • Tibetan: dam par ‘gyur (དམ་​པར་​འགྱུར།), lit. “holy + become” (used for instance in 1 Cor. 1:2, 1 Cor. 6:11, 1 Cor. 7:14, or 1 Thess. 4:3) or gtsang bar byed (གཙང་​བར་​བྱེད།), lit. “make clean” (used for instance in Heb. 9:13) (source: gSungrab website )
The choices for translation of “sanctification” in the Indonesian Common Language Bible (Alkitab dalam Bahasa Indonesia Masa Kini, publ. 1985) differed according to context. (Click or tap here to see details)

“In Romans, hagiasmos [“sanctification”] occurs twice in chapter 6, in verses 19 and 22. It is used in relation to believers who are called to be saints (1:7), who are under grace (6:15), who have been set free from sin to become slaves of righteousness (6:18). Therefore here hagiasmos not only refers to God’s act of consecration, but also to the believer’s moral activity arising out of this state. It is this aspect that the translators have stressed in verse 19: ‘… so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification’ has been translated untuk maksud-maksud Allah yang khusus: ‘for God’s specific purposes.’ So also in verse 22 ‘… the return you get is sanctification’ has been translated hidup khusus untuk Allah: ‘living for God alone.’

“!In 1 Corinthians 1:30: ‘… in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption,’ hagiasmos is put in a parallel position to wisdom, righteousness and redemption, and is rooted in Christ. In view of the parallel concepts, it is clear a result is indicated here. The believers are holy because they are ‘in Christ’ who is intrinsically holy. Hagiasmos here has been rendered as: umatnya yang khusus: ‘his own people.’

“In 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7, hagiasmos involves abstaining from unchastity (verse 3) and is contrasted with uncleanness (verse 7), while in verse 4 it is used as a parallel with ‘honor’ to modify the verb. Hagiasmos is here rooted in the will of God, and calls for moral conduct. The translators translate hagiasmos in verse 3 as hidup khusus untuk dia: ‘live for him alone,’ and in verses 4 and 5 menyenangkan hati Allah: ‘pleasing God’s heart.’

“The expression in 2 Thessalonians 2:13 ‘sanctification by the spirit’ (en hagiasmo pneumatos), is generally understood as sanctification or consecration effected by the Holy Spirit. This consecration was effected at the moment of conversion. The translation here is umat Allah yang suci: ‘God’s holy people.’

“The noun also appears in the Pastorals once (1 Timothy 2:15), where, in view of the context, it clearly denotes ethical behavior. The translators translate as hidup khusus untuk Allah: ‘living for God alone,’ but perhaps it would be better here to translate it with hidup tanpa vela: ‘lead a blameless life,’ which would suit the context better.

“In conclusion then, to translate hagiasmos in a way that is meaningful to the average modern reader, it may often be necessary to render it by a phrase which brings out the primary meaning of the term. If it refers to the act of consecration, this phrase should include the notion of belonging to God, and if it refers to the conduct of the believer, the phrase should stress the idea of pleasing God and refraining from evil.” (Source: Pericles Katoppo in The Bible Translator 1987, p. 429ff. )

burnt-offering

The Hebrew olah (עֹלָה) originally means “that which goes up (in smoke).” English Bibles often translates it as “burnt-offering” or “whole burnt-offering,” focusing on the aspect of the complete burning of the offering.

The Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate Bibles translate it as holokautōma / holocautōsis (ὁλοκαύτωμα / ὁλοκαύτωσις) and holocaustum, respectively, meaning “wholly burnt.” While a form of this term is widely used in many Romance languages (Spanish: holocaustos, French: holocaustes, Italian: olocausti, Portuguese: holocaustos) and originally also in the Catholic tradition of English Bible translations, it is largely not used in English anymore today (the preface of the revised edition of the Catholic New American Bible of 2011: “There have been changes in vocabulary; for example, the term ‘holocaust’ is now normally reserved for the sacrilegious attempt to destroy the Jewish people by the Third Reich.”)

Since translation into Georgian was traditionally done on the basis of the Greek Septuagint, a transliteration of holokautōma was used as well, which was changed to a translation with the meaning of “burnt offering” when the Old Testament was retranslated in the 1980’s on the basis of the Hebrew text.

