threshing floor

The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is translated as “threshing floor” in English is translated in Kim with twal or “termite mound” which are used to build threshing floors. (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

See also thresh.

complete verse (Numbers 15:20)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 15:20:

  • Kupsabiny: “You shall give to God the first food that is threshed and bread from the first harvest like this forever.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “When you bake the very first bread from the first harvest you must sacrifice it to the LORD just as [lit. like] you [do with] the first harvest from the threshing floor.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “You (plur.) offer bread from the flour which you (plur.) first grinded, like what you (plur.) did with the first product/harvest of your (plur.) wheat from the place-of-threshing.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Each year set aside some of the first grain that you gather after you have threshed it. Bake a loaf of bread from the first flour that you grind and bring it to me to be a sacred offering.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Numbers 15:20

Of the first of your coarse meal you shall present a cake as an offering: The first loaf of bread baked from the first grain harvested is for the LORD. The rest is only available to eat after this offering has been made. The Hebrew word for coarse meal probably refers to “flour” (New Living Translation) or “bread dough” (Contemporary English Version) made from barley, the first major grain crop harvested in Israel. Good News Translation uses the general term “grain” (“corn” in British edition of Good News Translation). For the Hebrew word rendered cake, which probably refers to a ring-shaped loaf of baked bread, see the comments on 6.15. Since a cake is not in view here, this word is better translated “thick flat bread” or “loaf of bread” (Contemporary English Version). For the Hebrew expression rendered present … as an offering, see the previous verse.

As an offering from the threshing floor, so shall you present it: This sentence highlights that the first loaf of bread must be a contribution from the grain harvest. A threshing floor was a hard, level surface in the open air, located outside of a town, where the blowing winds could separate the seeds of grain from the husks. People either walked on the grain or dragged a heavy board over it, and then tossed both the grain and husks into the air. The wind blew away the lighter husks, but the heavier grain fell to the ground. Threshing floor may be rendered “place where grain is threshed/beaten.” This whole sentence may be translated “Give it as a contribution from the grain you thresh.”

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 .