prophesy

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The Hebrew and the Greek that are translated in English versions as “prophesy” are translated into Anuak as “sing a song” (source: Loren Bliese), into Balanta-Kentohe as “passing on message of God” (source: Rob Koops), and into Ixcatlán Mazatec with a term that does not only refer to the future, but is “speak on behalf of God” (source: Robert Bascom).

Other translations include: “God making someone to show something in advance” (Ojitlán Chinantec), “God causing someone to think and then say it” (Aguaruna), “speaking God’s thoughts” (Shipibo-Conibo), “God made someone say something” “Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac) (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125), “proclaim God’s message” (Teutila Cuicatec), “speak for God” (Chichimeca-Jonaz), “preach the Word of God” (Lalana Chinantec), “speak God’s words” (Tepeuxila Cuicatec), “that which God’s Spirit will cause one to say one will say” (Mayo) (source for this and four above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), “say what God wants people to hear” (tell people God wod dat e gii oona fa say) (Gullah) (source: Robert Bascom), and “bring God’s mouth” (Bariai) (source: Bariai Back Translation).

In Luang it is translated with different shades of meaning:

  • For Acts 3:18, 3:21, 3:25: nurwowohora — “mouth says words that don’t come from one’s own mind.” (“This term refers to an individual’s speaking words that are not his because either a good or bad spirit is at work through him. The speaker is not in control of himself.”)
  • For Acts 19:6, Acts 21:9: nakotnohora — “talk about.” (“The focus of this term is on telling God’s message for the present as opposed to the future.”)
  • For Acts 21:11: rora — “foretell” (“The focus of this term is giving God’s message concerning the future. The person who speaks is aware of what he is doing and he is using his own mind, yet it is with God’s power that he foretells the future.”)

Source: Kathy Taber in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 9-16.

See also prophet and prophesy / prophetic frenzy.

complete verse (Numbers 11:26)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 11:26:

  • Kupsabiny: “There were two people among those seventy people who had remained inside the camp who had not gone to that Tent of God. One was called Eldad, and the other was Medad. That Spirit fell on those people so that they also prophesied in the power of God while being inside the camp.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Two men, named Eldad and Medad having also been included in the list of elders happened to have stayed in camp, they had not gone out to the Tent of Meeting, where all elders were gathered. Though it was like that, the Spirit also went to come upon them, and they prophesied inside the camp.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The two men/persons who (were) Eldad and Medad who were-listed with the 70 rulers did- not -go to the Tent but-rather they remained/stayed in the camp. But they also have-received the authority and they also spoke there in the camp.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Two of the leaders whom Moses/I appointed, Eldad and Medad, were not there when the rest of them gathered together. They had not left their tents to go and stand around the Sacred Tent. But Yahweh’s Spirit came on them also, and they started to prophesy/speak messages from Yahweh.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Numbers 11:26

Now renders the Hebrew waw conjunction (literally “And”). This conjunction often introduces the next event, but here it introduces a simultaneous event, so it may be translated “Meanwhile.”

Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad …: Two of the seventy leaders chosen by Moses stayed in the Israelite camp in contrast to the other leaders, who were round about the Tent of Meeting (see verse 24). Revised Standard Version may give the wrong impression that the other leaders had gone outside the camp into the desert. But the Tent was located in the middle of the camp. Perhaps in order to avoid this misunderstanding, Good News Translation has moved the clause “and had not gone out to the Tent” earlier in the verse. (Perhaps “and had not gone over to the Tent” would be more accurate.) But a disadvantage of Good News Translation‘s model is that the connection of “and had not gone out to the Tent” with they were among those registered is lost. This is taken care of in the model below.

And the spirit rested upon them: See verse 25.

They were among those registered is literally “and they [were] among those written,” which means they were among the chosen seventy leaders. New International Version and New Living Translation say “They were listed among the elders,” and De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling has “they were on the list of seventy.”

But they had not gone out to the tent: See the comments above. The connector but introduces a contrast.

And so they prophesied in the camp: The expression for prophesied in verse 25 should be used here also.

New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh brings out well the connections between the different parts of this verse, saying “Two men, one named Eldad and the other Medad, had remained in camp; yet the spirit rested upon them [as well]—they were among those recorded [with the others], but they had not gone out to the Tent—and they spoke in ecstasy in the camp” (similarly Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). The following modified version of Good News Translation is recommended for this verse:

• Two of the 70 leaders, Eldad and Medad, had stayed in the camp. These two men had been registered with the others, but they had not gone to the Tent of the LORD. There in the camp the spirit came on them, and they too began to shout in ecstacy like prophets.

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 .