The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and Latin that is transliterated “Levites” in English (only the Contemporary English Version translates it as “temple helpers”) is translated in Ojitlán Chinantec as “temple caretakers,” Yatzachi Zapotec as “people born in the family line of Levi, people whose responsibility it was to do the work in the important church of the Israelites,” in Alekano as “servants in the sacrifice house from Jerusalem place,” and in Tenango Otomi as “helpers of priests.” (Source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
In American Sign Language with a sign that combines “temple” + “servant.” (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Levite” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 8:14:
Kupsabiny: “In this way, you (sing.) shall set aside the clan of Levi from the people of Israel, and then, the people of that clan shall belong to me.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “In this way you are to separate the Levites from among the Israelites. The Levites will belong to me.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “In this way you (sing.) are-to- separate/set-apart the descendants of Levi from the other Israelinhon, and they will-be mine.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “This ritual will show that the descendants of Levi are set apart from the other Israelis and that they belong to me.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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.
Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel …: The conjunction Thus (literally “And”) is not found in the Hebrew text, but it serves well to mark the close of a discourse unit in English. An expression should be used in the translation to show that this verse is the conclusion of the unit spanning verses 5-14 as well as the paragraph incorporating verses 12-14; for example, Chewa begins this verse with “This is how you should separate the Levites….”
And the Levites shall be mine is the first, most general result of the Levites’ dedication ritual recorded in verses 5-14. Good News Translation says “so that they will belong to me.”
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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