complete verse (Exodus 11:3)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 11:3:

  • Kupsabiny: “God made those people of Egypt to give the people of Israel those things. The leaders of Egypt and the people of that land highly respected/feared Moses.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “God made the Egyptians kind to the Israelites. Now Moses became a great man in the eyes of Pharaoh’s officials and of the people of Egypt.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “(The LORD had-willed that the Egiptohanon would-be-good to the Israelinhon. And Moises was- really -respected by the officials of the king and by the residents of Egipto.)” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “(And in that day, the Isip people obeyed the Israel people and so gave those things to them, because Chief God caused the Isip people to feel kindly (lit. have soft interiors) toward the Israel people. And the great chief of Isip’s people and his leaders also respected Moses and so saw him as a great leader.)” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “And The Lord made Egyptians they fear his people. Also Moses, servants of king and Egyptians other, they feared him very as great one.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “Yahweh made the Egyptians highly respect the Israeli people. In particular, the Egyptian officials and all the rest of the people considered Moses/me to be a very great man.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Moses

The name that is transliterated as “Moses” in English is signed in Spanish Sign Language and Polish Sign Language in accordance with the depiction of Moses in the famous statue by Michelangelo (see here ). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )


“Moses” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here ).

In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:


“Moses” in French Sign Language (source )

The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).

In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).


“Moses” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the eye make up he would have worn as the adopted son of an Egyptian princess. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)


“Moses” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL

In Estonian Sign Language Moses is depicted with a big beard. (Source: Liina Paales in Folklore 47, 2011, p. 43ff. )


“Moses” in Estonian Sign Language, source: Glossary of the EKNK Toompea kogudus

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Moses .

Translation commentary on Exod 11:3

And is the conjunction waw, which is usually omitted in translation. The LORD gave the people favor can mean that “Yahweh gave the people prestige” (Jerusalem Bible), but the effect of the action was in the sight of the Egyptians. In other words, “The LORD made the Egyptians respect the Israelites” (Good News Translation). New Jerusalem Bible is an improvement over Jerusalem Bible: “Yahweh made the Egyptians impressed with the people.” It may be unnatural to repeat the phrase in the sight of as the Hebrew does throughout the verse.

Translator’s Old Testament introduces the pluperfect (“the LORD had made”) to suggest that Yahweh had previously “made the Egyptians friendly,” and New International Version sets off the entire verse as a parenthesis. But there is nothing in the text to indicate either when or how the LORD changed the attitude of the Egyptians. It is therefore recommended that translators follow the interpretation of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation.

Moreover may be understood as “also” or “even,” so either “Moses himself” (New American Bible) or “Moreover, Moses himself” (New Revised Standard Version) is possible. The man Moses is quite literal; so the man Moses was very great is better rendered as “Moses was a very great man” (Revised English Bible), or “Moses was a man of great importance” (New Revised Standard Version), or “an important leader” (Contemporary English Version). In the land of Egypt may be omitted (see Good News Translation), since this is understood by the reference to the Egyptians.

In the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people simply states that “the officials and all the people considered Moses to be a very great man” (Good News Translation). Contemporary English Version includes the king, but the text does not allow for this.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .