virgin

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The Hebrew and Greek that is mostly translated as “virgin” in English can be translated as “woman that is untouched” in Batak Toba or “a woman with a whole (i.e. unopened) body” in Uab Meto.

“Similar words for ‘girl,’unmarried young woman,’ suggesting virginity without explicitly stating it, are found in Marathi, Apache, or Kituba. Cultural features naturally influence connotations of possible renderings, for instance, the child marriage customs in some Tboli areas, where the boy and girl are made to sleep together at the initial marriage, but after that do not live together and may not see each other again for years. Hence, the closest attainable equivalent, ‘female adolescent,’ does not imply that a young girl is not living with her husband, and that she never had a child, but leaves uncertain whether she has ever slept with a male person or not. Accordingly, in Luke one has to depend on Luke 1:34 to make clear that Mary and Joseph had not had sexual intercourse. A different problem is encountered in Pampanga, where birhen (an adaptation of Spanish virgen — ‘virgin’), when standing alone, is a name of the ‘Virgin Mary.’ To exclude this meaning the version uses “marriageable birhen,” thus at the same time indicating that Mary was relatively young.” (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel, see here)

In Navajo (Dinė), the term that is used is “no husband yet” (Source: Wallis, p. 106) and in Gola the expression “trouser girl.” “In the distant past young women who were virgins wore trousers. Those who were not virgins wore dresses. That doesn’t hold true anymore, but the expression is still there in the language.” (Source: Don Slager)

The term in Djimini Senoufo is katogo jo — “village-dance-woman” (women who have been promised but who are still allowed to go to dances with unmarried women). (Source: Übersetzung heute 3/1995)

In Igbo translations, typically a newly-created, multi-word phrase is used that very explicitly states that there has not been any sexual relations and that translates as “a woman (or: maiden) who does not know a man.” This is in spite of the fact that there is a term (agb͕ọghọ) that means “young woman” and has the connotation of her not having had sexual relations (this is for instance used by the Standard Igbo Bible of the Bible Society of Nigeria for Isaiah 7:14). Incidentally, the euphemistic expression “know” (ma in Igbo) for “having sex” has become a well-known euphemism outside of Bible translation. (Source: Uchenna Oyali in Sociolinguistic Studies Vol. 17 No. 1-3 (2023): Special Issue: Gender and sexuality in African discourses )

In Chichewa, it is translated as namwali which is used to refer to a girl who has reached puberty stage and is ready to get married. Apart from the physical aspect, the word also has social implications in the sense that it is used to recognize the fact that the girl has become responsible enough to make informed decisions and take care of herself and others. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

See also virgins (Revelation 14:4) and complete verse (Matthew 1:23).

complete verse (Jeremiah 31:21)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 31:21:

  • Kupsabiny: “Place (sing.) signs at the side of the road
    so that when you (plur.) come back (they) will show you the way.
    Fix/stick (sing.) that road in the head
    the road that you travel on.
    Oh, Israel, my beloved, please return,
    come back here to your cities.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘Set up signs and guideposts on the road. Mark well the path by which you pass-through for this is the path by which you will-pass-through when you come back. O those from-Israel, return now to your towns.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “You Israeli people, set up road signs;
    put up posts along the roads
    to mark the road on which you walked when you were taken from Jerusalem.
    My precious/beloved Israeli people,
    come back to your towns here.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 31:21

As the previous message was addressed to Ephraim the son, so verses 21-22 are addressed to Israel the young woman. It is the prophet (rather than the LORD) who speaks, as is indicated at the end of verse 22.

Waymarks are stones heaped up to mark the location of a tomb (2Kgs 23.17, Revised Standard Version “monument”) or some other spot (Ezek 39.15, Revised Standard Version “sign”). Translators can use something such as “markers.”

Guideposts is found only here in the Old Testament, though a word sounding the same and meaning “bitterness” is found in 6.26; 31.15. Here “signposts” is a common translation. Since the context here is a highway, it is appropriate to choose words for waymarks and guideposts which relate to roads, as in Good News Translation “Set up signs and mark the road.”

Consider well the highway: Consider well is more literally “place your heart to,” which Bright and New Jerusalem Bible render “fix your mind on,” since in Hebrew the heart represents a person’s intellect or will. Revised English Bible has “make sure of the road.” Good News Translation makes the intent clear: “find again the way.” The noun highway is used only here in Jeremiah though it occurs a number of other times in the Old Testament. Originally it referred to a road that was raised with layers of stone, gravel, or the like, but here it is used in parallel with the usual word for road, and should be translated simply as “road.”

The thrust of consider well the highway, the road by which you went is for the people to remember and then return by the way they had left. Hence Good News Translation “find again the way by which you left” and “come home.”

Return: Used twice, this verb intensifies the call to repentance.

For virgin Israel, see verse 4.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .