46Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, put fire on it from the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them. For wrath has gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun.”
The Greek and Hebrew that is usually translated in English as “atonement” is translated in Luchazi with minina mata: “to swallow another’s spittle.” “The human bite [is traditionally thought of] as being the most poisonous and dangerous and the poison lies in the saliva. So in swallowing another’s spittle, one takes into oneself all the poison or evil of the other and thus actually ‘becomes sin’ on behalf of the other. The substitute then proceeds to deal with the case as though he were the guilty one.” (Source: E. Pearson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 160ff. )
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 16:46:
Kupsabiny: “After that, Moses said to Aaron, ‘Scoop some embers into your pan from the altar and place there the things that smell sweet to burn. Then bring it quickly to where people are and make ceremonies by which those people are forgiven. Do like that because God is very angry and he has already began a plague.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Moses said to Aaron, "Take your incense burner [lit.: firepot to offer incense], then put fire from the altar in it, and incense, and take it quickly to the place of the community and make atonement for them, for the anger of the LORD is burning [and] the plague has begun."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Then Moises said to Aaron, ‘Take/Get your (sing.) container of incense and put burning-coals on it from the altar. Then put incense on it and you (sing.) hurriedly go to the community and do/perform the ceremony so-that they will-be-redeemed from their sins, for the LORD is now angry and the afflictions/evil/disasters have-started already.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Moses/I said to Aaron, ‘Quickly take another pan and put in it some burning/hot coals from the altar. Put incense in the pan, and carry it out among the people to atone for the sins of the people. Yahweh is very angry with them, and I know that a severe plague/bad sickness has already started among them.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here ).
In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:
The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).
In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).
In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the eye make up he would have worn as the adopted son of an Egyptian princess. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)
“Moses” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL
And Moses said to Aaron …: Moses’ directions to Aaron are very urgent and this is reflected in the Hebrew construction of closely related imperative clauses that comprise most of the lengthy sentence of verse 46. In some languages this sentence would sound very natural in an oral expression. In other languages, however, the sequence of commands here may be too long, so a break must be made somewhere. The English versions differ in this respect; for example, Good News Translation has four sentences, and Contemporary English Version uses three.
Take your censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and lay incense on it: For censer see verse 6; for fire and incense, see verse 7. The altar refers to the altar of sacrifice in front of the entrance to the Tabernacle (see 3.26).
And carry it quickly to the congregation: Once again congregation is better rendered “community” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh; see 1.2).
And make atonement for them: This imperative constitutes the climax of the whole sequence of commands, so it may be best to break the sentence after this clause. For the Hebrew verb rendered make atonement, see 5.8. This key term should be translated contextually (but also with reference to past usage). Good News Translation says “perform the ritual of purification,” which does not adequately capture its meaning here. In view of the explanatory clause that follows, a better rendering is “make expiation [for the people’s sin]” (similarly Revised English Bible).
For wrath has gone forth from the LORD: The Hebrew particle ki rendered for introduces why Aaron must offer incense to make atonement for the people. The Hebrew noun for wrath is the same one used in 1.53. Some translations try to capture the urgency in Moses’ words at this point; for example, Good News Translation says “Hurry! The LORD’s anger has already broken out.” Another possible model is “Do this quickly. The LORD is very angry” (similarly Contemporary English Version).
The plague has begun: The Hebrew word for plague refers to some type of destructive blow, but it is not clear what it is here, so translators should use a general term to render it (see 8.19; compare also 14.37), for example, “disaster” or “affliction.” The Hebrew term here is the same used in Exo 12.13, where it refers more literally to the “striking” of all the firstborn sons in Egypt.
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 .
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