horns

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated in English as “horns (of the altar)” is translated in the French common language editions (1997 and 2019) as angles relevés or “raised angles” and in the Parole de Vie of 2017 as coins relevés or “raised corners.”

In the Arabic TMA translation it is translated as hayth tjllyat Allah (حيث تجلّيات الله) or “where God’s manifestation are” and in the Hausa Common Language Bible as “corners (of the altar).” (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

cubit

The Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek that is translated as “cubit” or into a metric or imperial measurement in English is translated in Kutu, Kwere, and Nyamwezi as makono or “armlength.” Since a cubit is the measurement from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, one armlength (measured from the center of the chest to the fingertips) equals two cubits or roughly 1 meter. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

Similarly, in Akoose, the translation is “arm distance.” (Source: Joseph Nkwelle Ngome and Marlie van Rooyen & Jacobus A. Naudé in Communicatio 2009, p. 251ff.)

In Klao it is converted into “hand spans” (app. 6 inches or 12 cm) and “finger spans” (app. 1 inch or 2 cm) (source: Don Slager) and in Bariai into leoa or “fathom,” which comprises the distance from a person’s fingertip to fingertip with arms outstretched, app. 6 feet (source: Bariai Back Translation).

distance (long / wide / high)

The concepts of distance that are translated in English with “long,” “wide,” and “high/tall” are translated in Kwere with one word: utali. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

complete verse (Exodus 30:2)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 30:2:

  • Kupsabiny: “All the four sides should be equal. Each side should be one and a half feet and three feet high. Those things like horns should be made to be one thing with the altar.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “it must be a cubit long, a cubit wide two cubits high and square. Its horns and altar must be of same piece of wood.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “It must be square — 18 inches long and wide, and three feet high. It must have things-like-horns on the corners which are- already -formed along with the altar when it is-made.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “This table’s length and its width will turn out the same and extend to 18 inches (lit. the bending of our[incl] elbow). And its height will extend to 36 inches (lit. to our chest). And on the four corners of the table’s top, hew things which look like bulmakao’s horns. And make the table’s top together with its horns from one piece of akas wood.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “They must carve for it horn four on its corners. They must build it as square so that its width, let it be joint of hand one, and its length, let it be joint of hand two.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “It is to be square, 18 in./45 cm. on each side. It is to be 3 feet/90 cm. high. Tell them to make a projection that looks like a horn on each of the top corners. The projections must be carved from the same block of wood that the altar is made from.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exod 30:2

A cubit shall be its length … its breadth means that it was to be about “18 inches long and 18 inches wide” (Good News Translation). That is about “45 centimeters” square. (Cubit is explained at 25.10.) It shall be square uses the same word as 28.16. Good News Translation places this first and then gives the dimensions. One may also simply say “It shall be eighteen inches square.” And two cubits shall be its height is literally “and double-cubit its height.” The word for height comes from the word for “stand up.”

Its horns refers to the horn-like “projections at the four corners” (Good News Translation). (Horns are discussed at 27.2.) Shall be of one piece with it means that they were to be carved from the same piece of wood as the sides (or top) of the altar. As in the case of the altar of burnt offering, they were not to be made separately and then attached to it. This was also a requirement for the cherubim on top of the pure gold cover for the Covenant Box (25.19). Contemporary English Version has “make each of its four corners stick up like the horn of a bull.” This is a helpful model, but the reference to the horns being of one piece with it is not made explicit. So one may say “The four corners at the top should be carved from the same piece of wood and should stick up like the horns of a bull.”

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 .