complete verse (Exodus 16:21)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 16:21:

  • Kupsabiny: “(The) people went out very early in the morning to collect enough. When the sun became hot, the food melted completely.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “In the morning all of them gathered as much as they needed when the sun became hot, the leftover food melted away.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Every morning each one gathered according to his/her needs. And when it became-hot, the food they had- not -taken melted-away.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “In the morning each and every day, all the people gathered that food so that it was sufficient for them. But when[ever] the sun [would] arise and so the place became hot, whatever food remained on the ground still, that’s what the sun cooked and it disappeared.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “By day in the morning in the morning, a man gathers that which is enough with his family. When sun be hot, any which they not [body] gathered, it dissolved.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “Each morning they gathered as much as they needed. But later, when the sun got hot, what was left on the ground melted.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exod 16:21

Morning by morning means “every morning,” or “every day when the sun rose.” They gathered it means they collected the manna from the ground. Each as much as he could eat, or better, “as much as he needed” (Good News Translation). (See the comment at verse 16.)

But when the sun grew hot means, of course, “when the sun heated it” (Durham), for although the sun is always hot, its rays do not hit the ground directly until well after sunrise. Only when the sun had risen fairly high in the sky would the rays have hit the manna directly and melted it. So one may translate “when the sun rose high in the sky, it melted.” It melted refers to “what was left on the ground” (Good News Translation), for what was collected would have been protected from the sun.

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 .