12cargo of gold, silver, jewels and pearls, fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet, all kinds of scented wood, all articles of ivory, all articles of costly wood, bronze, iron, and marble,
The Thyine tree Tetraclinis articulata is also called “thuja” or “thuya,” and, confusingly, “citron” or “citrus” in different parts of the world. Similar to the well-known arborvitae, the thyine is found mainly in the Mediterranean area and across North Africa (Morocco, Algeria). It is a coniferous tree related to cypresses, pines, and cedars. Its identification in the book of Revelation is based on the Greek spelling, thuinos. In some places it is called the sandarac tree on the basis of the clear varnish (sandarac) that is made from the resin. The Romans, who used the wood for cabinet work, called it “citrus” for some strange reason, though apart from the yellow fruit, it bears no resemblance to true citrus trees.
The thyine can reach a height of 9 meters (30 feet). It has scaly leaves like cedars and cypresses, reddish brown bark, and sweet-smelling wood that is resistant to insects.
The Greek that is translated as “purple” in English is translated as “blue-red” in Ojitlán Chinantec (source: M. Larson in Notes on Translation 1970, p. 1ff.) and in Elhomwe (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext).
“The Kasua people of Western Province have no word for the color purple. They have words for many other colors: black, red, white, yellow, green, and blue, but not for the color of royalty.
“About nine New Testament passages mention people placing a purple robe on Jesus. The Kasua translation team always wanted to use the word ‘red,’ or keyalo, to describe the robe. Tommy, one of the translation team helpers, disagreed because this is not historically accurate or signifies the royalty of Jesus.
“One of the main rules of translation is that the team must stick to the historical facts when they translate a passage. If they don’t, then how can the readers trust what they’re reading is true? Other questions about truth could bubble in the reader’s minds about the Scriptures. For this reason, Tommy was not willing to change the word purple. So the team hung up the problem, hoping to revisit it later with more inspiration.
“God did not disappoint.
“Years later, Tommy hiked with some of the men near their village. They saw a tree that possessed bulbous growths growing on the side of it like fruit. These growths were ‘the most beautiful color of purple I’d ever seen,’ explained Tommy.
“’What is the name of this tree?’ Tommy asked the men.
“’This is an Okani tree,’ they replied.
“Tommy suggested, ‘Why don’t you, in those passages where we’ve been struggling to translate the color purple, use ‘they put a robe on Jesus the color of the fruit of the Okani tree’?
“’Yeah. We know exactly what color that is,’ the men said enthusiastically.
“Everyone in their village would also visualize this phrase accurately, as the Okani tree is the only tree in that area that produces this kind of purple growth. So now, among the Kasua people, in his royal purple robe, Jesus is shown to be the king that he is.”
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “ivory” in English was translated in the 1900 Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) translation (a newer version was published in 2000) as tûgânigdlo or “(narwhal) tusks.” “The word tûgâĸ (modern tuugaaq) ‘tusk’ does not refer specifically to the tusk of an elephant; rather, it is most closely associated with the noun tûgâlik (modern tuugaalik) ‘narwhal,’ which literally means ‘tusked one.’ The narwhal (Monodon monoceros) is a medium-sized whale with a single long tusk, and is native to the Arctic region, including Greenland. The use of the word tûgâĸ (modern tuugaaq) as an equivalent of ‘ivory’ has the unmistakable effect of situating the Greenlandic version in an Arctic context.” (Source: Lily Kahn & Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi in The Bible Translator 2019, p. 125ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of Revelation 18:12:
