10The priest shall put on his linen vestments after putting on his linen undergarments next to his body, and he shall take up the ashes to which the fire has reduced the burnt offering on the altar and place them beside the altar.
The Hebrew olah (עֹלָה) originally means “that which goes up (in smoke).” English Bibles often translates it as “burnt-offering” or “whole burnt-offering,” focusing on the aspect of the complete burning of the offering.
The GreekSeptuagint and the LatinVulgate Bibles translate it as holokautōma / holocautōsis (ὁλοκαύτωμα / ὁλοκαύτωσις) and holocaustum, respectively, meaning “wholly burnt.” While a form of this term is widely used in many Romance languages (Spanish: holocaustos, French: holocaustes, Italian: olocausti, Portuguese: holocaustos) and originally also in the Catholic tradition of English Bible translations, it is largely not used in English anymore today (the preface of the revised edition of the Catholic New American Bible of 2011: “There have been changes in vocabulary; for example, the term ‘holocaust’ is now normally reserved for the sacrilegious attempt to destroy the Jewish people by the Third Reich.”)
Since translation into Georgian was traditionally done on the basis of the Greek Septuagint, a transliteration of holokautōma was used as well, which was changed to a translation with the meaning of “burnt offering” when the Old Testament was retranslated in the 1980’s on the basis of the Hebrew text.
In the Koongo (Ki-manianga) translation by the Alliance Biblique de la R.D. Congo (publ. in 2015) olah is translated as “kill and offer sacrifice” (source: Anicet Bassilua) and in Elhomwe as “fire offering.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
The English translation of Everett Fox uses offering-up (similarly, the German translation by Buber-Rosenzweig has Darhöhung and the French translation by Chouraqui montée).
The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that are typically translated as “priest” in English (itself deriving from Latin “presbyter” — “elder”) is often translated with a consideration of existing religious traditions. (Click or tap for details)
Bratcher / Nida (1961) say this:
“However, rather than borrow local names for priests, some of which have unwanted connotations, a number of translations have employed descriptive phrases based on certain functions: (1) those describing a ceremonial activity: Pamona uses tadu, the priestess who recites the litanies in which she describes her journey to the upper or under-world to fetch life-spirit for sick people, animals or plants; Batak Toba uses the Arabic malim, ‘Muslim religious teacher;’ ‘one who presents man’s sacrifice to God’ (Bambara, Eastern Maninkakan), ‘one who presents sacrifices’ (Baoulé, Navajo (Dinė)), ‘one who takes the name of the sacrifice’ (Kpelle, and ‘to make a sacrifice go out’ (Hausa); (2) those describing an intermediary function: ‘one who speaks to God’ (Shipibo-Conibo) and ‘spokesman of the people before God’ (Tabasco Chontal).”
In Obolo it is translated as ogwu ngwugwa or “the one who offers sacrifice” (source: Enene Enene), in Mairasi as agam aevar nevwerai: “religious leader” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Ignaciano as “blesser, one who does ritual as a practice” (using a generic term rather than the otherwise common Spanish loan word sacerdote) (source: Willis Ott in Notes on Translation 88/1982, p. 18ff.), and in Noongar as yakin-kooranyi or “holy worker” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
For Guhu-Samane, Ernest Richert (in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. ) reports this: “The [local] cult of Poro used to be an all-encompassing religious system that essentially governed all areas of life. (…) For ‘priest’ the term ‘poro father’ would at first seem to be a natural choice. However, several priests of the old cult are still living. Although they no longer function primarily as priests of the old system they still have a substantial influence on the community, and there would be more than a chance that the unqualified term would (in some contexts particularly) be equated with the priest of the poro cult. We learned, then, that the poro fathers would sometimes be called ‘knife men’ in relation to their sacrificial work. The panel was pleased to apply this term to the Jewish priest, and the Christian community has adopted it fully. [Mark 1:44, for instance, now] reads: ‘You must definitely not tell any man of this. But you go show your body to the knife man and do what Moses said about a sacrifice concerning your being healed, and the cause (base of this) will be apparent.'”
