Language-specific Insights

raisin cake

The phrase in Song of Songs 2:5that is rendered in English versions as “(sustain me with) raisin cake” is translated into Afar as malawwacak bicsen gaqambo: “bread prepared from honey” (raisins are not known, but honey is.)

See also raisin.

shadow

The Hebrew in Ecclesiastes 6:12 that is rendered in English versions as “live the few days of their vain life, which they pass like a shadow?” is translated into Afar as Sahdayti subci suga iraaway ayro tawqe waqdi gexah bis le: “People are like a shadow present in the early morning that goes away when the sun rises.” (Clarifying the role of the sun in the changing shadow.)

See also shadow vs. spirit.

ships of Tarshish

The Hebrew in Psalm 48:7 that is translated in English as “as when an east wind shatters the ships of Tarshish” (New Revised Standard Version) or “like ships tossing in a furious storm” (Good News Translation) is translated in Afar as “As sheep scatter back and forth from a wild animal.” (No ships in this part of the Afar desert.)

See also ship.

root producing poison

The metaphor in Deuteronomy 29:18 that is rendered in English as “root producing poison” was replaced in Afar by an applicable idiom for corrupting people, “this disease will spread to you as well.”