altar

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The Greek, Latin and Hebrew that is translated as “altar” in English is translated in a number of ways:

  • Obolo: ntook or “raised structure for keeping utensils (esp. sacrifice)” (source: Enene Enene)
  • Muna: medha kaefoampe’a or “offering table” (source: René van den Berg)
  • Luchazi: muytula or “the place where one sets the burden down”/”the place where the life is laid down” (source: E. Pearson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 160ff. )
  • Tzotzil: “where they place God’s gifts” (source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation, March 1965, p. 2ff.)
  • Tsafiki: “table for giving to God” (source: Bruce Moore in Notes on Translation 1/1992, p. 1ff.)
  • Noongar: karla-kooranyi or “sacred fire” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “offering-burning table” (source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “place for sacrificing” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “burning-place” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tibetan: mchod khri (མཆོད་​ཁྲི།) or “offering throne” (source: gSungrab website )
  • Bura-Pabir: “sacrifice mound” (source: Andy Warrren-Rothlin)
  • Kalanga: “fireplace of sacrifice” (source: project-specific notes in Paratext)
The Ignaciano translators decided to translate the difficult term in that language according to the focus of each New Testament passage in which the word appears (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight

Willis Ott (in Notes on Translation 88/1982, p. 18ff.) explains:

  • Matt. 5:23,24: “When you take your offering to God, and arriving, you remember…, do not offer your gift yet. First go to your brother…Then it is fitting to return and offer your offering to God.” (The focus is on improving relationships with people before attempting to improve a relationship with God, so the means of offering, the altar, is not focal.)
  • Matt. 23:18 (19,20): “You also teach erroneously: ‘If someone makes a promise, swearing by the offering-place/table, he is not guilty if he should break the promise. But if he swears by the gift that he put on the offering-place/table, he will be guilty if he breaks the promise.'”
  • Luke 1:11: “…to the right side of the table where they burn incense.”
  • Luke 11.51. “…the one they killed in front of the temple (or the temple enclosure).” (The focus is on location, with overtones on: “their crime was all the more heinous for killing him there”.)
  • Rom. 11:3: “Lord, they have killed all my fellow prophets that spoke for you. They do not want anyone to give offerings to you in worship.” (The focus is on the people’s rejection of religion, with God as the object of worship.)
  • 1Cor. 9:13 (10:18): “Remember that those that attend the temple have rights to eat the foods that people bring as offerings to God. They have rights to the meat that the people offer.” (The focus is on the right of priests to the offered food.)
  • Heb. 7:13: “This one of whom we are talking is from another clan. No one from that clan was ever a priest.” (The focus in on the legitimacy of this priest’s vocation.)
  • Jas. 2:21: “Remember our ancestor Abraham, when God tested him by asking him to give him his son by death. Abraham was to the point of stabbing/killing his son, thus proving his obedience.” (The focus is on the sacrifice as a demonstration of faith/obedience.)
  • Rev. 6:9 (8:3,5; 9:13; 14:18; 16:7): “I saw the souls of them that…They were under the table that holds God’s fire/coals.” (This keeps the concepts of: furniture, receptacle for keeping fire, and location near God.)
  • Rev. 11:1: “Go to the temple, Measure the building and the inside enclosure (the outside is contrasted in v. 2). Measure the burning place for offered animals. Then count the people who are worshiping there.” (This altar is probably the brazen altar in a temple on earth, since people are worshiping there and since outside this area conquerors are allowed to subjugate for a certain time.)

See also altar (Acts 17:23).


In the Hebraic English translation of Everett Fox it is translated as slaughter-site and likewise in the German translation by Buber / Rosenzweig as Schlachtstatt.

sheep

“Sheep are known throughout most of the world, even though, as in Central Africa, they are a far cry from the fleecy wool-producing animals of colder climates. Where such animals are known, even by seemingly strange names, e.g. ‘cotton deer’ (Yucateco) or ‘woolly goat’ (Inupiaq), such names should be used. In some instances, one may wish to borrow a name and use a classifier, e.g. ‘an animal called sheep’. In still other instances translators have used ‘animal which produces wool’, for though people are not acquainted with the animals they are familiar with wool.” (Source: Bratcher / Nida)

In Dëne Súline, it is usually translated as “an evil little caribou.” To avoid the negative connotation, a loan word from the neighboring South Slavey was used. (Source: NCEM, p. 70)

Note that the often-alleged Inuktitut translation of “sheep” with “seal” is an urban myth (source Nida 1947, p. 136).

See also lamb and sheep / lamb.

Jacob

The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is transliterated as “Jacob” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign that signifies “lentil,” referring to the soup he gave his brother in exchange for his birthright (see Genesis 25:34). Note that another Spanish Sign Language sign for Jacob also users the sign for Jewish. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


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

In German Sign Language it is a sign that shows the touching of the hip, described in Genesis 32:25:


“Jacob” in German Sign Language (source: Taub und katholisch )

In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the signs signifying “smooth arm” (referring to the story starting at Genesis 27:11). (Source: Tarja Sandholm)


“Jacob” in Finnish Sign Language (source )

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

See also Esau.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Jacob .

complete verse (Hosea 12:12)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Hosea 12:12:

  • Kupsabiny: “Jacob fled to the land of Aram.
    (He) worked there to obtain a wife.
    (He) looked after sheep in order to get that wife.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Jacob escaped to the land of Aram.
    Israel served to get a wife,
    and for a wife, he tended sheep.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘Jacob fled to Aram, and there he served as a care-taker of the animals so-that he could-possess/have his wife-to-be.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Your ancestor Jacob fled from his brother Esau
    and went to northwest Mesopotamia.
    He worked for his uncle Laban for many years to get a wife;
    he took care of his uncle’s sheep to pay for her.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Hosea 12:12

Verses 12-13 emphasize how the people of Israel had a family history of life in other countries. Only verse 13 shows Yahweh at work in this history, but since these are parallel as historical events, it is implied that he was with Jacob also in verse 12, even in difficult times. The parentheses around verse 12 in Revised Standard Version are unnecessary. New Revised Standard Version has removed these parentheses. They might give readers the wrong idea that this verse is not a genuine part of the text.