For a revision of the 1968 version of the Bible in Khmer Joseph Hong (in: The Bible Translator 1996, 233ff. ) talks about a change in wording for this term:
Bau cha r (បូជាចារ្យ) — The use of this new construction meaning “priest” is maintained to translate the Greek word hiereus. The term “mean sang (មាន សង្ឃ)” used in the old version actually means a “Buddhist monk,” and is felt to be theologically misleading. The Khmer considers the Buddhist monk as a “paddy field of merits,” a reserve of merits to be shared with other people. So a Khmer reader would find unthinkable that the mean sang in the Bible killed animals, the gravest sin for a Buddhist; and what a scandal it would be to say that a mean sang was married, had children, and drank wine.
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. )
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.”
Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the DanishBibelen 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. )
Flax Linum usitatissimum, from which linen cloth is made, was cultivated in the Middle East, including Canaan, at least as early as 5000 B.C. A document from Gezer (in Israel) from around King Saul’s time (1000 B.C.) refers to the cultivation of flax and states that flax and wool were the main materials for making cloth. According to Joshua 2:6, the Israelite spies were hidden under flax stalks by Rahab. Flax was grown extensively in Egypt and made into cloth and mats.
Pesheth and pishtah are probably the original Hebrew words for flax, if indeed the plant was domesticated in the Holy Land, as Zohary (Plants of the Bible. Cambridge University Press, 1982) proposes. They may be related to the word pashat, meaning “to strip off” or “to flay,” or to the word pasas, meaning “to disintegrate.” Pesheth and pishtah are used twenty times in the Old Testament, twice referring clearly to the plant itself (Exodus 9:31; Joshua 2:6). Other references are to the processed flax (Judges 15:14 et al.). A few cases refer to finished products, namely wicks (Isaiah 42:3 et al.), cords (Ezekiel 40:3), and items of clothing (Jeremiah 13:1 et al.).
It is likely that the Hebrews acquired the word shesh from the Egyptians during their sojourn in Egypt, since flax was cultivated there also. The Egyptian word for flax was shent (via shen-suten). Shesh is used thirty-eight times in the Old Testament: for the material that Pharaoh put on Joseph, for the Tabernacle curtains and hangings in Exodus, for the ephod, and for the priests’ tunics. The wise woman of Proverbs 31:22 wears it. In Ezekiel 16:10 et al. it is paired with silk, and in Ezekiel 27:7 “shesh from Egypt” is spoken of as material for the sails of ships.
Several references to linen use the Hebrew word bad. In Exodus 28:42 the priests’ underwear are made from bad, and it is used thereafter in Leviticus to describe various items of clothing—coat, breeches, girdle, and turban. It turns up again in Samuel’s and King David’s “ephods” and then again in Ezekiel and Daniel, where we see visions of “a man clothed in bad.”
Linen is referred by the Hebrew word buts in 1‑2 Chronicles, Esther, and Ezekiel, where the robes of the Temple choir, kings, and rich men are described.
The Old Testament has some references to the Hebrew word sadin (“linen garment”): Judges 14:12 (Samson promises them to his opponents), Proverbs 31:24 (the wise woman makes them), and Isaiah 3:23 (the rich women of Jerusalem wear them). The Septuagint uses the Greek word bussos or sindōn in these passages.
The Hebrew word ’etun occurs only in Proverbs 7:16, where it refers to a linen bedspread from Egypt.
In the New Testament there are three primary Greek words for linen: linon/linous, sindōn, and othonē/othonion. Linon is used to refer to garments of the angels in Revelation 15:6 as well as to the “smoldering wick” in Matthew 12:20. The synoptic Gospel writers refer to the linen cloth that Joseph and Nicodemus used to wrap Jesus’ body as a sindōn. Mark uses the same word to refer to the cloth that was worn by the unidentified young man at the time of Jesus’ arrest (Mark 14:51f.). John uses a different Greek word for Jesus’ burial cloths: othonion.
The rich man referred to in the Lazarus story (Luke 16:19) is clothed in “fine linen” (bussos). The Greek word bussos is the root word for bussinos, which refers to tunics, robes and turbans made from linen fabric (Revelation 18:12 et al.).