Uma: “Their merchandise were many kinds. There was gold, silver, gems [lit., eyes of rings], and pearls. There were fine clothes that were made from expensive cloth/thread, bright red and purple cloth. There were things made from fragrant wood, things made from ivory [Indonesian: gading], and other things made from expensive wood or from brass, iron, or alabaster [Indonesian: pualam].” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Nobody will buy from them gold, silver, valuable precious-stones and pearls. Nobody will buy the expensive cloths, purple and red clothes/material and silk. Nobody will buy the different kinds of wood that are difficult to be found, and the different kinds of objects made of ivory, and expensive wood and brass and iron and stone called marble.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “There is no longer anyone who can buy their merchandise; gold, silver, expensive stones, and pearls, good white cloth, and red cloth, and silk cloth, fragrant woods, things made of expensive wood and stone and ivorys and bronze and iron and marblestone,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “There is no one to buy their gold, silver, valuable stones, and pearls. Likewise the expensive materials (i.e. cloth) that they sell such as those whose color is blue and red. Neither is there anyone to buy their fragrant wood and the miscellaneous-things made from elephant (loan elefante) tusk, valuable woods, copper, iron and beautiful stone called marbel.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “There’s no-one now who will buy their gold and silver, the expensive mined stones and far-from-ordinary beads for body decoration, and the first-class cloth, silky cloth and that which has been dyed dark-blue/purple and red. There’s no-one for them to cause to buy their nice-smelling wood, and all kinds of things made from expensive wood, horn of elepante, bronze/copper, iron and first-class white stone.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “No one will buy the loads of gold or silver, or the little stones which are beautiful or pearls. They can’t sell the good cloth named line, or silk, or that of purple or red. They can’t sell the woods of different odors, nor the bone which is made into beautiful forms, or the good kinds of word, or bronze, or iron metal, or the stone which is marble.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Flax Linum usitatissimum, from which linen cloth is made, was cultivated in the Middle East, including Canaan, at least as early as 5000 B.C. A document from Gezer (in Israel) from around King Saul’s time (1000 B.C.) refers to the cultivation of flax and states that flax and wool were the main materials for making cloth. According to Joshua 2:6, the Israelite spies were hidden under flax stalks by Rahab. Flax was grown extensively in Egypt and made into cloth and mats.
Pesheth and pishtah are probably the original Hebrew words for flax, if indeed the plant was domesticated in the Holy Land, as Zohary (Plants of the Bible. Cambridge University Press, 1982) proposes. They may be related to the word pashat, meaning “to strip off” or “to flay,” or to the word pasas, meaning “to disintegrate.” Pesheth and pishtah are used twenty times in the Old Testament, twice referring clearly to the plant itself (Exodus 9:31; Joshua 2:6). Other references are to the processed flax (Judges 15:14 et al.). A few cases refer to finished products, namely wicks (Isaiah 42:3 et al.), cords (Ezekiel 40:3), and items of clothing (Jeremiah 13:1 et al.).
It is likely that the Hebrews acquired the word shesh from the Egyptians during their sojourn in Egypt, since flax was cultivated there also. The Egyptian word for flax was shent (via shen-suten). Shesh is used thirty-eight times in the Old Testament: for the material that Pharaoh put on Joseph, for the Tabernacle curtains and hangings in Exodus, for the ephod, and for the priests’ tunics. The wise woman of Proverbs 31:22 wears it. In Ezekiel 16:10 et al. it is paired with silk, and in Ezekiel 27:7 “shesh from Egypt” is spoken of as material for the sails of ships.
Several references to linen use the Hebrew word bad. In Exodus 28:42 the priests’ underwear are made from bad, and it is used thereafter in Leviticus to describe various items of clothing—coat, breeches, girdle, and turban. It turns up again in Samuel’s and King David’s “ephods” and then again in Ezekiel and Daniel, where we see visions of “a man clothed in bad.”
Linen is referred by the Hebrew word buts in 1‑2 Chronicles, Esther, and Ezekiel, where the robes of the Temple choir, kings, and rich men are described.
The Old Testament has some references to the Hebrew word sadin (“linen garment”): Judges 14:12 (Samson promises them to his opponents), Proverbs 31:24 (the wise woman makes them), and Isaiah 3:23 (the rich women of Jerusalem wear them). The Septuagint uses the Greek word bussos or sindōn in these passages.
The Hebrew word ’etun occurs only in Proverbs 7:16, where it refers to a linen bedspread from Egypt.
