priest

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that are typically translated as “priest” in English (itself deriving from Latin “presbyter” — “elder”) is often translated with a consideration of existing religious traditions. (Click or tap for details)

Bratcher / Nida (1961) say this:

“However, rather than borrow local names for priests, some of which have unwanted connotations, a number of translations have employed descriptive phrases based on certain functions: (1) those describing a ceremonial activity: Pamona uses tadu, the priestess who recites the litanies in which she describes her journey to the upper or under-world to fetch life-spirit for sick people, animals or plants; Batak Toba uses the Arabic malim, ‘Muslim religious teacher;’ ‘one who presents man’s sacrifice to God’ (Bambara, Eastern Maninkakan), ‘one who presents sacrifices’ (Baoulé, Navajo (Dinė)), ‘one who takes the name of the sacrifice’ (Kpelle, and ‘to make a sacrifice go out’ (Hausa); (2) those describing an intermediary function: ‘one who speaks to God’ (Shipibo-Conibo) and ‘spokesman of the people before God’ (Tabasco Chontal).”

In Obolo it is translated as ogwu ngwugwa or “the one who offers sacrifice” (source: Enene Enene), in Mairasi as agam aevar nevwerai: “religious leader” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Ignaciano as “blesser, one who does ritual as a practice” (using a generic term rather than the otherwise common Spanish loan word sacerdote) (source: Willis Ott in Notes on Translation 88/1982, p. 18ff.), and in Noongar as yakin-kooranyi or “holy worker” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

For Guhu-Samane, Ernest Richert (in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. ) reports this: “The [local] cult of Poro used to be an all-encompassing religious system that essentially governed all areas of life. (…) For ‘priest’ the term ‘poro father’ would at first seem to be a natural choice. However, several priests of the old cult are still living. Although they no longer function primarily as priests of the old system they still have a substantial influence on the community, and there would be more than a chance that the unqualified term would (in some contexts particularly) be equated with the priest of the poro cult. We learned, then, that the poro fathers would sometimes be called ‘knife men’ in relation to their sacrificial work. The panel was pleased to apply this term to the Jewish priest, and the Christian community has adopted it fully. [Mark 1:44, for instance, now] reads: ‘You must definitely not tell any man of this. But you go show your body to the knife man and do what Moses said about a sacrifice concerning your being healed, and the cause (base of this) will be apparent.'”

For a revision of the 1968 version of the Bible in Khmer Joseph Hong (in: The Bible Translator 1996, 233ff. ) talks about a change in wording for this term:

​​Bau cha r (បូជា‌ចារ្យ) — The use of this new construction meaning “priest” is maintained to translate the Greek word hiereus. The term “mean sang (មាន សង្ឃ)” used in the old version actually means a “Buddhist monk,” and is felt to be theologically misleading. The Khmer considers the Buddhist monk as a “paddy field of merits,” a reserve of merits to be shared with other people. So a Khmer reader would find unthinkable that the mean sang in the Bible killed animals, the gravest sin for a Buddhist; and what a scandal it would be to say that a mean sang was married, had children, and drank wine.

See also idolatrous priests.

Ezra

The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is transliterated as “Ezra” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “scribe” referring to Ezra’s profession. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


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

In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with a sign that depicts the return from Babylon to Jerusalem and toward God.


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

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

More information on Ezra .

complete verse (Ezra 10:10)

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

  • Kupsabiny: “And thereafter, Ezra the priest stood up and said, ‘You have sinned against God because you married foreign women and you added/increased the sin of Israel.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, "By marrying foreign women you have committed an offence. And by doing this the guilt of Israel has increased.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Then Ezra the priest stood-up and said to them, ‘You (plur.) have-sinned for you (plur.) took-a-wife from the not Israelinhon. Therefore you (plur.) added even more the sin of the Israel.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Then I stood up and said to them, ‘Some of you men have committed a very bad sin. You have married women who are not Israelis. By doing that, you have made us Israeli people more guilty than we were before.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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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 choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

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

Translation commentary on Ezra 10:10

The speech of Ezra here in verses 10-11 makes the same points and incorporates vocabulary that has been used in this chapter and the preceding one (9.1, 12; 10.2, 3):
1) the people had broken the Law by marrying foreign women,
2) they had increased the guilt of Israel, so
3) they must make confession,
4) they must do God’s will, and
5) they must separate from the peoples of the lands and from the foreign wives.

And Ezra the priest stood up: Ezra is introduced into the narrative according to his function within the Jewish community (see Ezra 7.11), and his action is marked by the gesture of standing up to address the people. The scene is dramatic and formal and should be so presented in the translation.

And said to them, “You have trespassed: The words of Ezra are given as a direct quotation and they begin with the independent second person plural pronoun You. Chouraqui expresses the dramatic accusation of Ezra as “You you have rebelled,” but most versions fail to reflect the emphasis of the Hebrew pronoun. In languages where an independent pronoun can achieve similar emphasis as in Hebrew, it should be used.

Trespassed is an archaic English word that means “to break a law” or “to sin.” In verse 2 above, the same Hebrew word is translated “broken faith.” Ezra repeats what Shecaniah had said. Good News Translation has “You have been faithless,” and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible says “You have been unfaithful.”

Married foreign women: The same expression is used here as was used in Shecaniah’s confession. See the comments on verse 2 above.

Increased the guilt of Israel: Four times Ezra had mentioned guilt in his prayer. He spoke of the height of their guilt (9.6), twice he referred to the size of their guilt (9.7,13), and he mentioned their presence before God in their guilt (9.15). Here he says that by their actions they have “made the guilt of Israel grow bigger” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible) or they have “added to the guilt of Israel” (Chouraqui, Darby, New Jerusalem Bible). In some languages this may be expressed “you have increased the words upon the head of the people of Israel.”

Hebrew links the first two parts of Ezra’s opening sentence with the connective conjunction. The third part of the sentence is brought in by an infinitive construction. Literally the whole sentence reads “You trespassed and married foreign women to add to the guilt of Israel.” Revised Standard Version retains the first and from the Hebrew text but restructures the end of the sentence by introducing it with the conjunction and adverb and so. Good News Translation restructures the entire sentence to show the meaning of the three parts in relationship to each other. More explicitly, it can be rendered “You have been unfaithful to God by marrying foreign women and have thus made the guilt of the people of Israel greater than before.”

Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Ezra. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .