1When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, the Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation both use the exclusive pronoun, excluding Aaron.
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 7:40:
Uma: “They said to Harun: ‘Make for us (incl.) an idol that we can worship, so that that idol will lead us. Because we (excl.) no longer know what has happened to that Musa who led us (incl.) out of Mesir.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Then because Moses was a long time there on the mountain, they said to Harun, ‘Make gods for us (incl.) so that they will go ahead to lead us (incl.). We (incl.) do not know what has happened to Musa who brought us (incl.) out of Misil.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And they said to Aaron, the older brother of Moses, they said, ‘Make us images that can be the gods that we will follow, because as for this Moses, the one who brought us out of Egypt, we do not know where he has gone.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “When Moses was a long-time on the summit (lit. head) of that-aforementioned mountain, they said to Aaron, ‘Please make gods to lead us, because we (excl.) don’t know what happened to that Moses-(fellow) who led us in our leaving Egipto.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “That’s why they asked Aaron, saying, ‘Make images/likenesses of God, that being what will lead us in place of Moises, because we don’t know what has happened to this Moises who caused us to come out of Egipto.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 32:1:
Kupsabiny: “When the people saw that Moses was delaying in the mountain, those people gathered around Aaron and told him that, ‘Aaron, what could have happened to Moses who lead the way for us when we left Egypt? So, make for us images/idols which will be leading us.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “When the people saw that Moses coming down from the mountain was delayed, they went to Aaron and said like this, ‘for the purpose of leading us (lit. going ahead of us) make a god because we don’t know what happened to Moses who brought us out of Egypt.’ (lit. us out of Egypt having brought Moses)” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “When the people realized that a long-time-had-passed for Moises to come down from the mountain, they gathered-around Aaron and said, ‘Go-on now! Make us (excl.) god to lead us (excl.), because we (incl.) do- not -know what has-happened to this man Moises who brought- us (incl.) -out of Egipto.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Bariai: “It came about that the people saw that Moses was sitting a very long time on the mountain, and he hadn’t returned back quickly. Therefore they went and gathered to Aron and then spoke to him like this, ‘You (sing.) must make some god for us (excl.) in order to go ahead of us on our way. For Moses, the man who brought us (incl.) so that we left Isip and came, we (excl.) don’t know what thing has happened to him.’” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
Opo: “When children of Israel had seen it that Moses stayed behind mountaintop, they go gather at Aaron, say to him like this «Arise come, you shall make for us (incl.) God who will precede for us (incl.) road. Because Moses who take [this direction] us (incl.) out from Egypt, that which find him at that place, we (incl.) not it know.»” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
English: “Moses/I stayed on top of the mountain a long time. When the people realized that he/I was not returning quickly, they gathered near Aaron and said to him, ‘We do not know what has happened to that man Moses who brought us here out of Egypt. So quickly, make us an idol/a statue of a god who will lead us!’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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