gazelle

Both the Hebrew and Greek names are probably general terms for gazelle. At least two types of gazelle the Dorcas Gazelle Gazella dorcas and the Palestine or Arabian Gazelle Gazella arabica were found in the Middle East. They are still to be found in secluded areas.

Gazelles are small to medium sized plains antelopes, inhabiting savannah plains and semideserts. Both sexes have horns, except for the female impala, which is without horns. The horns of the gazelle species mentioned above are lyre-shaped about 25-50 centimeters (10-20 inches) in length. Gazelles are reddish brown with almost white underparts. They are long-legged and graceful and are expert jumpers. They live in small herds of up to about thirty. Females become sexually active at one year and bear young every year. This high rate of reproduction ensures their survival. They feed on both grass and the leaves of acacia and other bushes.

A breeding herd consists of one dominant breeding male and a group of females. The other males are chased from the herd when they become sexually active and they then form bachelor herds. These bachelor herds are the prime target for human and animal hunters since they provide a convenient source of meat while leaving the breeding cycle intact. In biblical times gazelles were trapped in nets or snares or were shot with bows and arrows.

The gazelle was seen as the cleanest of game animals since it met all the requirements of the Law concerning cloven hooves and cud-chewing. It was also a symbol of speed grace and beauty (the Hebrew root means beauty) and of female sexuality and fertility.

Where a language distinguishes between male and female animals, tsvi should be translated by the male form and tsviyah by the female form.

In East Africa where gazelles are well-known, a generic word for gazelles or the specific word for one of the smaller gazelles, such as the Thompson’s Gazelle Gazella thompsonii, is suitable. Elsewhere in Africa where the impala is known, the word for this antelope can be used.

Elsewhere, the word for a small antelope or deer that lives in herds can be used for the references that are literal, and the word for some swift, graceful antelope or deer can be used in the contexts where speed, grace, or beauty are being symbolized. As usual, in areas where gazelles, antelopes, and deer are unknown, a transliteration from the dominant international language or from the Hebrew original can be used. In such cases a description should be given in the glossary.

Gazella dorcas, Wikimedia Commons

Source: All Creatures Great and Small: Living things in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

save

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The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as a form of “save” in English is translated in Shipibo-Conibo with a phrase that means literally “make to live,” which combines the meaning of “to rescue” and “to deliver from danger,” but also the concept of “to heal” or “restore to health.”

Other translations include:

  • San Blas Kuna: “help the heart”
  • Laka: “take by the hand” in the meaning of “rescue” or “deliver”
  • Huautla Mazatec: “lift out on behalf of”
  • Anuak: “have life because of”
  • Central Mazahua: “be healed in the heart”
  • Baoulé: “save one’s head”
  • Guerrero Amuzgo: “come out well”
  • Northwestern Dinka: “be helped as to his breath” (or “life”) (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida),
  • Matumbi: “rescue (from danger)” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Noongar: barrang-ngandabat or “hold life” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • South Bolivian Quechua: “make to escape”
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl: “cause people to come out with the aid of the hand” (source for this and one above: Nida 1947, p. 222)
  • Bariai: “retrieve one back” (source: Bariai Back Translation)

See also salvation and save (Japanese honorifics).

sparrow

While the Greek word strouthion is certainly the name for the sparrow, the Hebrew tsippor is actually an inclusive word that refers to sparrow-sized birds in general. These small birds, especially sparrows, were caught in nets and traps and were an important part of the diet of poor people.

There are three types of sparrow that are common in Israel, the House Sparrow Passer domesticus, the Spanish Sparrow Passer hispaniolensis, and the Dead Sea Sparrow Passer moabiticus. All three are small speckled brown birds. Additional small birds that abound around towns and settlements are members of the bunting, finch, and tit families. Sparrows in particular are usually found in fairly large numbers roosting and nesting together. All are seed eaters and live mainly on grass seeds and grain.

Sparrows were considered clean birds and were associated with the poor.

Sparrows or sparrow-like small birds are found all over the world. Finding a local word is not usually difficult. The reference to “a lonely bird on the housetop” in Psalms 102:7 takes on additional meaning if the sparrow was intended, since it is a bird that is seldom seen alone. It would then indicate the psalmist’s sense of loneliness at being separated from those with whom he belongs.

Source: All Creatures Great and Small: Living things in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

Translation commentary on Proverbs 6:5

“Save yourself like a gazelle from the hunter”: “Save yourself” translates the same verb as in verse 3 and means to save your life or escape with your life. “Gazelle” renders a word that refers to a fast-running and graceful antelope. “Gazelle” is used here to emphasize the need to move swiftly. If the “gazelle” or a similar antelope is unknown, another animal known for its speed may be used. “Hunter”, as the Revised Standard Version footnote shows, is literally “from the hand.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project rates the Hebrew text as “B” and suggests that “from the hand” can be taken to mean “out of the hand” or “out of the trap.”

“Like a bird from the hand of the fowler”: This line is a parallel illustration to that in the first line. “Bird” here is a general word and probably refers to a small bird. The verb used in the first line is understood in this second line and may need to be expressed. “From the hand” means from what the hand does, that is, grasp, catch, or take hold of. The Septuagint says “from the net,” as in the Hebrew of Psa 91.3. “The fowler” refers to a person who traps fowls, that is, a bird hunter. New Jerusalem Bible says “break free like a gazelle from the trap, like a bird from the fowler’s clutches.” We may also say, for example, “Free yourself from the promise to that debtor as a deer or a bird escapes from a hunter.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

complete verse (Proverbs 6:5)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 6:5:

  • Kupsabiny: “But go/be far from there quickly like a gazelle escaping from the hands of a hunter or like a bird which has escaped the hands of a trapper.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Like a bird getting out of a trap,
    like a deer escaping
    from the hand of the hunter,
    take yourself out of the trap.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “till you (sing.) are-set-free, like a bird or a deer that was-able-to-flee from the hunter.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Put-forth your (sing.) efforts (lit. ability) to get-out as does a deer so-that it-will-run-away-from the hunter or (as) does a bird so-that it-will-escape-from the trap/snare.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)

SIL Translator’s Notes on Proverbs 6:5

6:5

This verse contains parallel similes:

5a Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,

5b
like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

The efforts of the hearer to free himself from his promise are compared to the desperate struggles of a gazelle to escape from a hunter’s trap. They are also compared to the efforts of a bird to escape from a bird hunter’s snare. Just as these animals struggle desperately to escape from a trap, so the hearer must try very hard to get himself released from the financial agreement that he has promised to fulfill.

6:5a

gazelle: The animal referred to here is probably a gazelle. A number of modern versions translate this word with the more general term “deer.”

6:5b

from the snare of the fowler: In Hebrew, the phrase snare of the fowler is literally “hand of the fowler” (New Revised Standard Version). “Hand” is a figure of speech (metonymy) that here represents a “snare” or “trap.” In some languages, it may be more natural to leave part of the figure of speech implied. For example:

from a hunter (Good News Translation)
-or-
from a trapper (New Century Version)
-or-
from a net (New Living Translation (2004))

fowler: The word fowler refers to a person who traps birds. In some languages, it may be preferable to use a general term such as “hunter” or “trapper,” as in the Good News Translation and New Century Version (quoted above).

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