courtyards

The Hebrew in Exodus 8:13 that is translated as “courtyards” or similar in English is translated in Elhomwe as vaatte or “around the houses.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

complete verse (Exodus 8:13)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 8:13:

  • Kupsabiny: “God did as Moses had prayed/requested/asked. The frogs in the houses, homes and those in the fields died.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “The Lord did what Moses asked. And the frogs in the houses, courtyard and in the field died.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “And the LORD fulfilled what Moises requested/asked-for. The frogs died in the houses, in the yards, and in the fields.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “Therefore Chief God did as Moses asked him about. And so the frogs were dying in the houses and in the centre of the village and in the garden also.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “And The Lord heard that which Moses said. Frog which be present house, and inside of fence, and field, it died all.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “And Yahweh did just what Moses/I asked him to do. As a result, all the frogs in the houses, in their courtyards, and in the fields died.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Moses

The name that is transliterated as “Moses” in English is signed in Spanish Sign Language and Polish Sign Language in accordance with the depiction of Moses in the famous statue by Michelangelo (see here ). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )


“Moses” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here ).

In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:


“Moses” in French Sign Language (source )

The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).

In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).


“Moses” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the eye make up he would have worn as the adopted son of an Egyptian princess. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)


“Moses” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL

In Estonian Sign Language Moses is depicted with a big beard. (Source: Liina Paales in Folklore 47, 2011, p. 43ff. )


“Moses” in Estonian Sign Language, source: Glossary of the EKNK Toompea kogudus

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Moses .

Honorary "are" construct denoting God (“do/make”)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, s-are-ru (される) or “do/make” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Exod 8:13

The LORD did according to the word of Moses means that “Yahweh granted Moses’ prayer” (Jerusalem Bible), or “The Lord heard his prayer” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). The And at the beginning of the verse is only a connective word that may be omitted, or translated as “Then” or “So.” The following clause describes how the LORD removed the frogs.

The frogs died out of the houses suggests the frogs were still in the houses when they died. Good News Translation, on the other hand, simply describes which frogs were the ones that died without indicating where they were when they died: “the frogs in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields died” (Good News Translation). Contemporary English Version has “frogs died everywhere—in houses, yards, and fields.” Probably the frogs normally living along the Nile River did not die.

Literally the Hebrew says “the frogs died from the houses, from the courtyards, and from the fields.” The preposition here rendered “from” usually means “out of” or “away from,” and so some traditional translations have suggested that the frogs actually left the houses before they died (King James Version, American Standard Version). One recent translation even emphasizes this idea: “the frogs died away from the houses, the courtyards, and the fields” (Childs). But the same preposition is repeated with the courtyards and with the fields. This would limit the places where the frogs could gather before dying, and verse 14 suggests that many of them actually died in the fields. It is better therefore to follow Good News Translation and leave unanswered the question where the frogs were when they died.

The courtyards were open spaces within a permanent settlement or village, usually with walls or buildings around them. Some of them were on private property, such as the open courtyard of the king’s palace. The fields were the larger areas outside the villages, the open countryside.

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 .