complete verse (Exodus 18:20)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 18:20:

  • Kupsabiny: “and it is necessary that you teach them the laws of God and also show how they should stay/live and the things they should do.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Teach them the decrees and laws of God and show them the way they are to go and the duties they are to perform.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Continue also your (sing.) teaching to them of the laws and regulations of God. Teach them how to-live and what they should-do.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “You will teach them God’s laws, and teach them about which way is good for them to follow and what work is good for them to be doing.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “you will also teach people Word of God with that which he put down. you will show them living which God wants they might live with it, and work which he wants they might do.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “You should also teach the people what God has commanded and instructed you. You should also explain to them how they should conduct their lives, and the things that they should do.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exod 18:20

And you shall teach them uses a word that means to warn, to “enlighten” (New American Bible), or to “enjoin” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). One may also say “You must help them to know.” The statutes and the decisions uses the same words as verse 16, but here the idea that they are “God’s commands” (Good News Translation) is only implied. And make them know the way in which they must walk is literally “and you will cause them to know the way they will walk in it.” This is an expression that means “how they should behave” (Translator’s Old Testament), or “how they should live” (Good News Translation). In many languages the metaphor of “walking” will be appropriate; for example, “You must explain to them how they should walk their lives” (THCL). And what they must do is literally “and the work that they will make,” or “the doing that they will do.” New Revised Standard Version has “the things they are to do.”

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 .