year of Jubilee

The Hebrew that is translated as “(year of) Jubilee” in English is translated in Kwere as mwaka wa kubweleza or “year of return.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

complete verse (Leviticus 27:24)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 27:24:

  • Kupsabiny: “The farm shall return in that year to the person whom the land was bought from.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “One who dedicates a field, having bought it from someone, and whose family property is this must return that field in the year of the festival of the Year of Jubilee.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “In the Year of Setting-Free and Returning that field will-be-returned to the owner who sold this.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “But in the Year of Celebration, the land will again be owned by the person from whom he bought it, the person whose family had always owned that land.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Leviticus 27:24

The field shall return: in some languages it may be necessary to reword this to say “they [indefinite] must return the field…” or “the man who bought the field must give it back….” It may not be possible for the field to be the subject of the verb “return.” Good News Translation puts the verb in the passive form, but this is not a realistic solution for those languages that do not commonly use passives. Compare 25.28.

Him from whom it was bought: or “the man who sold it to him,” or simply “the seller.”

To whom the land belongs as a possession by inheritance: this is taken by Good News Translation as a reference to the descendants of the man who originally sold the property. The assumption is that in some cases the original seller would have died before the land could be returned. While there are few other versions that follow this interpretation, it has much to commend 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 .