horn

The musical instrument that is most often translated as “(ram’s) horn” or “trumpet” in English is translated in the following ways:

  • Yakan: tabuli’ (big sea shell used to give signals) (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Mairasi / Bariai: “Triton shell trumpet” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • German Luther translation: Posaune, today: “trombone,” originally with the meaning of a wind instrument made from cow horn (from Latin bucina [bovi- / “cow” + the root of cano / “sing”]. Incidentally, bucina is also used in the Latin Vulgate translation). By the time of Luther’s translation it referred to the natural trumpet or a fanfare trumpet (see also trumpet). Once the meaning morphed to “trombone” in the 19th century, trombone ensembles started to play a central role in Protestant German churches and do so to the present day. In 2016, “Posaunenchöre” became added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list . (Note that Exodus 19:13 is the only exception in the Luther Bible. From the 1956 revision on, Widderhorn or “ram’s horn” is used here) (source: Zetzsche)

In the UBS Helps for Translators‘ Human-made Things in the Bible (original title: The Works of Their Hands: Man-made Things in the Bible) it says the following:

Description: The horn was a wind instrument made from the horn of an animal, usually a male sheep.

Usage: The animal horn was softened so that it could be shaped. The point of the horn was cut off to leave a small opening through which the user blew. The vibration of the lips produced the sound.

The ram’s horn served two general purposes:

1. It was blown in certain religious contexts, not as musical accompaniment to worship but as a signal for important events. Some of these events were the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, the Day of Atonement, the bringing of the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, and the coronation of kings.

2. It also served as a signal or alarm when war was approaching. Such references are particularly common in the prophetic books, when the prophets are calling the people to repent (Hosea 5:8; 8:1; Joel 2:1; 2:15; Amos 3:6).

Translation: In many passages the purpose of the ram’s horn called shofar in Hebrew was to sound an alarm. This will be easy to express in those cultures where the horns of animals are used as musical instruments to give signals to large groups of people. In other cultures it may be possible to find another instrument that is used for an equivalent purpose. In some languages, for example, instruments such as bells or drums are the warnings for war. Some translations have transliterated the word shofar. Unless the instrument is well known, such a borrowing should normally be accompanied by a footnote or a glossary entry.

In some passages it will be necessary to expand the translation in order to indicate that the blowing of the ram’s horn was not just for music; for example, in Ezekiel 7:14 Contemporary English Version has “A signal has been blown on the trumpet,” and the German Contemporary English Version says “An alarm is sounded” [elsewhere, the same German version refers to the horns as Kriegshörner or “war horns.”]

Man blowing ram’s horn (source: Knowles, revised by Bass (c) British and Foreign Bible Society 1994)

Quoted with permission.

sin

The Hebrew and Greek that is typically translated as “sin” in English has a wide variety of translations.

The Greek ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō) carries the original verbatim meaning of “miss the mark” and likewise, many translations contain the “connotation of moral responsibility.”

  • Loma: “leaving the road” (which “implies a definite standard, the transgression of which is sin”)
  • Navajo (Dinė): “that which is off to the side” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: kasalan, originally meaning “transgression of a religious or moral rule” and in the context of the Bible “transgression of God’s commandments” (source: H. van der Veen in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 21ff. )
  • Kaingang: “break God’s word”
  • Bariai: “bad behavior” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Sandawe: “miss the mark” (like the original meaning of the Greek term) (source for this and above: Ursula Wiesemann in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 36ff., 43)

In Shipibo-Conibo the term is hocha. Nida (1952, p. 149) tells the story of its choosing: “In some instances a native expression for sin includes many connotations, and its full meaning must be completely understood before one ever attempts to use it. This was true, for example, of the term hocha first proposed by Shipibo-Conibo natives as an equivalent for ‘sin.’ The term seemed quite all right until one day the translator heard a girl say after having broken a little pottery jar that she was guilty of ‘hocha.’ Breaking such a little jar scarcely seemed to be sin. However, the Shipibos insisted that hocha was really sin, and they explained more fully the meaning of the word. It could be used of breaking a jar, but only if the jar belonged to someone else. Hocha was nothing more nor less than destroying the possessions of another, but the meaning did not stop with purely material possessions. In their belief God owns the world and all that is in it. Anyone who destroys the work and plan of God is guilty of hocha. Hence the murderer is of all men most guilty of hocha, for he has destroyed God’s most important possession in the world, namely, man. Any destructive and malevolent spirit is hocha, for it is antagonistic and harmful to God’s creation. Rather than being a feeble word for some accidental event, this word for sin turned out to be exceedingly rich in meaning and laid a foundation for the full presentation of the redemptive act of God.”

