10And the Lord said to Moses, “Put back the staff of Aaron before the covenant, to be kept as a warning to rebels, so that you may make an end of their complaints against me, or else they will die.”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 17:10:
Kupsabiny: “God said to Moses, ‘Return the stick of Aaron and go and place it there in front of the Ark of the Covenant. It shall stay there to be a lesson to the Israelites who accepted to oppose/rebel so that they do not continue to oppose me. Then they shall not die.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “The LORD said to Moses, ‘As a sign of the sudden death that will happen to those who make opposition, bring Aaron’s stick and place it once again before the ark of the covenant. Then you will stop their complaining against me, otherwise they will die."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “The LORD said to Moises, ‘Put-back the staff/cane of Aaron in front of the Box of the Law so-that it will-be- a -warning to the rebels that they will-die if they will- not -stop complaining against me.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, ‘Put Aaron’s stick in front of the sacred chest, and let it stay there permanently. That will be a warning to people who want to rebel against me. Then no more people will die because of complaining against me.’” (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
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.
Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony: For before the testimony, which Good News Bible renders “in front of the Covenant Box,” see verse 4.
To be kept as a sign for the rebels: The Hebrew term for sign is the same as in 16.38 and should be rendered the same here. This is a key concept in chapters 16–17: here was another visible warning and reminder that the LORD’s authority and that of his chosen leaders must not be contested. Rebels is literally “sons of rebellion.”
That you may make an end of their murmurings against me: See verse 5, where the same Hebrew noun for murmurings is used. Revised Standard Version follows the reading in the Hebrew text for this clause. New Jewish Publication Society Version changes the text slightly to read “so that their mutterings against Me may cease” (similarly Good News Bible, De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling). We recommend the reading in the Hebrew text (so also Hebrew Old Testament Text Project).
Lest they die is literally “and they will not die.” PV renders this clause and the previous one as a separate sentence, saying “This way, you will stop the words they say against me, and they will not risk dying.”
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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