In the Koongo (Ki-manianga) translation by the Alliance Biblique de la R.D. Congo (publ. in 2015) olah is translated as “kill and offer sacrifice” (source: Anicet Bassilua) and in Elhomwe as “fire offering.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

The English translation of Everett Fox uses offering-up (similarly, the German translation by Buber-Rosenzweig has Darhöhung and the French translation by Chouraqui montée).

See also offering (qorban).

atonement

The Greek and Hebrew that is usually translated in English as “atonement” is translated in Luchazi with minina mata: “to swallow another’s spittle.” “The human bite [is traditionally thought of] as being the most poisonous and dangerous and the poison lies in the saliva. So in swallowing another’s spittle, one takes into oneself all the poison or evil of the other and thus actually ‘becomes sin’ on behalf of the other. The substitute then proceeds to deal with the case as though he were the guilty one.” (Source: E. Pearson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 160ff. )

See also propitiation / atoning sacrifice and sacrifice of atonement / expiation / propitiation.

priest

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, 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 (Dinė)), ‘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.

In Cherokee (Jewish) priests are translated as atsilv-anelohi (ᎠᏥᎸ-ᎠᏁᎶᎯ), “fire feeders.” Bender / Belt (2025, p. 26) explain: “[This] provides a point of semantic overlap between the Jewish priests mentioned in the book of John and traditional Cherokee leaders who would have maintained a ceremonial fire. No loanword or semantic extension would have highlighted this specific similarity. Just as the New Testament Christ seeks to supersede the priests of his day, the missionaries working to translate the New Testament hoped to replace traditional ceremonialism with Christian beliefs and practices. Describing the Jewish priests as ‘fire feeders’ may have been a way to emphasize the obsolescence of fire-based ceremonialism. Strikingly, this word has become the term for Catholics. The vast majority of Cherokee converts to Christianity are Protestants.”

In Cuban Sign Language (the Jewish) priest is translated referencing the ephod , the traditional apron that was worn by priests:


“Priest” in Cuban Sign Language (source: La Biblia Para Personas Sorde )

Alain Montano (in: The Bible Translator 2026, p. 173ff.) explains: “A second challenge arose in translating the term ‘priest’ in Luke 10:31, referring to the priest who was descending from the temple. The translation team consisted primarily of Evangelical translators and included one Catholic translator. The initial sign proposed for ‘priest’ referenced the clerical collar, a symbol commonly associated with clergy across multiple Christian denominations, such as Methodists, Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Reformed, Catholics, Moravians, and others. While most team members considered this option acceptable, the Catholic translator raised concerns that this representation could generate confusion, as it encompassed denominational identities not directly related to the priest described in the biblical text.

“Given this observation, the team began searching for a sign that accurately represented the priest in question and his role, with the aim of ensuring that the translation and interpretation of the text was as faithful as possible. Signs referencing a bishop’s miter or the skullcap worn by cardinals and popes were discarded, as the priest in question did not belong to the Catholic tradition as the evangelical translators initially understood it.

“The possibility of representing the high priest—using the breastplate and the Urim and Thummim — was also rejected, since the character in the text was not the high priest, but a Levitical priest serving his assigned turn in the temple. The challenge was ultimately resolved through the creation of a new sign referencing the ephod, which more accurately represented this type of priest, who served as an assistant in the work of the temple of Israel.”

See also idolatrous priests and Aaron.

sin

The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is typically translated as “sin” in English has a wide variety of translations.

The Greek ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō) carries the original verbatim meaning of “miss the mark” and likewise, many translations contain the “connotation of moral responsibility.”

