9“In any case of disputed ownership involving ox, donkey, sheep, clothing, or any other loss, of which one party says, ‘This is mine,’ the case of both parties shall come before God; the one whom God condemns shall pay double to the other.
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “neighbor” in English is rendered into Babatana as “different man,” i.e. someone who is not one of your relatives. (Source: David Clark)
In North Alaskan Inupiatun, it is rendered as “a person outside of your building,” in Tzeltal as “your back and side” (implying position of the dwellings), in Indonesian and in Tae’ as “your fellow-man,” in Toraja-Sa’dan it is “your fellow earth-dweller,” in Shona (translation of 1966) as “another person like you,” in Kekchí “younger-brother-older-brother” (a compound which means all one’s neighbors in a community) (sources: Bratcher / Nida and Reiling / Swellengrebel), in Mairasi “your people” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Mezquital Otomi as “fellow being,” in Tzeltal as “companion,” in Isthmus Zapotec as “another,” in Teutila Cuicatec as “all people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), and in most modern German translations as Mitmensch or “fellow human being” (lit. “with + human being”).
In Matt 19:19, Matt 22:39, Mark 12:31, Mark 12:33, Luke 10:27, Luke 10:29 it is translated into Ixcatlán Mazatec with a term that refers to a person who is socially/physically near. Ixcatlán Mazatec also has a another term for “neighbor” that means “fellow humans-outsiders” which was not chosen for these passages. (Source: Robert Bascom)
In Noongar it is translated as moorta-boordak or “people nearby” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
“Sheep are known throughout most of the world, even though, as in Central Africa, they are a far cry from the fleecy wool-producing animals of colder climates. Where such animals are known, even by seemingly strange names, e.g. ‘cotton deer’ (Yucateco) or ‘woolly goat’ (Inupiaq), such names should be used. In some instances, one may wish to borrow a name and use a classifier, e.g. ‘an animal called sheep’. In still other instances translators have used ‘animal which produces wool’, for though people are not acquainted with the animals they are familiar with wool.” (Source: Bratcher / Nida)
In Dëne Súline, it is usually translated as “an evil little caribou.” To avoid the negative connotation, a loan word from the neighboring South Slavey was used. (Source: NCEM, p. 70)
Note that the often-alleged Inuktitut translation of “sheep” with “seal” is an urban myth (source Nida 1947, p. 136).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 22:9:
Kupsabiny: “If two people quarrel and claim ownership of cows, donkeys, sheep, clothes or anything that got lost, (they) should present those issues before God. And if God reveals that (he/one) is guilty, (he) will pay to the other one twice.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “In every case in which an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any other lost property about which both parties say ‘this is mine, then both parties are to bring their cases before the judges. The one whom the judges declare guilty must pay back double to his neighbor.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “‘For-example, there-are two people who are-arguing as to who is among them the owner of a property like a cow, donkey, sheep, cloth/garment, or whatever thing, they should bring their case to the presence of God. The one who has-sinned according to the decision of God will-pay double to the owner.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Bariai: “And if two people argue about something like a bulmakao, or a donki, or a sipsip, or a change of clothes, or anything else, and so the two of them are insistent with talk and so say, ‘This is mine,’ then the two of them will go stand in the presence of the people who straighten disputes. If the people who straighten disputes say that one among the two of them is lying, that man must pay back two-each to that fellow companion of his.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
Opo: “If two people will quarrel [mouth] about household things, cow or donkey or sheep/goats or clothes or that which be lost which a man says that be his own, let them go in front of God together. And one who God show that he sin, he must give the other it for two.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
English: “If two people argue about which one of them owns a bull or a donkey or a sheep or some clothing, or something else that has been lost, the two people who each claim/say that the item belongs to them must stand before the judges. The one whom the judges declare is lying must pay back to the real owner twice as many bulls or donkeys or sheep or pieces of clothing.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “donkey” in English was translated in the 1900 Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) translation (a newer version was published in 2000) as siutitôĸ or “‘something with big ears.” “[This] is based on the word siut ‘ear’ combined with the same suffix –tôĸ (-tooq).” (Source: Lily Kahn & Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi in The Bible Translator 2019, p. 125ff.)
These Hebrew and Greek words (with the exception of pōlos and hupozugion — see discussion below) all definitely refer to the Domestic Donkey equus asinus. However the different words do have slight semantic differences among them.
Chamor and onos are the generic words for donkey while ’athon (feminine gender) refers specifically to a saddle donkey or a donkey used for riding. A saddle donkey is usually a large strong female donkey the males are too difficult to control when they are near a female in heat. The Hebrew word is derived from a root that means “strong”.
‘Ayir refers to the young male or jack donkey (probably with an emphasis on its liveliness and the difficulty in controlling it since the Hebrew root means something like “frisky”).
Onarion means a young donkey of either sex. Some languages will have a special word for a young donkey. This will be appropriate for translating onarion.
The word hupozugion often translated “donkey,” actually indicates any beast of burden. Walter Bauer, the famous German New Testament scholar, has argued very convincingly that the animal referred to in Matthew 21:5 in the expression epi pōlon huion hupozugiou is the foal of a horse not a donkey (1953:220-229). In some languages it will be possible to express this in a way that does not designate a specific species of animal`, as in “beast of burden.”
Pōlos usually refers to a foal, that is a young horse, unless a word for donkey follows.
Donkeys are domestic animals belonging to the same family as the horse, but they are smaller and have longer ears. The donkey bred and used in the Middle East is the domesticated Nubian or Somali Wild Ass Equus Asinus africanus. In its original wild state this was a gray ass with pale, whitish belly and dark rings on the lower part of the legs. It was domesticated in Egypt as early as 2500 B.C. In its domesticated version, as a result of interbreeding with donkeys from Europe and Persia, the donkey came to be a variety of colors from dark brown, through light brown to the original gray and occasionally white. The Hebrew chamor comes from a root meaning “reddish brown.”
Donkeys are good pack animals being able to carry as much as the larger mule without the latter’s unpredictable moods. They also have great stamina and are easy to feed since they eat almost any available vegetation. Larger individual animals (usually females) are also often used for riding.
Donkeys were highly prized in biblical times especially females since they were suitable for packing and riding and had the potential for producing offspring. Donkeys were seen as man’s best friend in the animal kingdom. They were the common man’s means of transport and many ordinary families owned a donkey. They were used for plowing and for turning large millstones as well as a means of transport.
Today domestic donkeys are found all over savannah Africa the Middle East South and Central Asia Europe Latin America and Australia. They do not seem to be reared in rain forest or monsoon areas but they are nevertheless often known in these areas.
A donkey was considered to be a basic domestic requirement and thus the number of donkeys available was a means of measuring the relative prosperity of a society at any given time. While only powerful political or military people rode horses (which were usually owned by the state) the common people rode donkeys. This is the significance of the passage in Zechariah 9:9: the victorious king would return to the city riding a donkey thus identifying himself as a common Israelite rather than a victorious warlord.
In the majority of languages there is a local or a borrowed word for donkey. This is the obvious choice. In areas of Southeast Asia, Papua New Guinea, West Africa, and other places, where donkeys are rare or unknown, the word from the dominant major language or trade language (for example, English, Spanish, French, Chinese, or Arabic) is often transliterated.
In most contexts ’athon should be translated by the equivalent of “female” donkey, but in some contexts riding donkey is better.
‘Ayir should be translated according to the specific context. In Genesis 32:15 the translation should definitely be the equivalent of “male donkey”, and probably also in Judges 10:4 and Judges 12:14. The significance of these latter passages is that female donkeys were the more normal choice of mount.
In Job 11:12 the emphasis is probably on the friskiness of the donkey, and the translation should be the equivalent of “He ties his young donkey to a grapevine, his frisky young ass to the best of the vines” (indicating a certain amount of irresponsibility, and perhaps extravagance).
In Job 11:12 and Zechariah 9:9 the obvious emphasis is on the youth of the donkey, so the equivalent of “colt”, “foal”, “young donkey”, and so on should be used.
This verse is probably an extension of the law in verses 7 and 8, even though Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation set it off as a new paragraph. It does not follow the usual casuistic form of “If … then.” For every breach of trust therefore may be understood to refer back to the situation in verse 7, where someone entrusts some of his possessions to another for safekeeping. Literally the text says “upon every matter (davar) of revolt,” which American Standard Version translates as “For every matter of trespass.” In this context, however, it means “a dispute about property” (Good News Translation). One may also express this as “In every case where two people claim to own the same property.”
Whether it is for ox, for ass, for … begins a list of different kinds of “property,” each item connected by the preposition for, meaning “over” or “concerning.” For ox and ass see the comment at 21.33. Sheep translates the word for a “flock-animal” (Durham), meaning either a sheep or a goat. Clothing refers to a mantle or a garment. This same word is used in 22.26. Or for any kind of lost thing is literally “over any lost [thing],” with the word thing understood. New Revised Standard Version has “or any other loss,” and Good News Translation has “or any other lost object.”
Of which one says, ‘This is it’ is literally “which he will say indeed it [is] this.” New Revised Standard Version now has “of which one party says, ‘This is mine.’ ” New American Bible has “where another claims that the thing is his,” and Translator’s Old Testament, “which each of them claims to be his.” The situation seems to be that the owner mentioned in verse 7 has returned to claim what he had entrusted to his neighbor, but the neighbor now insists that it is his own “property” (Good News Translation).
The case of both parties, literally “the matter [davar] of the two of them,” is the subject of the verb phrase, shall come before God. Since a case, in some languages, cannot come by itself, it may be changed to the passive: “the dispute shall be brought to God” (Translator’s Old Testament). New American Bible avoids the passive, “both parties shall present their case before God,” and New International Version has “both parties are to bring their cases before the judges.” (See the comment on the previous verse.)
He whom God shall condemn has the Hebrew verb for “declare” in the plural. This is unusual even though the word ʾelohim is plural in form. In most cases where ʾelohim clearly refers to God, the verb is singular. So New International Version and Contemporary English Version have “the judges” deciding the case (so also King James Version, New American Standard Bible). New Jerusalem Bible has “the party whom God pronounces guilty,” and Revised English Bible has “the one whom God declares to be in the wrong.” In languages that must use direct speech with a declarative verb, one may say, for example, “The person to whom God says, ‘You are guilty,’ must pay….” Shall pay double to his neighbor means that he “must make twofold restitution to the other” (New American Bible).
Alternative translation models for this verse are:
• In every case where two people claim to own the same ox, donkey, sheep, or clothing, or any other lost object, they shall take the two claimants to the place where people worship God. There the one whom God declares to be guilty shall pay double to the other one.
• … Then the judges must decide the case, and whomever they declare guilty must pay double to the other person.
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 .
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