complete verse (Exodus 39:23)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 39:23:

  • Kupsabiny: “(They) cut an opening in that robe to be used for entering the head when dressing and stitched something thick round that neck not to become torn quickly.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “They made a hole at the center of it, they sewed around the color keeping cloth for not to be torn.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “This clothes has hole in-the center for the head and seems has collar so it will- not -tear.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “And he left a hole in that long robe for his head to go into. And he sewed that hole with his neck’s cloth so that it became somewhat thick and so it wasn’t able to tear.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “They make its neck [so that] it be strong, and they reinforce it [so that] it not (imp.) tear.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “It had an opening through which the priest would put his head. They sewed a border around this opening, to prevent the material from tearing.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exodus 39:22-23

Verse 22 is the same as 28.31 with two exceptions: The verb He also made replaces “And you shall make.” The word woven is added here, giving the explicit information that the robe was woven. It is the same as the expression in 28.32, which literally is “work of a weaver.” But there it refers to the binding around the opening. (See the comment there.) So one may express this as “They [Bezalel and his helpers] wove the robe entirely out of blue thread.”

Verse 23 says about the same thing as 28.32, but the word order is changed. And the opening of the robe in it is literally “and the mouth of the robe in its midst.” As explained at 28.32, both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation fail to bring out the idea of “in its midst.” New Revised Standard Version now has “in the middle of it,” and Contemporary English Version has “in the center.” Like the opening in a garment, as in 28.32, is literally “like a mouth of a tachraʾ.” Since the meaning of tachraʾ is uncertain, there are various ways to translate it in context. (See the comment there.)

With a binding around the opening, literally “a lip for its mouth all around,” refers to the “binding” around the “hole for the head” (Good News Translation). Others have “band” (New International Version), “oversewn edge” (Revised English Bible), and “selvage” (New American Bible). Good News Translation calls it “a woven binding” as in 28.32, but that is not what the text says here. The Hebrew for “woven,” literally “work of a weaver,” is here placed in verse 22 in reference to the robe itself. Therefore Good News Translation‘s adjustment to conform with 28.31-32 is not recommended. Contemporary English Version‘s model will be helpful for many translators: “The material around the collar was bound so as to keep it from raveling.”

That it might not be torn, literally “it will not be torn,” is identical with the phrase in 28.32.

An alternative translation model for verse 23 is:

• They shall make an opening in the center of it for the [or, his] head, and sew a special edging around the opening to keep it from tearing.
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 .