burnt-offering

The Hebrew olah (עֹלָה) originally means “that which goes up (in smoke).” English Bibles often translates it as “burnt-offering” or “whole burnt-offering,” focusing on the aspect of the complete burning of the offering.

The Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate Bibles translate it as holokautōma / holocautōsis (ὁλοκαύτωμα / ὁλοκαύτωσις) and holocaustum, respectively, meaning “wholly burnt.” While a form of this term is widely used in many Romance languages (Spanish: holocaustos, French: holocaustes, Italian: olocausti, Portuguese: holocaustos) and originally also in the Catholic tradition of English Bible translations, it is largely not used in English anymore today (the preface of the revised edition of the Catholic New American Bible of 2011: “There have been changes in vocabulary; for example, the term ‘holocaust’ is now normally reserved for the sacrilegious attempt to destroy the Jewish people by the Third Reich.”)

Since translation into Georgian was traditionally done on the basis of the Greek Septuagint, a transliteration of holokautōma was used as well, which was changed to a translation with the meaning of “burnt offering” when the Old Testament was retranslated in the 1980’s on the basis of the Hebrew text.

In the Koongo (Ki-manianga) translation by the Alliance Biblique de la R.D. Congo (publ. in 2015) olah is translated as “kill and offer sacrifice” (source: Anicet Bassilua) and in Elhomwe as “fire offering.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

The English translation of Everett Fox uses offering-up (similarly, the German translation by Buber-Rosenzweig has Darhöhung and the French translation by Chouraqui montée).

See also offering (qorban).

Translation commentary on Wisdom 3:5 – 3:6

Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good: Disciplined refers to earthly suffering, which the author describes as discipline. People may think of their fate as punishment (verse 4), but God is using their suffering only to teach (compare Pro 3.11; 2Macc 6.12-17). We may also translate “Their sufferings were minor [or, small] compared to the great reward God will give them,” or even “God disciplined [or, tested] them, but that suffering is small compared to the great reward he will give them.”

Because God tested them and found them worthy of himself: Compare Psa 26.2; Sir 2.1-5. Good News Translation reverses the order of this line and the next one, thus combining the two verses. This conveys the meaning correctly, because it associates the testing by God in verse 5 with the testing of gold in verse 6, but we should also recognize that the two lines of verse 5 are parallel. The testing is the discipline of line one, and the great good of line one is being found worthy of God. A possible translation for the last part of this line is “worthy to be with him.”

Like gold in the furnace he tried them: A furnace is a place where a very hot fire is made to melt metals. This line refers to a means of separating pure gold from impurities by melting it at a high temperature. The testing that the righteous suffer only serves to make them pure, worthy of God. See Psa 66.10; Zech 13.9; Mal 3.3. Compare the picture of the ungodly as impure metal in 2.16.

And like a sacrificial burnt offering he accepted them: The picture here is of the sacrifice that was burned completely on the altar for God (see Lev 1).

Perhaps the material in the two verses can be arranged this way:

• God allowed them to suffer a little as a means of discipline [or, as a way of disciplining them]. He tested them like gold in a furnace, and found them worthy to be with him. He has accepted them as he accepts the sacrifices people burn on the altar. That is their great reward.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Wisdom of Solomon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2004. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.