  • Loma: “leaving the road” (which “implies a definite standard, the transgression of which is sin”)
  • Navajo (Dinė): “that which is off to the side” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: kasalan, originally meaning “transgression of a religious or moral rule” and in the context of the Bible “transgression of God’s commandments” (source: H. van der Veen in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 21ff. )
  • Kaingang: “break God’s word”
  • Bariai: “bad behavior” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Sandawe: “miss the mark” (like the original meaning of the Greek term) (source for this and above: Ursula Wiesemann in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 36ff., 43)
  • Nias: horö, originally a term primarily used for sexual sin. (Source: Hummel / Telaumbanua 2007, p. 256)
  • Mauwake: “heavy” (compare forgiveness as “take away one’s heaviness”) (source: Kwan Poh San in this article )

In Shipibo-Conibo the term is hocha. Nida (1952, p. 149) tells the story of its choosing: “In some instances a native expression for sin includes many connotations, and its full meaning must be completely understood before one ever attempts to use it. This was true, for example, of the term hocha first proposed by Shipibo-Conibo natives as an equivalent for ‘sin.’ The term seemed quite all right until one day the translator heard a girl say after having broken a little pottery jar that she was guilty of ‘hocha.’ Breaking such a little jar scarcely seemed to be sin. However, the Shipibos insisted that hocha was really sin, and they explained more fully the meaning of the word. It could be used of breaking a jar, but only if the jar belonged to someone else. Hocha was nothing more nor less than destroying the possessions of another, but the meaning did not stop with purely material possessions. In their belief God owns the world and all that is in it. Anyone who destroys the work and plan of God is guilty of hocha. Hence the murderer is of all men most guilty of hocha, for he has destroyed God’s most important possession in the world, namely, man. Any destructive and malevolent spirit is hocha, for it is antagonistic and harmful to God’s creation. Rather than being a feeble word for some accidental event, this word for sin turned out to be exceedingly rich in meaning and laid a foundation for the full presentation of the redemptive act of God.”

In Warao it is translated as “bad obojona.” Obojona is a term that “includes the concepts of consciousness, will, attitude, attention and a few other miscellaneous notions.” (Source: Henry Osborn in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 74ff. ). See other occurrences of Obojona in the Warao New Testament.

Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the Danish Bibelen 2020, comments on the translation of this term: “We would explain terms, such that e.g. sin often became ‘doing what God does not want’ or ‘breaking God’s law’, ‘letting God down’, ‘disrespecting God’, ‘doing evil’, ‘acting stupidly’, ‘becoming guilty’. Now why couldn’t we just use the word sin? Well, sin in contemporary Danish, outside of the church, is mostly used about things such as delicious but unhealthy foods. Exquisite cakes and chocolates are what a sin is today.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )

See also sinner.

dove / pigeon

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “dove” or “pigeon” in English is translated in Pijin with the onomatopoeia kurrukurru. (Source: Bob Carter)

In Matumbi is is translated as ngunda, a kind of dove that has the reputation to be monogamous. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)

 

In the fifteenth century the English word “pigeon” meant a young dove, the word “dove” being reserved for the adult birds. In modern English the words are used almost interchangeably. As a general rule, “pigeon” is used for domesticated forms of these birds, and for the larger variety of wild forms, while “dove” is used mainly for wild varieties. However, there are many exceptions to this general rule.

Pigeons and doves are both included in a bird family known scientifically as the Colombidae, consisting of well over two hundred species. In Israel and the Middle East are found the true Colombidae, which are easily distinguished from the genus Stretopelia, that is, the turtle doves.

The most common of the true Colombidae in the Middle East is most certainly the Asiatic Rock Dove Columba livia. This bird was first domesticated around 4500 B.C. in Mesopotamia. By 2500 B.C. it was kept as a domestic bird in Egypt, and by 1200 B.C. there is evidence that its homing abilities were already well known. It is this bird that is the ancestor of the domestic homing pigeons that people keep, some of which have escaped, returned to the wild, and now populate city streets all over the world. The ledges of modern buildings are a good substitute for the rock ledges that were its original nesting sites. It is likely that the Canaanites and the Israelites also kept these birds for both food and sacrifice. It is this bird that is called yonah in the Hebrew Bible and peristera in the Greek New Testament.

There are also three types of turtledove found in the land of Israel, two of which are resident species; the third is a migrant that arrives in spring and spends the summer in Israel. This migrant, the true Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur, and one of the species now resident, the Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto, are what the Bible writers called tor in Hebrew and trugōn in Greek. (Both the Hebrew and Greek names are based on the sound the turtledove makes.)

