army

The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin that is translated as “army” in English is translated in Chichewa as “group of warriors.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

complete verse (Numbers 31:48)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 31:48:

  • Kupsabiny: “After that, the leaders of the soldiers went to Moses. Those people were the ones who had been in charge of a thousand soldiers and/or in charge of a hundred.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Then the leaders of thousands and hundreds having come to Moses” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Then the officers of the soldiers went to Moises” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Then the army officers and those who commanded 1,000 men and those who commanded 100 men came to Moses/me.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Moses

The name that is transliterated as “Moses” in English is signed in Spanish Sign Language and Polish Sign Language in accordance with the depiction of Moses in the famous statue by Michelangelo (see here ). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )


“Moses” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

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:


“Moses” in French Sign Language (source )

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).


“Moses” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

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

In Estonian Sign Language Moses is depicted with a big beard. (Source: Liina Paales in Folklore 47, 2011, p. 43ff. )


“Moses” in Estonian Sign Language, source: Glossary of the EKNK Toompea kogudus

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Moses .

Translation commentary on Numbers 31:48

Verse 48 begins the concluding subsection of chapter 31, so a paragraph break is appropriate here. The Hebrew waw conjunction rendered Then (literally “And”) may be translated “At that very time” (Chewa).

The officers who were over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds: The Hebrew word for officers is literally “those selected” or “those enlisted,” as in verse 14 (see the comments there). The captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, which is in apposition to the officers who were over the thousands of the army, renders the same Hebrew expression translated “the commanders of the thousands and the commanders of hundreds” in verse 14, so it should be rendered in the same way as there. For this whole part of the verse Good News Translation says simply “the officers who had commanded the army,” but this rendering loses the distinction between the larger and smaller military units here. A better model is “the officers who had commanded the army, that is, the commanders of battalions and companies.”

Came near to Moses may be rendered simply “went to Moses” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version).

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 .