Ham

In the Tuvan Bible translation project, the official policy (…) was to keep the spelling of names of major characters the same as in the Russian Synodal translation. However, the translation team and representatives of local Tuvan churches agreed that deviation in proper name spelling from the RST would be allowed on a case-by-case basis if there was a concrete need to do so.

Such a need arose with the name of Noah’s son Ham (חָ֥ם) in Genesis and elsewhere in the Old Testament.

In Russian, as in English, this is transliterated with three letters — Хам (Kham). In Russian, the name of this character has entered the language with the meaning of “boorish lout, impudent person” because of how Ham treated his father; in Tuvan, however, the word Хам (Kham) already means “shaman.” Since the Tuvan people continue to practice their traditional religion in which shamans play a major role, the translation team felt that leaving the transliteration of this name with the exact spelling as in Russian might cause needless offense to Tuvan sensibilities by unwittingly causing the text of Gen. 9:20-27 to portray shamans as the targets of Noah’s curse. Therefore, the translation team chose to avoid this potential stumbling block while continuing to maintain a close sound correspondence with the name of the biblical character as Tuvan Christians already knew it from the RST text. This was done by doubling the vowel — Хаам. Tuvan has long vowel phonemes that are written with a double vowel, so this is perfectly acceptable from the point of view of Tuvan orthographic conventions.

The correspondence of the Tuvan version of the name to the Russian Synodal spelling is still recognizable, but hopefully, the wrath of Tuvan shamans and their supporters has been averted by this small disliteration.

The rationale behind such an approach to spelling changes in names is concisely described in the foreword to the Tuvan Bible for the sake of transparency

Apparently, the similarity of the English version of this name to the food item (as in “I’ll have a ham and cheese sandwich”) is not deemed offensive enough to the meat-packing industry for a similar disliteration to be performed in English Bible translations.

Source: Vitaly Voinov in The Bible Translator 2012, p. 17ff.

In Spanish Sign Language it is translated with a sign that signifies “African,” referring to passages like Psalm 105:23. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


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

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

See also Shem and Japheth.

More information on Ham (son of Noah)

Jacob

The Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Greek that is transliterated as “Jacob” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign that signifies “lentil,” referring to the soup he gave his brother in exchange for his birthright (see Genesis 25:34). Note that another Spanish Sign Language sign for Jacob also users the sign for Jewish. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


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

In German Sign Language it is a sign that shows the touching of the hip, described in Genesis 32:25:


“Jacob” in German Sign Language (source: Taub und katholisch )

In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the signs signifying “smooth arm” (referring to the story starting at Genesis 27:11). (Source: Tarja Sandholm)


“Jacob” in Finnish Sign Language (source )

In Hungarian Sign Language it is translated with a sign signifying Jacob grabbing the heel of Esau during their birth (referring to Genesis 25:26). (Source: Jenjelvi Biblia )


“Jacob” in Hungarian Sign Language (source )

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

See also Esau.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Jacob .

complete verse (Psalm 105:23)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 105:23:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “Then Israel entered into Egypt;
    Jacob became like a visitor in the land of Ham.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “Then Jacob went to Egypt, and stayed in the land of Ham as a foreigner.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “Later-on Jacob and his household went to Egipto, the land of the descendants of Ham,
    and they lived there as strangers.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “Then the Israel entered the land of Egypt,
    Jacob went and stayed like a foreigner in the land of Ham.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Basi Israeli akaingia katika nchi ya Misri,
    Yakobo akawa mgeni wa watoto wa Hamu.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “Later, Joseph’s father Jacob arrived in Egypt.
    He lived like a foreigner in the land that belonged to the descendants of Ham.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Psalm 105:23 - 105:25

For the events referred to in verse 23, see Genesis 46.1-27; the story of the lengthy stay of the Israelites in Egypt (verses 24-25) is found in Exodus 1.7–2.25 (see in Exo 12.40 “430 years”). Since the writer is retelling a series of episodes from Old Testament history, it will often be important for the translator to pay special attention to the marking of transitions, which in many languages requires repeating part of the previous episode; for example, “After Joseph instructed the king’s advisers, Joseph’s father, whose name was Jacob, went….”

In verse 23 Good News Translation has combined the two synonymous lines (see Revised Standard Version) into one; “Jacob” represents both Israel and Jacob, and “that country” translates the land of Ham (see 78.51b). In line b the verb sojourned comes from the same root as the noun used in verse 12b (“sojourners”). Here the idea does not seem to be that of a temporary residence; Traduction œcuménique de la Bible has “emigrated,” New English Bible “came to live,” New Jerusalem Bible “settled.”

The birth rate of the Israelites was greater than that of the Egyptians (see Exo 1.7), and eventually they became more powerful than the Egyptians (verse 24).

The Egyptians’ hatred of the Israelites was God’s doing (verse 25a; literally He turned their hearts to hate his people). But the Hebrew text can be translated “Their hearts turned” (so the Targum; and see New Jerusalem Bible footnote), which Briggs prefers; but all translations consulted have Yahweh as subject. The Israelites are Yahweh’s servants (verse 25b), and the Egyptians treated them deceitfully (see Exo 1.10-14), which included not only making slaves of them but also scheming to have Israelite male babies put to death at birth (Exo 1.15-16; see also Acts 7.19). It is important in verse 25 that the reader understand that his people and his servants refer to the Israelites; for example, “he made the Egyptians hate his people, who served him, so that they treated the Israelites with deceit” or “… deceived the Israelites.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .