unleavened bread

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “unleavened bread” in English is translated in various ways:

  • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “bread that doesn’t have its medicine that makes it puff up”
  • Teutila Cuicatec: “bread without its sour”
  • Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “bread that has no mother” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Mairasi: “bread without other ingredient” (source: Enggavoter 2004)

complete verse (Numbers 9:11)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 9:11:

  • Kupsabiny: “it is allowed for (him) to celebrate (it) when one month has passed. He should celebrate that feast when the sun has set on the fourteenth day of the second month. He should eat a ram at that feast and eat it with bread that has not risen and bitter herbs.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “They must celebrate the family festival at sundown on the 14th day of the 2nd month. They must eat the flesh of the sacrificial lamb with bread without yeast and bitter green vegetables.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “They will-celebrate this after one month, starting setting of the sun on the 14th day of the second month. They are to eat the sheep together with the bread which-has none -that-which-causes-to-expand and the bitter plant.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “But you must celebrate it exactly one month later, early in the evening of the fourteenth day of that month. Eat the meat of the lamb for the Passover Festival with bread that is baked without yeast and eat bitter herbs.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Numbers 9:11

In the second month on the fourteenth day in the evening they shall keep it: See verses 2-3. Those who are unable to celebrate the Passover in the first month may do it the next month. For the second month in the Hebrew calendar, see the comments on 1.1. The Hebrew verbs in verses 11-12 are third person plural, so Revised Standard Version uses the pronoun they. Although the pronoun “you” (Good News Translation) may be more natural in some languages, we recommend using the pronoun they if possible; it shows more clearly that future generations are included as well.

They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs: Unleavened bread and bitter herbs could be prepared quickly, recalling the hasty departure of the Israelites from Egypt (see Exo 12.11). For unleavened bread, see 6.15. The bitter herbs are not identified. According to A Handbook on Numbers at Exo 12.8, Jewish tradition permitted the following five plants as food at the Passover meal: lettuce, chicory, pepperwort, snakeroot, and dandelion. However, translators should not mention any particular herb or spice by name. It is best to use a generic term or descriptive expression for bitter herbs; for example, Chewa has “bitter relish of leaves [that is, leafy plants].”

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 .