burnt-offering

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 Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate 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).

See also offering (qorban).

priest

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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.

See also idolatrous priests.

complete verse (Leviticus 7:8)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 7:8:

  • Kupsabiny: “If a sheep/goat or a bullock is slaughtered for a completely burned sacrifice, their skins belong to the priest who made that sacrifice.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “The skin of the burnt offering shall belong to the priest who offered the Burnt Offering.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The skin of the animal which (is) as a burnt offering also belongs-to the priest who offered this.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The priest who slaughters an animal that will be completely burned on the altar is permitted to keep the animal’s hide for himself.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Leviticus 7:8

Note that the structure of this verse has been radically altered in Good News Translation. Instead of making the priest the subject of the sentence, he becomes the object of the verbal expression “belongs to.” And the skin of the animal, which is the object of the verb have in Revised Standard Version, becomes the subject of the sentence in Good News Translation (see also New English Bible). Which solution should be adopted in the receptor language will be determined by deciding which structure is more natural sounding. But translators must not automatically follow the form of Good News Translation simply because it is more dynamic in English.

And: in order to make the connection with the previous verse, one may use a stronger transition word. New American Bible has “Similarly….” New Jerusalem Bible renders it “So, too,….” Another possibility is “Also….”

Burnt offering: see 1.4 and the discussion under the section heading at the beginning of chapter 1.

Any man’s burnt offering: some scholars see in this expression an indication that this regulation concerns only the whole burnt offering of a private individual. In this case “for someone” (New American Bible), or “for an individual,” or “for one person” may be appropriate. While most English versions include this detail explicitly, it has been left implicit in Good News Translation. In most languages it will probably be better to make it explicit.

The information given in this verse in unique in all the Old Testament. Nowhere else is any mention made of any part of the whole burnt offering being given to the priest (as a possession rather than as food to be eaten). It should be noted, however, that in 1.8-9 the skin is not specifically mentioned in the list of the parts that are burned on the altar, and that this is not something that can be eaten. Finally, it should be pointed out that the regulation is restricted to a certain kind of whole burnt offering: the expression any man’s burnt offering seems to indicate a sacrifice given by a private individual and probably excludes the regular daily whole burnt offering, which was offered publicly and for the entire community. In that case it is possible that not even the skin belonged to the priest.

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 .