In biblical Hebrew the word gozal generally refers to a nestling of any bird species. In Genesis 15:9 it obviously refers specifically to a young pigeon. Nestling rock pigeons were collected from the rock ledges. Pigeons and doves were kept in cages and dovecotes, and wild ones were trapped in nets. This enabled the Jews to have a handy stock of birds for sacrificial purposes.

The rock pigeon is a blue-gray color with a pinkish sheen to the neck feathers. It has a black tip on its tail. Its call is a repeated moaning oom (the Hebrew name yonah is related to a verb meaning “to moan”) or a rapid cooing coo-ROO-coo-coo, usually repeated two or three times. The call is uttered with the beak closed, into the chest. The male’s sexual display starts with flying wing claps, and then when it lands next to the female, it begins bowing and turning with chest puffed and tail spread.

This type of pigeon lives in large colonies, and when a group is in flight, they maneuver as a single unit, often gliding short distances together with their wings held in a V shape.
The turtledove is a smaller blue-gray bird with a pinkish chest. It arrives in Israel in April, and its rhythmic call yoo-ROO-coo, yoo-ROO-coo, yoo-ROO-coo, repeated for two or three minutes at a time on sunny days, can be heard all over.

Doves are seed eaters, and this fact may be significant in the Flood narrative. The raven, a carrion eater, does not return to the ark, since food is available. The dove returns at first, and when it finally stays away, this is an indication that seeds of some sort are once again available to it, and the earth is again dry.

As seed-eaters, doves and pigeons are ritually clean birds for Jews. Their swift flight means that they are symbolic of speed in some biblical contexts, especially in Psalms. The fact that these birds court, mate, and nest repeatedly throughout the year resulted in their being a symbol of affection, sexuality, and fertility in the ancient Egyptian, Canaanite, and Hebrew cultures. This symbolism is important in the Song of Solomon.

A very ancient belief that the dove has no bile and is therefore devoid of anger led to its becoming a symbol of peace and gentleness. (In actual fact doves and pigeons are aggressive, often attacking other birds, especially at food sources.)

The name yonah for the pigeon and dove is associated with moaning and groaning in pain or sorrow. This is often the symbolism in prophetic poetry.

Pigeons and doves are found worldwide, except in some snow-bound regions and on some remote islands. Almost everywhere they live there is more than one species, and in almost all locations the domestic pigeon is one of these species. As a general rule, the word for the smaller wild dove should be used wherever possible, but in those contexts where both pigeons and doves are mentioned in connection with sacrifices, the word for the domestic pigeon can be used as well as the one for the wild dove.

In 2 Kings 6:25 there is a Hebrew expression that literally means “dove’s dung”. This seems to be a reference to some kind of food that is eaten only in emergencies. Suggestions about what this may refer to have varied from “chickpeas” (which do look somewhat like a dove’s droppings) to “locust-beans”, “wild onions”, and the roots of certain wild flowers. In view of the lack of certainty, it is probably best to translate it literally as “dove’s dung” and include the footnote, “This is probably some kind of wild food eaten only in emergencies.”

Source: All Creatures Great and Small: Living things in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

complete verse (Numbers 6:11)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 6:11:

  • Kupsabiny: “The priest shall take one of those birds to make it a sacrifice that sweeps away sin, and the other one he shall use for a sacrifice that is burned completely so as to make that person clean since he has touched a corpse. At that time/point that person shall start to let his hair grow” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Because of the guilt incurred by being in the presence of the person who died, the priest must offer one [offering as a] purification offering and one offering as a burnt offering to make atonement for him. That day he must consecrate his own head.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The one (offering) is to-be-offered by the priest as offering for becoming-clean and the other as a burnt offering. In this way the person will-be-forgiven from his sin that he had-touched a corpse. On that very day, he will-dedicate again himself and he will-let- his hair -grow.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “‘he priest must kill the birds and offer them as sacrifices. One of them will be an offering to enable me to forgive you for the sins you have committed, and the other will be an offering that is burned completely to please me. After the priest burns them on the altar, I will forgive you for having come close to a corpse, and when your hair grows again it will be dedicated to me again.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Numbers 6:11 - 6:12

Verses 10-11a form one sentence in Revised Standard Version, which may be too long or complex for many languages. If so, translators may break it into several sentences (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version).

