The Hebrew that is transliterated as “Miriam” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “tambourine” referring to Exodus 15:20. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
In some Semitic languages, the transliteration for “Miriam” is identical to “Mary,” testifying to the fact that these names are identical (Arabic and the many translations that are reliant on Arabic: مَرْيَم, Hebrew: מִרְיָם, Ge’ez / Amharic and related languages: ማርያም).
The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is transliterated as “Levi” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign that signifies a menorah referring to the temple service of the tribe of the Levites. The same sign is also used for the tribe. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 26:59:
Kupsabiny: “Amram married a daughter of Levi who was called Jochebed who was born in Egypt. Jochebed bore to Amram two sons, Aaron and Moses and a girl who was called Miriam.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “The name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed descendant of Levi. She was from the tribe of Levi, born in the land of Egypt. By Amram she gave birth to Aaron, Moses and a daughter Miriam.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “and the wife of Amram was Jokebed who was a descendant also of Levi. Jokebed was-born in Egipto. Amram and Jokebed were the parents of Aaron, Moises, and Miriam.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “whose wife was Jochebed. She also was a descendant of Levi, but she was born in Egypt. She and Amram had two sons, Aaron and Moses/me, and their/our older sister Miriam.” (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
The name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed the daughter of Levi: Jochebed is mentioned only here and in Exo 6.20. Jochebed was the daughter of Levi, which means she was a sister of Kohath, Amram’s father. Exo 6.20 states this explicitly by saying “Amram took to wife Jochebed his father’s sister.” As A Handbook on Exodus points out there, such a marriage was later forbidden for Israelites (see Lev 18.12; 20.19), but it was evidently culturally accepted when Amram and Jochebed were married. The point here seems to be that this close familial relationship ensured the purity of the priestly line.
Who was born to Levi in Egypt: Like many other translations, Revised Standard Version follows the Vulgate and the Peshitta here. (Good News Bible also follows this reading, but omits to Levi.) The Hebrew text says literally “whom she [Jochebed’s mother] bore to Levi in Egypt”. Following this reading, NBV translates “whose wife had borne her in Egypt” (similarly NFB), and WV has “Her mother had borne her to Levi in Egypt.” New International Version and TNIV mention the reading followed by Revised Standard Version as an alternative in a footnote, but in the text itself they begin this verse with “the name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed, a descendant of Levi, who was born to the Levites in Egypt.” New Living Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch also follow this reading, presumably because these four translations want to allow for a number of generations between Levi on the one hand and Aaron and Moses on the other. However, the problem with this reading is that “to the Levites” seems artificial and does not follow the Hebrew.
And she bore to Amram Aaron and Moses and Miriam their sister: See 1 Chr 6.3. Aaron is listed before Moses and Miriam, because he was the oldest child, but also because the purpose of the list at this point is to show the primacy of the priestly line of descent through Aaron.
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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