complete verse (Psalm 50:13)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 50:13:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “Do I eat the meat of the male cows
    or drink the blood of goats?” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “What! Do I eat the meat of bulls?
    or do [I] drink the blood of goats?” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “Do- I -eat meat of bull(s)/[lit. bull cow] or drink the blood of goat(s)? Of-course/Certainly not.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “You think that I am eating the meat of bulls,
    or drinking the blood of goats?” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Je, unasema nakula nyama ya ng’ombe?
    Je, unasema nakunywa damu ya mbuzi?” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “I do not eat the flesh of the bulls that you sacrifice,
    and I do not drink the blood of the goats that you offer to me.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

drink

In Telugu different verbs for humans drinking (tāgu / తాగు) and animals drinking (cēḍu / చేడు) are required.

Translation commentary on Psalm 50:12 - 50:13

God does not need sacrifices. It is not a matter of his needs but of his people’s needs. If God were to get hungry he wouldn’t have to go and ask his people for food, since all the world and everything in it belong to him (see 24.1). So I would not tell you in verse 12a does not mean only that he would not inform them of his hunger; rather, God is saying he would not ask them to feed him. Bible en français courant, closer to the Hebrew, translates “If I were hungry, I would not need to tell you about it.”

In picturesque language God denies the need of sacrifices: he doesn’t eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats. This is to be understood against the background of certain primitive beliefs that sacrifices were actually eaten by the gods. The two rhetorical questions in this verse will require replies of “No!” in some languages in which rhetorical questions normally take a reply.

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 .