And the priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering: The priest must sacrifice one of the birds as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. The cleansing on the seventh day is not complete until these two sacrifices are offered on the eighth day. La Nouvelle Bible Segond renders sin offering as “sacrifice for the sin,” which may give the wrong impression that the Nazirite’s sin was intentional. The context here makes it clear that only an unintentional sin is meant. A sin offering was a sacrifice to cleanse people from unintentional sins, so that God would forgive. This offering restored a person to a state of ritual purity when, as in this case, a taboo was unintentionally broken (so Budd, page 72). So a more accurate rendering for sin offering is “purification-offering” (Revised English Bible, De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling), which focuses on the outcome rather than the cause of this offering. Another possible model is “offering to make a person pure,” but some languages may need to say “sacrifice to make a person pure” since an animal’s death is involved.

A burnt offering (ʿolah in Hebrew) involved burning the whole sacrificial animal, except for the skin (see Lev 1.3-17): no one received any flesh to eat. Revised English Bible says “whole-offering,” which emphasizes that the entire animal was offered to the LORD. This offering also symbolized that the individual was wholly surrendering to the LORD in personal devotion. Other possible models are “sacrifice burnt whole” and “sacrifice of complete burning.”

And make atonement for him: For the Hebrew verb rendered make atonement, which literally means “cover,” see 5.8. The offerings appease or make amends, so that fellowship is restored between the defiled Nazirite and the LORD. Good News Translation expresses this clause well, saying “to perform the ritual of purification for you.”

Because he sinned by reason of the dead body: This clause in Revised Standard Version may give the wrong impression that the Nazirite’s sin was intentional. However, Good News Translation goes too far by omitting the idea of sin completely, saying “because of your contact with a corpse.” New Revised Standard Version is better with “because they incurred guilt by reason of the corpse.” Revised English Bible is similar with “for the sin he has incurred through contact with the dead body.” Our recommended model is “because they incurred sin [or, guilt] through contact with the dead body.”

And he shall consecrate his head that same day: Consecrate is literally “make holy.” Instead of head, Good News Translation has “hair,” as in verse 7. But in this context consecrate his head is better rendered “consecrate himself” or even “reconsecrate themselves” (see the comments on verse 9). That same day refers to the eighth day on which the sacrifices are made.

And separate himself to the LORD for the days of his separation expresses the same idea as the previous clause for emphasis. The Revised Standard Version translation may be confusing. Good News Translation renders this clause clearly, saying “and rededicate to the LORD your time as a nazirite.” The Hebrew verb for separate himself and the noun for separation come from the same root as the word for “Nazirite” (see the comments on verse 2 and 4).

And bring a male lamb a year old for a guilt offering: The Hebrew word for male lamb is keves, which usually refers to a young ram. A young ram is clearly in view here (compare verse 14, where a young ewe is also mentioned). A guilt offering was essentially about making compensation for damage done (see Lev 5.14–6.7), so Good News Translation is more accurate with “repayment offering”. Even better models are “reparation offering” (NET Bible, Bible en français courant) and “restoration offering” (De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling), since these renderings avoid any possible association with the payment of money.

But the former time shall be void: Defiled Nazirites will not get credit for the time they separated themselves to serve the LORD before going near a corpse. They must start over their vow of separation. The former time refers to all the prior time that the person had spent as a Nazirite. Shall be void (literally “will fall”) may be rendered “doesn’t count” (Good News Translation; similarly New International Version), “shall be lost” (King James Version), or “is not to be included” (Revised English Bible).

Because his separation was defiled explains why such Nazirites will not get credit for their former separation to the LORD. It is because they became ritually impure by going near a corpse. For his separation, which refers to the Nazirite’s vow of separation, see verse 4. Luther changes the Hebrew text to read “his consecrated head” (similarly Good News Translation with “your consecrated hair”), but we prefer the Hebrew text here (so also Hebrew Old Testament Text). For was defiled, see 5.13. De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling translates this clause as “because of the desecration of his naziriteship.” Another possible model is “because he became defiled during his vow of separation.”

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 .