Flax is a little taller than a sesame plant, about a meter (3 feet) tall. Its leaves are narrow and the flowers are bright blue with five petals. The seed capsule contains oil that is used for cooking and also for thinning paint. After flax ripens, the plants are uprooted and the stalks are left to dry for a while. The stalks are then soaked, dried, and beaten to separate the fibers, which are then combed and woven into cloth.
Linen cloth was relatively costly in Israel, and being light and easy to dye it was highly valued. Their priests wore linen garments to combat sweating (see Ezekiel 44:18). They had to remove these holy garments when they left the Temple, “lest they communicate holiness to the people” (Ezekiel 44:19). The high esteem given to linen by the Jews is shown also by the fact that they used it for burying the dead, and we are told that the Dead Sea Scrolls were wrapped in linen cloths. However, the flax plant was special in other ways. The crushed stalks of flax plants were also used for making rope and lamp wicks. The seed was used for oil.
Today flax is raised more for the oil that comes from the seeds (called linseed oil) than for the fibers, although flax stalks are also made into special kinds of paper.
Metaphorical uses of flax are relatively few in the Bible, and all suggest the weakness of the material. In Judges 15:14 flax fiber is used as a simile for Samson’s fetters (they snapped like linen thread). Isaiah 42:3 says the Messiah will be gentle with weak people (“a dimly burning wick [pishtah] he will not quench”), in contrast to the typical iron-fisted tyrants of the day. Isaiah 43:17 describes the fate of the Babylonian enemies: they will be snuffed out “like a wick [pishtah].”
Linen cloth (or other cloth with a similar name) is surprisingly widespread. Cloth merchants in the translators’ area may know it under a trade language name, and if so, that can be used.In some places it is used only for burying people. In that case, if it is used in translation at all, the difference in culture should be explained in a footnote. Since linen is bleached white, a generic phrase such as “beautiful white cloth” can be considered in many places. In the three metaphorical passages mentioned above, an appropriate cultural image may be substituted, or an adverb expressing weakness or fragility.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 6:10:
Kupsabiny: “The priest shall put on his inner clothes which are soft and put on his outer dress which is also soft. Then he shall take the ashes of/from the sacrifice that is burned completely and put it aside there by the altar.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Then the priest must put on priestly linen clothes and linen undergarments, remove the ashes of the Burnt Offering sacrifice and put them to one side of the altar.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “The priest is-to-put-on his outer linen garment, as-well-as his linen under cloth which covers his genitals/sexual-organ, and he is-to-take the ashes of this offering and is-to-put (them) beside the altar.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “The next morning the priest must put on his linen under-clothes and linen outer clothes. Then he must remove the ashes of the offering from the fire and put them beside the altar.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
And: the transition word in Revised Standard Version is very weak. The rendering in the receptor language should make it clear that what is described in this verse takes place the day after the events mentioned in the previous verse. It may be possible to say “Then” (as in Good News Translation, New English Bible, New International Version, and others), but in some cases it may be necessary to say “the next day” or “on the following morning.”
Linen: a white cloth material made from the fibers of flax and known for its strength and coolness. In those areas where flax is unknown, one may have to use a more generic expression such as “fine white cloth.” Or it may be necessary to settle for an approximation in the text and add an explanatory footnote.
Garment: an outer garment corresponding most closely to a “robe” or a “cloak.”
Breeches: an undergarment for the lower body. Moffatt and New English Bible translate “drawers,” while Good News Translation has “shorts.” New International Version is close to the meaning, although more removed from common language, when it renders the word “undergarments.” The closest natural equivalent in the receptor language should be used.
Upon his body: this information may be left implicit in many languages. But New International Version retains this to emphasize the fact that the clothing in question is immediately “next to his body.”
The ashes: Good News Translation “the greasy ashes.” See 1.16.
In some languages it may be more natural to mention the actions of the priest first and then add “In order to do this, he [the priest] must wear the proper clothing: a linen robe and linen shorts.” It should also be noted that in some languages it will be more natural to mention the underclothing first and then the outer clothing. But in others the reverse will be more natural.
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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