complete verse (Numbers 11:7)

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

  • Kupsabiny: “The manna was like some small seeds and had a brownish color.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Speaking of manna, [it] looks like coriander seed, when [one] looks, it’s husks can be seen. [They] look like gum rasin.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “That ‘manna’ (are) just-like small seeds and white.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The manna resembled small white seeds.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Numbers 11:7

The description of manna in verses 7-9 interrupts the narrative, so Good News Translation has put this paragraph in parentheses. It is a parenthetical comment describing the manna that was mentioned at the end of verse 6. It is a reminder that the LORD faithfully provided food for the Israelites all along their journey from Egypt. There was no starvation. This paragraph tells what happened every day concerning manna.

Now the manna was like coriander seed: Now renders the Hebrew waw conjunction. Translators should choose an appropriate expression to introduce a parenthetical comment. As A Handbook on Numbers mentions at Exo 16.31, the manna was like coriander seed describes the size and shape of the manna, but not the color or taste. (The taste is described in the next verse.) Exo 16.31 describes the color of the manna as white. Coriander is a small herbal plant that actually produces small brown seeds. In areas where the coriander plant is unknown, translators may follow Good News Translation, which renders this clause as “Manna was like small seeds.” Chewa says “The manna was like millet seed[s].”

And its appearance like that of bdellium: Its appearance refers to “its color” (New Revised Standard Version, NET Bible) or “its texture” (Levine). As A Handbook on Genesis mentions at Gen 2.12, bdellium is a fragrant yellowish gum resin obtained by making cuts in the bark of a bush grown principally in South Arabia. This balsamic gum resin was used as a perfume and said to have soothing medical properties. If bdellium is unknown, translators may follow Good News Translation, which translates this clause as “whitish yellow in color.” Chewa says “and it looked like [whitish] birdlime [which is made from a certain tree resin].”

New Living Translation provides a helpful model for this verse, saying “The manna looked like small coriander seeds, and it was pale yellow like gum resin,” and so does Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch with “Manna had the form of coriander seeds and looked whitish like bdellium resin” (similarly Bible en français courant).

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .