witness

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “witness” in English is translated in these ways:

  • “truly have seen” in Highland Popoluca
  • “telling the truth regarding something” in Eastern Highland Otomi
  • “know something” in Lalana Chinantec
  • “verily know something to be the truth” in San Mateo del Mar Huave
  • “we ourselves saw this” in Desano
  • “tell the truth about something” in Eastern Highland Otomi
  • “know something is true because of seeing it” in Teutila Cuicatec (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • “ones who will confirm that these-things that you have seen are true” in Kankanaey (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • “ones who are to testify about these things, because it all happened before your eyes” in Tagbanwa (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

complete verse (Numbers 35:30)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 35:30:

  • Kupsabiny: “If a person kills another person, he shall be killed if there are people who have seen those words/events. But if there is only one person who has seen it, it is not sufficient for that person to be condemned to death.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “’If anyone kills anyone, he must be put to death by being killed in accordance with evidence given by witnesses. To put someone to death for killing someone on the witness of only one person is not allowed. ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘Anyone who killed his fellowman must be-killed, but there must be witnesses to prove that he has-killed. If only one witness will-prove, that particular man is not to-be-killed.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “‘If someone is accused of killing another person, the one who is accused may be executed only if there are people who saw him do it. There must be more than one witness; no one is permitted to be executed if there was only one witness/person who saw him do it.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Numbers 35:30

Most versions begin a new paragraph at verse 30 (so New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). Verses 30-33 have the following chiastic structure:

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 .