This verse begins with the Hebrew waw conjunction (literally “And” [King James Version]), which is left untranslated in Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and most other versions. In this verse there is a change in focus, so translators may insert a blank line (so Bible en français courant) or a paragraph break (so Good News Translation).

Jacob fled to the land of Aram: This line recalls Gen 27.41-45, which speaks about Jacob having to flee from his brother Esau. Good News Translation renders Jacob as “Our ancestor Jacob,” which makes it clear that this verse is not a statement about the entire tribe of Jacob, namely Israel, but of their ancestor. Translators will have to decide whether this is necessary in their version.

The Hebrew word for land in the phrase the land of Aram can refer to a country, but it is also used for an open field, which can be pastureland or even an area where wild animals live. This word comes from the same Hebrew root as the word for “field” in the previous verse, linking with the picture of the plowed fields that had stones preventing normal farming. Most translations will not be able to keep this link, since a word for a geographic land may be needed in this verse.

Aram was the land northeast of Israel. Although in history it had been part of “Mesopotamia” (Good News Translation), it seems better to follow Revised Standard Version here, which translates the Hebrew text literally. The land of Aram was the last stage of Abraham’s migration from the Chaldean town of Ur before he entered the Promised Land. So Jacob’s escape there was, in a sense, a turning back into history.

There Israel did service for a wife: Jacob’s other name, Israel, is used in this line. Good News Translation omits this name, probably to avoid confusion for readers who do not remember the full story about this new name given to him (see Gen 32.27-28).

Did service renders a Hebrew verb used for the hard work of both slaves and free people. Jacob was not a slave, but the thought here is that it was hard work. In Hebrew the word for “servant” comes from the same root as the verb used here. Good News Translation adds the idea that Jacob worked “for another man.” The other man that got the benefit of Jacob’s hard word was Laban (see Gen 29.15-30). Some languages may need a similar expression to show what kind of hard work this was. They may have one word that refers to hired labor.

For a wife is repeated in the next line. Translators will recognize this as a time when a wife could be bought and paid for with money or with labor that substituted for money. Jacob worked for fourteen years to marry Laban’s two daughters.

And for a wife he herded sheep: He herded sheep renders one Hebrew verb, literally “he guarded,” but in his context the original readers would know that he was watching over sheep. Most modern translations in English, French, Spanish, and German insert the word sheep. The need to include it depends on the receptor language. New International Version says “he tended sheep.”

A translation model for this verse is:

• Jacob, the ancestor of the people of Israel,
ran away to Aram.
He became a servant to get a wife,
and he cared for sheep to pay for her.

Quoted with permission from Dorn, Louis & van Steenbergen, Gerrit. A Handbook on Hosea. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2020. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Hosea 12:12

Paragraph 12:12–14

This paragraph compares/contrasts Jacob and the LORD. Jacob took care of sheep in Aram to attain a wife. The LORD took care of the people in Sinai by sending a prophet. Yet Israel provoked the LORD’s anger, and he will hold them accountable.

Hosea is probably the speaker in this paragraph. This is suggested by the use of the phrase “the/his LORD” rather than “I.”

12:12

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:

12a
Jacob fled to the land of Aram

12b and Israel worked for a wife —

12c
for a wife he tended sheep.

These lines continue to describe Jacob from 12:3–4. (See also Genesis 28–29). The verbs, “fled,” “worked” and “tended” indicate that Jacob had a difficult life. He was of low status and served others. This verse is the first part of a comparison/contrast of Jacob to prophets. The second part is 12:13.

In Hebrew, this verse begins with a word that connects it to the previous verse(s). In many other places, this word is translated as “and” or “but.”

Here the connection of this verse to the previous ones is unclear. Most versions leave the connection implied. Use a natural way in your language to indicate the connection of this verse to 12:11.

12:12a

Jacob fled to the land of Aram: The Hebrew word for fled means “ran away.” The word connotes running in a hurry, often from a threatening situation. Here it refers to a time when Jacob fled from Canaan, because Esau threatened to kill him. See Genesis 27:42–45.

Some versions make explicit that Jacob was the ancestor of the people of Israel. For example:

Our ancestor Jacob had to flee to Mesopotamia (Good News Translation)

land of Aram: This phrase is literally “field/territory of Aram.” It refers to Paddan-aram. See Genesis 28:2. Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

Northwest Mesopotamia (New Century Version)
-or-
country of Syria (God’s Word)

12:12b

Israel worked for a wife: This clause is literally “Israel served for a wife.” It refers to Jacob serving his uncle Laban by caring for sheep. The clause may indicate that Jacob’s work substituted for a bride price.

In this clause, Jacob is called by the name Israel. Some versions use the pronoun “he” here instead. For example:

he worked for another man (Good News Translation)

12:12c

for a wife he tended sheep: The Hebrew text repeats the same phrase for a wife here as in 12b. It has the same meaning in both lines. Some other versions make explicit that the phrase for a wife means to pay for a wife. Here is another way to translate this clause:

and there he earned a wife by tending sheep (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
and to pay for her he tended sheep (New International Version)

The words he tended sheep make explicit the meaning of the Hebrew word “to guard, watch, protect.”

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