cobra

There is general agreement among modern scholars that the word pethen refers to the cobra, since the word is closely associated with snake charming, which requires a snake that can raise the front part of its body vertically, something a viper cannot do. The words tsif‘oni and tsefa‘ are also probably references to a type of cobra. This can be well supported by the contexts in which the word occurs, in which reference is made to the fact that it lives in holes and lays eggs. These contexts would rule out any of the vipers.

There is some evidence that pethen was the earlier name for the cobra, and tsefa‘ and tsif‘oni were later names. Something similar is the case with English, where “cobra” has been in use only for the last one hundred years, and previously “asp” was used.

“Adder” is used as the name for some of the subspecies of viper and is probably not the best word to translate these three Hebrew words.

Cobras are characterized by their ability to spread the ribs in their neck area, so as to form a broad flat profile called the hood. This makes the snake look much thicker than it really is. Cobras also have short fixed fangs in the front of their mouths. The cobra that is found in the land of Israel is the Desert Cobra or Walter Innes’s snake (Walterinnesia aegyptia), while the cobra found in Egypt is the Egyptian Cobra Naja haje. The cobra is a large snake, reaching 2 meters (6 feet) in length, and about 50 millimeters (2 inches) in diameter. It is dark brown with a yellowish underside. In some areas where it is found it has broad yellowish bands, which give it its alternative English name, banded cobra. When it rears up and spreads its hood, the hood has a yellowish background, but displays a broad dark brown horizontal stripe.

Its bite is very poisonous, and it takes quick effect, acting on the nervous system. The cobra feeds on mice, gerbils, birds, bird’s eggs, lizards, frogs, and other snakes. It hunts by following scent trails, which it senses with its tongue. When within range of its prey, it raises its head slowly vertically, and suddenly strikes at the unsuspecting victim. It lives mainly in grassland and where the vegetation is fairly thick. It takes cover in rat holes, holes in eroded banks, hollow trees, under logs, and among exposed roots. It may lay its eggs in any of these sheltered places. In cold weather it coils itself up to preserve its body heat.

The cobra, besides being a symbol of lurking danger, was also closely associated with Egypt. In some poetic passages, therefore, it is a metaphor for the enemies of Israel, Egypt in particular.

The Egyptian cobra is found all over Africa, and a local word should not be difficult to find. In South and Southeast Asia a word for the King Cobra Naja hannah or one of the other cobras would be a good equivalent. In areas where these cobras are symbols of good luck and the presence of a deity, the Hebrew symbolism might need to be explained in a footnote. In other parts of the world, if cobras are unknown, the name of a local long poisonous snake of a type different from vipers and adders is a possible choice.

In passages where snakes are referred to as “stinging”, it is not necessary to use a verb meaning literally “to sting”. This is just the Hebrew way of referring to the bite of a snake. In many languages the verb used for a snake’s bite is different from the one used to refer to the bite of something else, such as a dog.

Desert cobra, Wikimedia Commons
Egyptian cobra, Wikimedia Commons

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

See also flying fiery serpent, adder / serpent / asp / viper, and serpent.

complete verse (Psalm 58:4)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 58:4:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “Their agony is like the agony of a snake,
    like that of an adder that has closed its ears.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “Like snakes they are full of poison,
    Like cobras their ears are shut.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “They are-venomous/poisonous like snakes.
    They (are) like a cobra who does- not -listen to the voice of a skilled/expert trainer.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “The poison is full in them, like snake.
    They close their ears to stay like a snake which can not hear the voice.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Maneno yao ya uuaji kama vile kuumwa na nyoka,
    kama vile swila ambaye hawezi kusikia,” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “God, show in the heavens how great you are!
    And show your glory to people all over the earth!
    What wicked people say injures people like the venom of a snake;
    They refuse to listen to good advice, as though they were cobras that were deaf!” (Source: Translation for Translators)

adder / viper

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “adder,” “asp,” “viper,” or “serpent” in English is translated in Lambya as chipili or “puff adder “, a highly poisonous local snake species. (Source: project-specific notes in Paratext)

 

There are a large number of snake species belonging to the viper family in Israel. From the contexts it is possible in one or two places to identify the particular species, and it is possible that the various Hebrew words actually refer to particular species. However, associating the various words with the corresponding species is largely conjecture, even though based on careful deduction.

The most common vipers in Israel are the Palestinian Viper Viper palaestina, the Carpet Viper Echis coloratus, the Sand Viper Cerastes vipera, and the Horned Viper Cerastes cerastes cerastes. The Palestinian viper is the largest of these vipers and is found in a variety of habitats, from the woods of the north to the desert’s edge. Since this is the most inhabited area, people are bitten by this snake more than any other. The other four vipers mentioned are found in desert areas, but in slightly different habitats. The sand viper and the horned viper live in the sand, while the carpet viper lives in gravelly areas and among rocks. It often camouflages itself among dried leaves.

