pig

The word chazir is used for domestic and wild pigs. The domesticated pig was known in Egypt around 2500 B.C. and was probably domesticated in Canaan about that time too. Domestication of wild pigs seems to have coincided everywhere with the development of agriculture. Wild pigs were probably penned in large enclosures and fed scraps, thus keeping them away from planted fields. Later on, when full domestication had taken place, it was more usual for pigs to be herded rather than kept in pens. Pigs eat almost anything and herding did away with the necessity to feed them. It soon was noticed that the rooting activity of the pigs rid areas of tree roots and shrubs and promoted the growth of grass for grazing. So early swineherds herded the pigs into areas where future grazing was wanted, away from planted fields. Jews who kept pigs may not have done so with the idea of eating their meat, which was unclean, but to promote grazing grass and to sell the pigs to neighboring tribes.

Wild pigs, in the form of the European Boar Sus scrofus, were once abundant in Israel, especially in the Jordan Valley. Even now since neither Jews nor Moslems eat the meat of wild pigs, and thus do not hunt them, they can still be found in the Jordan Valley and in many other areas where there is both water and thick undergrowth.

The Greek words choiros and hueios mean “pig” or “pig meat”. The word hus means a female pig or sow.

The domesticated pigs of biblical times looked much more like wild pigs than the modern breeds of pig. They would have been brown or gray in color and fairly hairy. The young pigs probably had horizontal stripes.

Of all animals the pig was considered the most unclean.

In languages that differentiate between wild and domestic pigs, in Psalms 80:13 the word for a wild pig should be used. In 2 Peter 2:22, although the Greek specifies a female pig, the gender of the pig is not really important in the proverb. Many translations have simply “pig”.

Source: All Creatures Great and Small: Living things in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

complete verse (Leviticus 11:7)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 11:7:

  • Kupsabiny: “Also do not eat a (wild) pig because even though its hooves are divided, it does not chew the cud. It is not clean as far as you are concerned.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Like that, it is not OK for you to eat the pig. For even though its hoofs are split, it does not chew the cud. So for you it is unclean.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “But you (plur.) may- not -eat the animals which chews again their cud/food/what-they-ate but their hooves do-not-have splitting, just-like a camel and a rabbit. You (plur.) also may- not -eat the pig, for even-if its hoof is-split, it does- not -chew again its cud/what- it -ate. You (plur.) are-to-consider these animals dirty/unclean. You (plur.) are- not -to-eat their meat or even touch their dead bodies.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Pigs have completely split hooves but they do not chew their cuds, so they are unacceptable for you to eat.” (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 Leviticus 11:7

Swine: the Hebrew term used here refers to the wild pig, since domesticated pigs as we know them today are a relatively recent development resulting from genetic selection and crossbreeding. This animal is singled out perhaps because swine were considered especially offensive and to be avoided at all cost. It is the prime example (but not the only one) of an animal to be avoided because, although it has a divided hoof, it does not chew the cud. Note that this is just the opposite of the category forbidden in verses 4-6. In some languages one may wish to say “although they have divided hoofs, they do not chew the cud” or “in spite of the fact that they have divided hoofs….”

Is unclean to you: see verses 5-6 above.

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .