complete verse (Exodus 16:19)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 16:19:

  • Kupsabiny: “Moses told those people that, ‘Let nobody keep those food for tomorrow.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Then Moses said to them, ‘No one is to keep any of it until morning’.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Moises said to them, ‘No one is-to-keep any of it for the next/following day.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “And then Moses said to them, ‘You (pl.) can’t/mustn’t set [aside] any part of it to stay until morning.’” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “Moses said to them «you shall not bread leave for tomorrow.»” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “Moses/I said to them, ‘Do not leave any of it to eat tomorrow morning!’” (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 16:19

And Moses said to them is the same form as elsewhere. Translators should feel free to change this from time to time for variety in style and according to the flow of the narrative. For example, New Jerusalem Bible has “Moses then said,” and New American Bible has “Moses also said.” One may also say “Moses told them.”

Let no man leave any of it till the morning is literally “A man will not cause to be left from it until morning.” This is a negative command. Of course, man here means both men and women; for example, “No person is to keep.” Good News Translation has “No one is to keep any of it for tomorrow.”

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 .