leaven

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “leaven” (or “yeast”) in English is translated in Tzotzil as “the thing that swells the stomach of bread” and in Mairasi “bread cooking ingredient” (source: Enggavoter 2004)

In the occurrences in Mark 8:15 it is translated in Wantoat as “salt.” (Source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.)

See also leaven (1Cor 5:6).

fat, oil

The different Hebrew and Greek terms that are translated as “(olive) oil” and “(animal) fat” in English are translated in Kwere with only one term: mavuta. (Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

complete verse (Exodus 23:18)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 23:18:

  • Kupsabiny: “Do (plur.) not give me bread which has risen when you are making an animal sacrifice for me. Never leave till morning any animal fat which you are using to make sacrifice for me.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with bread made with yeast.’ The fat of my festival offering must not be kept until morning.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “[You (plur.)] do- not -offer blood to me together-with bread that has that which-causes-to-expand (in it). The fat of the animal that you (plur.) offered to me during the feast, [you (plur.)] do- not -leave-(it) until-morning.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “‘You can’t/mustn’t offer any animal to me together with food which has yis.
    ‘In these feasts, you can’t/mustn’t set [aside] the fat of any offering animal to remain until morning.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “When you will give me blood sacrifice on altar, you (sing., imp.) not (imp.) it give with bread which had yeast together.
    On holiday, animal which you will burn with fire on altar, its fat let it not (imp.) for tomorrow be present.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “When you sacrifice an animal and offer it to me, you must not offer bread that has been baked with yeast. When you offer sacrifices, burn the fat from the animals on that same day. Do not allow any fat to remain until the next morning.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.

Translation commentary on Exod 23:18

Verses 18-19 add four more laws that are not directly related to the preceding verses, but they deal with the proper way to present offerings to God. Yahweh is still speaking. You shall not offer is the categorical form of law, using the singular you. Offer is from the same word as sacrifice in the blood of my sacrifice. Its basic meaning is to slaughter, but here it means to present to the LORD an animal that has been slaughtered. (See the comment on “sacrifice” at 3.18b.)

The blood of my sacrifice is quite literal and unclear. My sacrifice, of course, refers to the animal that is slaughtered and offered to Yahweh according to the proper ritual. The blood of the animal was the most important part, and it had to be disposed of properly. (See, for example, Lev 1.5, 11, 15, and elsewhere.) So Good News Translation‘s “when you sacrifice an animal to me” is not recommended, since it makes no mention of the blood. A better model is “when you sacrifice an animal and offer its blood to me….”

Leavened bread was bread (or any other food) made with yeast. New Revised Standard Version has “anything leavened,” and New International Version has “anything containing yeast.” (See the comment on unleavened bread at 12.15.) It was permitted for some sacrifices (see Lev 7.13 and 23.17), but it was never to be burned on the altar. For most sacrifices only unleavened bread was used, possibly because the leaven represented the vital force of the vegetable world, just as blood represented the vital force of the animal world. The preposition with may also mean “when” or “in addition to.” Translator’s Old Testament has “together with,” and Revised English Bible has “at the same time as.” An alternative model for the first part of this verse is “Do not offer bread made with yeast when you slaughter an animal and offer its blood to me.”

Or let the fat of my feast remain is literally “and the fat of my feast will not remain.” The fat was the suet, or hard fat around the kidneys and loins of the animal. It was never eaten but had to be burned as an offering to God. (See Lev 3.15-17; 7.23-24.) My feast uses the same word for pilgrim festival as in verses 14-16. It refers to “the animals sacrificed to me during these festivals” (Good News Translation). Until the morning means that the fat had to be completely burned before the following morning. An alternative model is the following: “Make sure that you burn all the fat of that animal the same day” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

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 .