cherub

Some key biblical terms that were directly transliterated from the Hebrew have ended up with unforeseen meanings in the lexicons of various recipient languages.

Take, for example, the English word “cherub,” from Hebrew “kĕrȗb.” Whereas the original Hebrew term meant something like “angelic being that is represented as part human, part animal” (…), the English word now means something like “a person, especially a child, with an innocent or chubby face.” Semantic shift has been conditioned in English by the Renaissance artistic tradition that portrayed cherubim in the guise of cute little Greek cupids. This development was of course impossible to foresee at the time when the first English translations borrowed this Hebrew word into the English Bible tradition, following the pattern of borrowing set by the Greek and Latin translations of the Old Testament.

In Russian, the semantic shift of this transliteration was somewhat different: the -îm ending of “kĕrūbîm,” originally signifying plurality in Hebrew, has been reanalyzed as merely the final part of the lexical item, so that the term херувим (kheruvim) in Russian is a singular count noun, not a plural one. (A similar degrammaticalization is seen in English writers who render the Hebrew plural kĕrūbîm as “cherubims.”) Apparently, this degrammaticalization of the Hebrew ending is what led the Russian Synodal translator of Genesis 3:24 to mistakenly render the Hebrew as saying that the Lord God placed a kheruvim (accusative masculine singular in Russian) to the east of the garden of Eden, instead of indicating a plural number of such beings. (Source: Vitaly Voinov in The Bible Translator 2012, p. 17ff. )

In Ngäbere the Hebrew that is translated in English as “cherub” is translated as “heavenly guard” (source: J. Loewen 1980, p. 107), in Nyamwezi as v’amalaika v’akelubi or “Cherubim-Angel” to add clarity, in Vidunda as “winged creature,” in Makonde as “winged creature from heaven” (source for this and two before: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext), in Bura-Pabir as “good spirit with wings,” and in Northern Pashto it is either translated as “heavenly creature” (Afghan Pashto Bible, publ. 2023) or “winged creature” (Holy Bible in Pakistani [Yousafzai] Pashto, publ. 2020) (source for Bura-Pabir and Northern Pashto: Andy Warren-Rothlin).

In French Sign Language it is translated with a sign that combines “angel” and “spinning sword” (referring to Genesis 3:24):


“Cherub” in French Sign Language (source: La Bible en langue des signes française )

See also seraph and ark of the covenant.

complete verse (Ezekiel 10:15)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 10:15:

  • Kupsabiny: “Then those cherubs moved up and flew. Those cherubs were like those animals I had seen there at the side of river Kebar.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Then the cherubim rose-upward. These were the living creatures that I saw at the River Kebar.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Then the winged creatures rose up. They were the same living creatures that I had seen alongside the Kebar River/Canal.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 10:15

And the cherubim mounted up: Good News Translation takes this clause to be part of Ezekiel’s general description of the way in which the living creatures and the wheels moved (similar to 1.17-21). Since in Hebrew it is not a temporal clause (so Good News Translation), but an independent one, it is better to take it as describing what Ezekiel saw in his vision; for example, New International Version has “Then the cherubim rose upward.” Ezekiel does not say where the cherubim were going, but if translators need to specify it, we can assume that they went from where they were standing on the south side of the Temple (see Ezek 10.3) toward the entrance of the Temple (see verse 18). However, for most languages it will be enough to say “Then the cherubim rose up from where they were.”

These were the living creatures that I saw by the river Chebar: As soon as the creatures rose up from the ground, Ezekiel was able to recognize that, despite the differences he had already described, they were the same creatures as those he had seen earlier. For the river Chebar, see the comments on 1.1. This phrase is better rendered “the Chebar Canal” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh).

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .