6Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. And the two of them walked on together.
The Greek terms that are translated uniformly as “sacrifice” or “offering” in English have the option of various terms in Luang with different shades of meaning.
For Acts 24:17, himima-rere’a (“holding two hands out”). “The focus of this term is on the gift being given by a person of lower position to a person of higher position.”
For Acts 21:26, hniurliwtu-nwali odawa (“pour out sweat [and] turn into sweaty smell”). “The focus is on the personal cost of the sacrifice.”
For Gen. 22:2-8 and Gen. 22:13, hopopa-hegeuru (“peace sign”). “The focus is on the animal or object being sacrificed, as in the story of the sacrifice of Isaac. This term was used throughout that whole chapter. This term is also used in verses that speak of Jesus as the sacrifice for our sins.”
For Acts 15:29, hoi-tani (“serve with right hand – serve with left”). “This term is used in referring to sacrifices or worship offered to idols or pagan gods.”
Source: Kathy Taber in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 9-16.
The Hebrew olah (עֹלָה) originally means “that which goes up (in smoke).” English Bibles often translates it as “burnt-offering” or “whole burnt-offering,” focusing on the aspect of the complete burning of the offering.
The GreekSeptuagint and the LatinVulgate Bibles translate it as holokautōma / holocautōsis (ὁλοκαύτωμα / ὁλοκαύτωσις) and holocaustum, respectively, meaning “wholly burnt.” While a form of this term is widely used in many Romance languages (Spanish: holocaustos, French: holocaustes, Italian: olocausti, Portuguese: holocaustos) and originally also in the Catholic tradition of English Bible translations, it is largely not used in English anymore today (the preface of the revised edition of the Catholic New American Bible of 2011: “There have been changes in vocabulary; for example, the term ‘holocaust’ is now normally reserved for the sacrilegious attempt to destroy the Jewish people by the Third Reich.”)
Since translation into Georgian was traditionally done on the basis of the Greek Septuagint, a transliteration of holokautōma was used as well, which was changed to a translation with the meaning of “burnt offering” when the Old Testament was retranslated in the 1980’s on the basis of the Hebrew text.
In the Koongo (Ki-manianga) translation by the Alliance Biblique de la R.D. Congo (publ. in 2015) olah is translated as “kill and offer sacrifice” (source: Anicet Bassilua) and in Elhomwe as “fire offering.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
The English translation of Everett Fox uses offering-up (similarly, the German translation by Buber-Rosenzweig has Darhöhung and the French translation by Chouraqui montée).
The name that is transliterated as “Isaac” in English is signed in Spanish Sign Language and French Sign Language with a sign that is linked to his mother’s laughter when she hears that she will be pregnant with him (referring to Genesis 18:12 – 18:15) and also is the meaning of the Hebrew “Isaac” (Yitschaq — “he laughs”):
The name that is transliterated as “Abraham” in English is translated in the vast majority of sign languages, including American Sign Language with the sign signifying “hold back arm” (referring to Genesis 22:12).
In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with a sign for that demonstrates his new destiny. Previously, he had been called to wander from his home, and the name “Abram” reflected this movement (see here). The new sign name is in one location and stays there, showing Abraham will be given a land to call his own. At this time, Abraham was in the southern part of Canaan, which is shown on the base arm by the location near the elbow. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)
“Abraham” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL
In Tira it is transliterated as Abaram. The choice of this, rather than the widely-known “Ibrahim,” as used in the Tira translation of the Qu’ran, was to offset it against the Muslim transliteration which originates from Arabic. (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )
Click or tap here to see two short video clips about Abraham (source: Bible Lands 2012)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 22:6:
Kankanaey: “So then Abraham took the wood that he would use-to-burn the offering and he had- Isaac -carry-it-on-his-shoulder. He also took something-to-use-for-starting fire and his bolo and they two left. When they were walking then,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Newari: “Abraham put the wood for offering the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulder, he himself took the fire and the knife. Then the two of them went together.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Abraham had- Isaac -carry-on-his-shoulder the wood as firewood for the offering, and he was-the-one-who-carried the long-knife and something-to-start-up-the-flame/fire.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Beli: Abraham took the wood of the fire for burning an offering, and put it on his son Isaac to carry ….” (Source: Tim Stirtz and Mike Cahill in Watters / de Blois 2023, p. 422)
English: “Then Abraham took the wood to kindle a fire for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, for him to carry. Abraham carried in his hand a pan containing burning coals to start a fire, and a knife, and the two of them walked along together.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Wood of the burnt offering: that is, “the wood to be used for the fire of the burned offering” or “the wood to burn the sacrifice.”
Laid it on Isaac: the Hebrew verb does not indicate the place nor the manner in which the wood is placed on Isaac. However, many languages have special verbs for carrying or loading water, wood, and other burdens. In some languages it may be necessary to indicate that the wood was laid on Isaac’s head, shoulder, or back. A number of translations prefer to express laid it on as “gave it to Isaac to carry” or “made his son carry it.”
Took in his hand the fire: the translation should not give a picture of Abraham carrying a blazing fire in his bare hand. The picture is probably that of carrying a container of coals or embers from the last camp fire, or of carrying a fire stone and flint with which to make a fire. Note Good News Translation “live coals for starting a fire,” and Bible en français courant “coals for the fire.” Other translations have “glowing charcoal to make fire” and “a bucket of live charcoal.”
Knife: Speiser translates it “cleaver,” saying that the word is used for “butcher knife.” See Judges 19.29. Most translations do not specify what kind of knife it is. However, the knife should be large enough to butcher an animal, that is, to cut it into pieces. In some cultures a special term is used for the knife that is used to kill animals for sacrifice.
So they went both of them together: the narrator pictures the two walking off to offer the sacrifice together. Good News Translation has restructured this sentence so that it functions as a time clause with verse 7: “As they walked along together, Isaac spoke up….”
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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