worship

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The Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek terms that are often translated as “worship” (also, “kneel down” or “bow down”) are likewise translated in other languages in certain categories, including those based on physical activity, those which incorporate some element of “speaking” or “declaring,” and those which specify some type of mental activity.

Following is a list of (back-) translations (click or tap for details):

  • Javanese: “prostrate oneself before”
  • Malay: “kneel and bow the head”
  • Kaqchikel: “kneel before”
  • Loma (Liberia): “drop oneself beneath God’s foot”
  • Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “wag the tail before God” (using a verb which with an animal subject means “to wag the tail,” but with a human subject)
  • Tzotzil: “join to”
  • Kpelle: “raise up a blessing to God”
  • Kekchí: “praise as your God”
  • Cashibo-Cacataibo: “say one is important”
  • San Blas Kuna: “think of God with the heart”
  • Rincón Zapotec: “have one’s heart go out to God”
  • Tabasco Chontal: “holy-remember” (source of this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Bariai: “lift up God’s name” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Q’anjob’al: “humble oneself before” (source: Newberry and Kittie Cox in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. )
  • Alur: rwo: “complete submission, adoration, consecration” (source: F. G. Lasse in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 22ff. )
  • Obolo: itọtọbọ ebum: “express reverence and devotion” (source: Enene Enene)
  • Ngäbere: “cut oneself down before” (“This figure of speech comes from the picture of towering mahoganies in the forest which, under the woodman’s ax, quiver, waver, and then in solemn, thunderous crashing bury their lofty heads in the upstretched arms of the surrounding forest. This is the experience of every true worshiper who sees ‘the Lord, high and lifted up.’ Our own unworthiness brings us low. As the Valientes say, ‘we cut ourselves down before’ His presence. Our heads, which have been carried high in self-confidence, sink lower and lower in worship.)
  • Tzeltal: “end oneself before God.” (“Only by coming to the end of oneself can one truly worship. The animist worships his deities in the hope of receiving corresponding benefits, and some pagans in Christendom think that church attendance is a guarantee of success in this life and good luck in the future. But God has never set a price on worship except the price that we must pay, namely, ‘coming to the end of ourselves.'”) (Source of this and the one above: Nida 1952, p. 163)
  • Folopa: “die under God” (“an idiom that roughly back-translates “dying under God” which means lifting up his name and praising him and to acknowledge by everything one does and thanks that God is superior.”) (Source: Anderson / Moore, p. 202)
  • Chokwe: kuivayila — “rub something on” (“When anyone goes into the presence of a king or other superior, according to native law and custom the inferior gets down on the ground, takes a little earth in the fingers of his right hand, rubs it on his own body, and then claps his hands in homage and the greeting of friendship. It is a token of veneration, of homage, of extreme gratitude for some favor received. It is also a recognition of kingship, lordship, and a prostrating of oneself in its presence. Yet it simply is the applicative form of ‘to rub something on oneself’, this form of the verb giving the value of ‘because of.’ Thus in God’s presence as king and Lord we metaphorically rub dirt on ourselves, thus acknowledging Him for what He really is and what He has done for us.”) (Source: D. B. Long in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 87ff. )
  • In the German New Testament translation Fridolin Stier (1989) it is consistently translated as “bow (to someone) deeply” (tief verneigen)

In Luang it is translated with different shades of meaning:

Source: Kathy Taber in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 9-16.

complete verse (Psalm 106:19)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 106:19:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “They made a calf at Horeb
    and worshiped an idol refined from metal.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “At Horeb they made a calf,
    and worshipped the golden idol.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “There at Horeb, the Israelites made a golden cow
    and they worshipped this little-god.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “They made a golden calf in the land of Horeb,
    and they worshipped it.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Walitengeneza ndama kule Horebu,
    wakaabudu kwa sanamu ya chuma.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “Then the Israeli leaders made a gold statue at Sinai Mountain
    and worshiped it.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Psalm 106:19 - 106:20

For the events referred to in verses 19-23, see Exodus 32.1-14. Horeb in Hebrew is another name for Mount Sinai, where the people asked Aaron to make a molten image in the form of a calf (or Good News Translation “bull-calf,” or New International Version “bull”) The usual translation of ʿegel is “calf,” but since “calf” can be either a male or a female, it does not serve here, since it must be clear that the animal was a male; nor is “bull” quite right, since it is a fully-grown animal. For this reason Good News Translation has “bull-calf,” although no standard dictionary recognizes the existence of this word. from the gold jewelry they took to him; then they worshiped that idol. See Exodus 32.4 for the way in which the people’s gold jewelry was melted and used to make the gold idol.

It remains to be noticed that nearly all translations consulted translate verse 19a quite literally, They made a calf; and in line b, Revised Standard Version, at least, can be read as referring to something quite separate from line a. Of the translations consulted only Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (besides Good News Translation) avoids the ridiculous implication that the Israelites made a live animal.

In verse 20 the glory of God translates the Hebrew text “his glory”; the Hebrew copyists made a deliberate change in the text, changing “his glory” to “their glory” (that is, of the Israelites), which is what the Masoretic text has. The change was made presumably on the ground that the original text was offensive to God (see Cohen, McCullough). Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible, and New Jerusalem Bible translate the Masoretic text; Bible en français courant translates the Masoretic text “They replaced God, who was their glory, for the statue of a bull”; New International Version and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible have “their Glory,” a reference to God. The recommendation here is that a translation follow Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. Exchanged the glory of God for is a difficult expression which must be recast in many languages to say “they stopped worshiping God, who is great, and began to worship….”

Revised Standard Version calf in verse 19 and ox in verse 20 translate two different Hebrew words; but in the nature of the case, it was one and the same animal, and in English at least, a calf and an ox are two different animals altogether. Good News Translation has avoided saying “a bull that eats grass” in verse 20b, since the phrase implies that this is one particular species of bulls, different from others that do not eat grass. The Hebrew word here is shor, which Holladay defines as “a fully-grown male bovine, whether castrated or not: bull, ox, steer….” New Jerusalem Bible is like Revised Standard Version: “… for the image of a bull that feeds on grass.”

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 .