The desert vipers, when moving in sand, cannot move in the normal way, so they adopt a movement known as “sidewinding”. They do this by moving a coil sideways to a position in front of the head, then the snake moves its head and the front part of its body in the air, arching over the sand as far as it can reach before falling back onto the sand. Then it repeats the movement again. This is done at some speed, and the snake moves diagonally across the sand surprisingly quickly, although not as quickly as another snake moving normally. The parallel elongated S-shaped marks it leaves in the sand look as though it has moved in a series of jumps, since they seem not to be connected. It is generally accepted that this motion caused the biblical writers to refer to these snakes as “flying” (see flying fiery serpent).

Vipers are different from other snakes mainly in that they give birth to live offspring. The females retain their eggs in a special sac in their bodies, and when the eggs hatch the small snakes emerge from the mother. The larger vipers produce as many as sixty young snakes at a time, while the smaller sand vipers have smaller broods of about twelve to fifteen. This is what John the Baptist refers to by his well-known phrase “brood of vipers”.

The vipers have long hinged fangs located in the front of their mouths. These fangs fold back as they close their mouths. When striking, vipers have to open their mouths very wide in order to get these fangs into the required position.

The carpet viper (also known as the saw-scaled viper) was very numerous in biblical Israel, and in most other areas of its range (it is found in a broad continuous band from West Africa to South and Central Asia). It is likely that this was the saraf, a name derived from a finite verb meaning “to burn something,” a reference to the burning effect of its poisonous bite.

Vipers have the same basic significance in the Bible as other snakes, with one additional feature. Since the young are carried alive inside the female viper, which then gives birth to large numbers of well-developed young, all at the same time, the viper was associated with fertility. This was also their significance in the Egyptian and Canaanite religious systems.

Although vipers are found widely all over the world, not all languages distinguish them from other types of snake. As mentioned above, the carpet viper is found across Central Africa, from the west to east coasts, and into Central and South Asia. In these areas the name for this snake can be used in all the verses that refer to vipers. In southern Africa the Puff Adder Bitis arietans is probably the best equivalent.

In order to retain the relationship of the word saraf with the verb “to burn something,” translators often try to use expressions such as “vipers that burn [people]” or “fiery serpents”. This is only possible where the word used for “burn” means “to cause a wound with something hot.” One should not convey the idea of “a viper that sets people on fire” or “a viper that is burning.” Often it is better to use a phrase meaning simply “poisonous vipers”.

See also vipers, You brood of vipers!, and cobra.

Translation commentary on Psalm 58:3 - 58:5

After addressing the rulers in the second person (verses 1-2), here The wicked are spoken of in the third person, which may be understood as a general indictment of all evil people, but more probably is a description of the ones addressed in verses 1-2. Those who take “you gods” as the meaning of the word in verse 1 understand that the wicked people spoken of in the rest of the psalm are the human agents through whom the gods work their evil ways.

In exaggerated language (see similar expressions in 51.5) these people go astray from the womb, which translates what is literally “they go astray, the wicked, from the womb they err”; and in line b “from the womb they tell lies” (two different Hebrew words for “womb,” namely, “belly” and “womb”). Good News Translation has expressed the meaning with one verb in line a, “go wrong,” which is the meaning of the two verbs in the Hebrew text; but most translations, like Revised Standard Version, take the first verb (go astray) with line a, the second verb (err) with line b. Some languages speak of a baby being born from the belly or abdomen, not from the organ known in the language as the “womb.”

For the figure of venom (that is, “poison”) as malicious and lying words, see also 140.3.

The figure used in verses 4b-5 of a “deaf cobra” (or adder) that stops its ear is strange. The general sense of the figure is clear enough: these wicked people obstinately refuse to listen to warning or advice. The Hebrew says literally “like the deaf cobra that stops up its ears” (see Revised Standard Version), which one Jewish commentator ingeniously explained by saying that a snake would lay its head sideways on the ground to stop up one ear and with its tail would cover up the other one! (In fact, snakes do not have the sense of hearing that mammals have.)

It will be noticed that there is quite a variety in translating the name of the animal in verse 4: Revised Standard Version serpent … adder; New English Bible “serpents … asp”; New Jerusalem Bible “snake … viper”; New Jerusalem Bible “snake … adder”; Good News Translation, New International Version “snakes … cobra.” In languages where the cobra or asp are unknown, any other poisonous snake can be substituted. The practice of snake charming, however, will be less recognizable and may require a supplementary note.

In verse 5 the cunning enchanter in line b is parallel with the … charmers in line a; such people are also spoken of in Ecclesiastes 10.11; Jeremiah 8.17. By means of his music, chants, and body movements, a snake charmer would try to hypnotize a snake so as to make it docile and harmless. In some languages “snake charmer” may be rendered, for example, “snake man,” “snake show man,” or “snake music man.” Enchanter or “magician” should not be identified with one who practices witchcraft. In this context the reference is to casting spells and charming snakes. If a term for one who casts spells is not available, it may be possible to use a phrase; for example, “one who sings his magic” or “one who controls by repeating words.”

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 .