In Warao it is translated as “bad obojona.” Obojona is a term that “includes the concepts of consciousness, will, attitude, attention and a few other miscellaneous notions.” (Source: Henry Osborn in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 74ff. ). See other occurrences of Obojona in the Warao New Testament.

Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the Danish Bibelen 2020, comments on the translation of this term: “We would explain terms, such that e.g. sin often became ‘doing what God does not want’ or ‘breaking God’s law’, ‘letting God down’, ‘disrespecting God’, ‘doing evil’, ‘acting stupidly’, ‘becoming guilty’. Now why couldn’t we just use the word sin? Well, sin in contemporary Danish, outside of the church, is mostly used about things such as delicious but unhealthy foods. Exquisite cakes and chocolates are what a sin is today.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )

See also sinner.

complete verse (Isaiah 58:1)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 58:1:

  • Kupsabiny: “God is saying,
    ‘Shout (sing.) loudly and do not rest!
    Shout loud to sound like a horn
    and tell to my people their mistakes,
    for the stomach of Jacob to know their evil.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Shout loudly, do not remain silent!
    Shout loudly like the sound of a trumpet!
    Show my people that they are rebellious
    and show the clan of Jacob their sin.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The LORD says, ‘[You (plur.)] shout loudly like the loud-sound of a trumpet! You (plur.) do not hold it! Tell/declare to my people who are the descendants of Jacob their sins and trespasses.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Yahweh said to me,
    ‘Shout loudly!
    Shout like a loud trumpet!
    Shout to warn my Israeli people about their sins !” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

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

See also pronoun for “God”.

Translation commentary on Isaiah 58:1

In this verse God uses four imperatives, calling on the prophet to speak out. The fourth command is followed by what the prophet is to say: Yahweh orders him to make the people of Judah aware of their sins. Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch make it explicit that the LORD is speaking.

Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare …: The first command is Cry aloud, which is literally “Call out with the throat.” It is an idiom that clearly means the prophet is to shout a warning. The second command, spare not, is a call not to place any limits on the cry, not to be shy or hold back in any manner. Revised English Bible and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh have “without restraint,” while New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, and New Jerusalem Bible use “do not hold back.” In the third imperative, lift up your voice like a trumpet, God orders the prophet to ensure that everybody can hear what he has to say. The phrase lift up your voice obviously refers to shouting loudly (see 40.9). This idiom is strengthened by the simile like a trumpet. The prophet’s voice has to sound as loud as the blast of a trumpet, that is, the ram’s horn used for various calls to the community (see 18.3; 27.13). The fourth imperative is declare, which may be rendered “tell” or “announce.”

The use of three or four closely-related expressions is an important feature of the writing style throughout the book of Isaiah. These four imperatives should be retained in translation if at all possible. Here the combination underlines the seriousness of the message to follow. Good News Translation reduces the four imperatives to two. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch uses three by beginning this verse with “The LORD says: ‘Shout as loud as you can! Let your voice resound like a trumpet! Present…!’”

To my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins: These two parallel expressions identify the people the prophet is to address (the house of Jacob), and what God wants him to announce (their sins). God still refers to the Israelites as my people, suggesting that his covenant relationship with them is still in place. For the house of Jacob, see the comments on 2.5; for transgression and sins, see 43.25. An alternative rendering for the last two lines of this verse is “Tell my people of Israel how they transgress [against me / against the law], how they sin [against me].”

During this early period of Judah’s return to the land, other prophets were also ministering (for example, Micah and Haggai). This opening call in verse 1 is quite similar to the way Micah describes his mission in Micah 3.8.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• [The LORD says,] “Shout a warning, don’t hold back;
make a loud noise like a trumpet sound.
Warn my people that they have transgressed,
let the house of Jacob know of their sin.

• “Shout aloud, don’t keep silent;
like a trumpet give a blast.
Warn my people of their rebellion,
tell Judah of its sin.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .