1On the day when Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle and had anointed and consecrated it with all its furnishings and had anointed and consecrated the altar with all its utensils,
The Greek and Hebrew that are translated as “consecration” or “consecrate” in English is translated in Poqomchi’ as “set apart” (when applying to a ritual not to a moral status). (Source: Robert Bascom)
In Newari it is translated as “make holy” (source: Newari Back Translation) and in Kwere as “put to holy work” when it refers to making someone or something suitable for priestly duties, when it refers to individual consecration outside of the priestly duty, “offer (yourselves) for my sake” is also used. (Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Bura-Pabir: “sacrifice mound” (source: Andy Warrren-Rothlin)
Kalanga: “fireplace of sacrifice” (source: project-specific notes in Paratext)
The Ignaciano translators decided to translate the difficult term in that language according to the focus of each New Testament passage in which the word appears (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight
Willis Ott (in Notes on Translation 88/1982, p. 18ff.) explains:
Matt. 5:23,24: “When you take your offering to God, and arriving, you remember…, do not offer your gift yet. First go to your brother…Then it is fitting to return and offer your offering to God.” (The focus is on improving relationships with people before attempting to improve a relationship with God, so the means of offering, the altar, is not focal.)
Matt. 23:18 (19,20): “You also teach erroneously: ‘If someone makes a promise, swearing by the offering-place/table, he is not guilty if he should break the promise. But if he swears by the gift that he put on the offering-place/table, he will be guilty if he breaks the promise.'”
Luke 1:11: “…to the right side of the table where they burn incense.”
Luke 11.51. “…the one they killed in front of the temple (or the temple enclosure).” (The focus is on location, with overtones on: “their crime was all the more heinous for killing him there”.)
Rom. 11:3: “Lord, they have killed all my fellow prophets that spoke for you. They do not want anyone to give offerings to you in worship.” (The focus is on the people’s rejection of religion, with God as the object of worship.)
1Cor. 9:13 (10:18): “Remember that those that attend the temple have rights to eat the foods that people bring as offerings to God. They have rights to the meat that the people offer.” (The focus is on the right of priests to the offered food.)
Heb. 7:13: “This one of whom we are talking is from another clan. No one from that clan was ever a priest.” (The focus in on the legitimacy of this priest’s vocation.)
Jas. 2:21: “Remember our ancestor Abraham, when God tested him by asking him to give him his son by death. Abraham was to the point of stabbing/killing his son, thus proving his obedience.” (The focus is on the sacrifice as a demonstration of faith/obedience.)
Rev. 6:9 (8:3,5; 9:13; 14:18; 16:7): “I saw the souls of them that…They were under the table that holds God’s fire/coals.” (This keeps the concepts of: furniture, receptacle for keeping fire, and location near God.)
Rev. 11:1: “Go to the temple, Measure the building and the inside enclosure (the outside is contrasted in v. 2). Measure the burning place for offered animals. Then count the people who are worshiping there.” (This altar is probably the brazen altar in a temple on earth, since people are worshiping there and since outside this area conquerors are allowed to subjugate for a certain time.)
In the Hebraic English translation of Everett Fox it is translated as slaughter-site and likewise in the German translation by Buber / Rosenzweig as Schlachtstatt.
The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “tabernacle” in English is translated in San Blas Kuna as “house of prayer that can be carried.” (Source: Ronald Ross)
In Bandi it is translated as “holy sitting place.” The “sitting place for the Bandi is where you live.” Therefore the tabernacle is the place where God lived. (Source: Becky Grossmann in this newsletter )
In Vidunda it is translated as “God’s tent” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext) and in Tibetan as gur mchog (གུར་མཆོག) or “perfect tent” (source: gSungrab website )
In American Sign Language it is translated with with a sign for “tent” combined with a sign referring to the outer court surrounding the tent (see Exodus 27:9 and following). (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Tabernacle” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
The different Hebrew and Greek terms that are translated as “(olive) oil” and “(animal) fat” in English are translated in Kwere with only one term: mavuta. (Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 7:1:
Kupsabiny: “When Moses had finished building/erecting the Tent of God, he smeared/anointed (it) and dedicated/set aside that Tent and/with the altar and all their utensils.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “After Moses set up the Tent of Meeting, he made it holy by anointed it along with all its furnishings, the altar and utensils.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “After- Moises -finished setting-up the Tent Worship-Place, he sprinkled it with oil and dedicated (it) including all its equipment. He did (this) also to the altar and to all its equipment.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “When Moses/I had finished setting up the Sacred Tent, he/I dedicated it to Yahweh. He/I also dedicated the things that are inside the tent, and the altar for burning sacrifices, and all the things that would be used at the altar.” (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
On the day: The very first word in the Hebrew text of this verse is wayehi (see below), which is rendered “And it came to pass” in King James Version. The day is not the same day as in 1.1, which refers to the first day of the second month of the second year after the people of Israel had left Egypt. Rather, it is presumably the day referred to in Exo 40.17, namely, the first day of the first month in the second year after the Exodus from Egypt. Here in 7.1 the narrative moves back in time to that day; the offerings for the dedication of the altar began on the day when Moses had finished erecting the Tabernacle. According to Exo 40.17, the erection of the Tabernacle took place a month before the date given in 1.1. There is a reason why the text moves back in time at this point. The narrative that resumes here is directly connected to the date of Exo 40.17. This is because 7.1–10.10 takes up and finishes the subject of rituals and the system of worship in the Tabernacle that was presented in Exo 25–40. The Hebrew verb wayehi seems to mark this flashback to the event recorded in Exo 40.17. Many modern translations simply omit this verb (so Good News Bible), but some languages may have a construction that serves a similar discourse marking function; for example, Chewa begins this verse with “It was done [far past tense] that….” The past perfect tense in English (had finished) partially serves this marking function. Still, someone might ask why 7.1–10.10 was not put in its chronological place. The reason seems to be that precedence was given to the divinely stipulated organization of the nation of Israel (encampment, census, purity) over this stage of putting the system of ritual worship in place. As always in the book of Numbers, the topic under discussion is considered to be more important for the development of the text than the specific chronology of events. Translators may want to include the following footnote here: “ ‘On the day’ refers to the same day as in Exo 40.17; Num 7.1–10.10 finishes the subject of rituals and the system of worship in the Tabernacle that was presented in Exo 25–40.”
When Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle: For tabernacle, which renders the Hebrew word mishkan, see 1.50.
And had anointed and consecrated it with all its furnishings, and had anointed and consecrated the altar with all its utensils: The Hebrew verb rendered anointed is mashach, which refers to applying olive oil. It is the same verb used for the anointment of the priests in 3.3 (see the comments there). Here this verb refers to the anointment of the Tabernacle, the altar of sacrifice, and all the things that belong to them. In some languages the word for anointing human beings may differ from the word for anointing inanimate objects. However, it may be possible to use a general expression such as “put [or, sprinkle] oil on” for humans and inanimate objects. (A verb such as “pour” may give the wrong suggestion that a large amount of oil was involved, something we do not know.) By anointing these objects, Moses consecrated (literally “made holy”) them. They became holy objects, set apart for the LORD. For the Tabernacle furnishings, see 1.50. The altar refers to the altar of sacrifice, which stood in front of the Tabernacle (see 3.26). For the altar’s utensils, see 4.14.
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 .
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