The Hebrew and Greek that is translated with “clothes” or similar in English is translated in Enlhet as “crawling-in-stuff” (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1971, p. 169ff. ) and in Noongar as bwoka or “Kangaroo skin” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 15:22:
Kupsabiny: “Any person who has touched a thing that that woman has sat on, needs to wash his clothes and bathe and that person is unclean until sunset.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Whoever touches the thing that she sits on, he/she must wash his/her clothes, he/she must also bathe and be unclean until evening time.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Any one who touches her bed/[lit. place-where-(she)-has-laid-down] or place-where-(she)-sat must launder his clothes and bathe, but he is- still -to-be- considered dirty/unclean until (it) becomes-twilight/dusk.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Anyone who touches something that she has been sitting on, a bed or anything else, must wash his clothes, and no one should touch that person until that evening.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Verses 21 and 22 correspond to verses 5 and 6 earlier in this chapter. Again it will be noted that Good News Translation has avoided needless repetition and thereby produces a much shorter rendering while retaining the same meaning. Verse 23 is a kind of summary of the two previous verses; it is similar to verse 10a, but it is not identical with it.
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 .
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