In the New Testament there are three primary Greek words for linen: linon/linous, sindōn, and othonē/othonion. Linon is used to refer to garments of the angels in Revelation 15:6 as well as to the “smoldering wick” in Matthew 12:20. The synoptic Gospel writers refer to the linen cloth that Joseph and Nicodemus used to wrap Jesus’ body as a sindōn. Mark uses the same word to refer to the cloth that was worn by the unidentified young man at the time of Jesus’ arrest (Mark 14:51f.). John uses a different Greek word for Jesus’ burial cloths: othonion.
The rich man referred to in the Lazarus story (Luke 16:19) is clothed in “fine linen” (bussos). The Greek word bussos is the root word for bussinos, which refers to tunics, robes and turbans made from linen fabric (Revelation 18:12 et al.).
Flax is a little taller than a sesame plant, about a meter (3 feet) tall. Its leaves are narrow and the flowers are bright blue with five petals. The seed capsule contains oil that is used for cooking and also for thinning paint. After flax ripens, the plants are uprooted and the stalks are left to dry for a while. The stalks are then soaked, dried, and beaten to separate the fibers, which are then combed and woven into cloth.
Linen cloth was relatively costly in Israel, and being light and easy to dye it was highly valued. Their priests wore linen garments to combat sweating (see Ezekiel 44:18). They had to remove these holy garments when they left the Temple, “lest they communicate holiness to the people” (Ezekiel 44:19). The high esteem given to linen by the Jews is shown also by the fact that they used it for burying the dead, and we are told that the Dead Sea Scrolls were wrapped in linen cloths. However, the flax plant was special in other ways. The crushed stalks of flax plants were also used for making rope and lamp wicks. The seed was used for oil.
Today flax is raised more for the oil that comes from the seeds (called linseed oil) than for the fibers, although flax stalks are also made into special kinds of paper.
Metaphorical uses of flax are relatively few in the Bible, and all suggest the weakness of the material. In Judges 15:14 flax fiber is used as a simile for Samson’s fetters (they snapped like linen thread). Isaiah 42:3 says the Messiah will be gentle with weak people (“a dimly burning wick [pishtah] he will not quench”), in contrast to the typical iron-fisted tyrants of the day. Isaiah 43:17 describes the fate of the Babylonian enemies: they will be snuffed out “like a wick [pishtah].”
Linen cloth (or other cloth with a similar name) is surprisingly widespread. Cloth merchants in the translators’ area may know it under a trade language name, and if so, that can be used.In some places it is used only for burying people. In that case, if it is used in translation at all, the difference in culture should be explained in a footnote. Since linen is bleached white, a generic phrase such as “beautiful white cloth” can be considered in many places. In the three metaphorical passages mentioned above, an appropriate cultural image may be substituted, or an adverb expressing weakness or fragility.
These verses list different cargoes that the merchants were selling. In some languages it is more natural to translate this long list using several sentences. If that is true in your language, you may need to add a verb or introductory phrase at the beginning of each sentence. See the second meaning line in the Display.
18:12a
gold: The word gold refers to a rare metal of a somewhat yellow color. It was the most expensive metal at that time. It is naturally shiny and beautiful. See how you translated this word in 1:12 or 17:4.
silver: The word silver refers to somewhat expensive metal, though it is not as rare and expensive as gold. When polished, it was used as a mirror. It was used in coins and decorations. See how you translated this word in 9:20.
precious stones: This phrase refers to rare stones that are naturally beautiful or become beautiful when shaped and polished. These rare stones are precious or expensive. See how you translated this word in 17:4.
pearls: The word pearls refers to hard, shiny spheres found in the shellfish called oysters. The spheres are often very beautiful. Good ones are very valuable. See how you translated this word in 17:4.
18:12b
fine linen: Here the word fine indicates that the linen was of very good quality. Natural linen is tan, gray, or the color of ivory. It can be bleached white. Other ways to translate this phrase are:
high quality linen ⌊clothing⌋ -or-
very good linen ⌊clothing⌋ -or-
expensive linen ⌊clothing⌋
linen: This word refers to expensive cloth made from a plant called flax. The cloth is smooth and strong yet soft.
In some languages people are not familiar with linen. If that is true in your language, you may want to:
• Explain this word in your translation. For example:
flax cloth -or-
smooth cloth
• Use the major language word. If people are not familiar with this word, explain it in a footnote. Here are example footnotes:
Linen is an expensive cloth made from a plant called flax. The cloth is smooth and strong yet soft. -or-
See footnote on linen at 15:6.
purple: Purple cloth was very expensive at that time because the dye used to make purple cloth was very difficult to get. You may want to explain its value in your translation. For example:
⌊expensive⌋ purple cloth
silk: This word refers to a cloth made from the threads of silkworm cocoons. The cloth is soft, shiny, and expensive.
In some languages people are not familiar with silk. If that is true in your language, you may want to:
• Explain this cloth in your translation. For example:
⌊beautiful⌋ silk cloth -or-
⌊expensive⌋ shiny cloth
• Use the major language word. If people are not familiar with this word, explain it in a footnote. An example footnote is:
Silk is a cloth made from the threads of silkworm cocoons. The cloth is soft, shiny, and expensive.
scarlet: This word refers to cloth of a bright red color. It was less expensive than purple cloth.
citron wood: The phrase citron wood refers to a hardwood with a pleasant smell. It is used to make furniture.
In some languages people are not familiar with citron wood. If that is true in your language, you may want to:
• Explain this wood in your translation. For example:
⌊good smelling⌋ citron wood -or-
⌊expensive/valuable and fragrant⌋ hardwood
• Use the major language word. If people are not familiar with this word, explain it in a footnote. For example:
Citron wood is a hardwood that has a pleasant smell that is used to make furniture.
18:12c
ivory: The word ivory refers to pieces of the tusks (very big teeth) of elephants, walruses, and other animals. It is creamy white and hard. It is often carved into various shapes.
In some languages people are not familiar with ivory. If that is true in your language, you may want to:
• Explain ivory in your translation. For example:
large pieces of animal teeth -or-
animal tusks
• Use the major language word. If people are not familiar with this word, explain it in a footnote. An example footnote is:
Ivory comes from the tusks of elephants, walruses, and other animals. It is creamy white and hard. It is often carved into various shapes.
bronze: This word refers to a metal made from a mixture of copper and tin. The Greek word also refers to pure copper or brass. (Brass is a mixture of copper and zinc.) The metal called bronze is a yellowish-brown color. Copper is a reddish-brown metal color. Some kinds of coins are made of bronze or copper. (The other common color of coins is silver.)
In some languages people are not familiar with bronze, copper, or brass. If that is true in your language, you may want to:
• Explain the word in your translation. For example:
⌊brown/tan metal called⌋ bronze -or-
⌊reddish brown metal called⌋ copper
• Use a descriptive phrase. For example:
brown/tan metal -or-
reddish brown metal
• Use the major language word.
See how you translated this word in 1:15 or 9:20.
iron: This word refers to a hard metal. It was the strongest metal known at that time. Good quality weapons and many other things were made of iron.
In some languages people are not familiar with iron. If that is true in your language, you may want to:
• Explain iron in a footnote. (But if you have a footnote about iron at 12:5b, you may not want to repeat it here.) For example:
Iron is a hard metal. It was the strongest metal known at that time.
• Use the major language word. If people are not familiar with this word, you may want to explain it in a footnote as above.
• Describe it in your translation. For example:
hard metal
See how you translated this word in 9:9 or 12:5.
marble: This word refers to a kind of stone. It is somewhat hard. It is often white or gray with other colors scattered throughout the stone in irregular lines or spots. It is very beautiful when polished, and can be carved into various shapes.
In some languages people are not familiar with marble. If that is true in your language, you may want to:
• Explain the word in your translation. For example:
veined stone called marble -or-
variegated stone
• Use the major language word. If people are not familiar with this word, explain it in a footnote. An example footnote is:
Marble is a stone with irregular lines of another color spread throughout the stone. Marble is very beautiful when polished, and it can be carved into various shapes.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.