Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Zechariah 4:3:
Kupsabiny: “There are two trees of olive which are near the thing for the lamps. One is at the right hand side of the bowl of oil, the other is at the left hand side.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “There are two olive trees near it. One on the right and one on the left."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “There-are two olive trees by it; one on the right of the bowl and the other on the left.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Furthermore, I see two olive trees, one at the right side of the lampstand and one at the left side.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The olive family has over four hundred species in the world. Many of them grow in Africa, India, and Australia, but it is the one in the Bible, the European Olive Olea europaea, that has become famous. It is likely that the olive was domesticated in Egypt or the eastern Mediterranean basin in the third millennium B.C. The botanist Newberry argued that Egypt was its original home. We know from the Bible that olives grew in the hills of Samaria and in the foothills. There is a wild variety, called Olea europaea sylvestris, that is smaller than the domestic one; it produces a smaller fruit with less oil. The Apostle Paul refers to this wild variety in Romans 11:17 and 11:24. Olives are easily propagated by cuttings and by grafting fruitful species into less fruitful ones. They grow best on hillsides where the rain drains off quickly. The fruit forms by August but does not ripen until December or January.
The olive is not a big tree, reaching up to perhaps 10 meters (33 feet), but with pruning it is usually kept to around 5 meters (17 feet) tall. The leaves are grayish green above, and whitish underneath. The bark of young trees is silvery gray but gets darker and rougher as the tree ages. The trunk also gets twisted and hollow and may reach over a meter in thickness. Olives grow for hundreds of years, and some in Israel have possibly reached two thousand years.
The fruit of the olive is about 2 centimeters (1 inch) long and a bit more than a centimeter (1/2 inch) thick. It has a hard stone inside and a soft skin that covers the oily flesh. Today a mature tree may yield 10-20 kilograms (22-44 pounds) of fruit, which, when processed, will yield 1.3-2.6 kilograms (3.6 pounds) of oil.
For the Jews the “big three” trees were the vine, the fig, and the olive. People ate olive fruits, but more importantly, they squeezed the oil from the fruits, and used it for cooking, for lamps, for rubbing on the body, for medicine, and in religion. Jacob poured olive oil on the stone where he saw a vision of angels, declaring it a holy place (Genesis 28:18). Moses, similarly, anointed the Tabernacle and its equipment with olive oil mixed with sweet-smelling resins (Exodus 40:9). Aaron and the priests who served in the Tabernacle were also anointed (Exodus 29:21).
Some types of wild olive grow in Africa, India, and Australia, but are not well-known. The so-called “African olive” produces a black, oil-bearing fruit much like an olive. It is common as a snack in northern Nigeria. The “Chinese olive” is also a species of Canarium and may be a possible cultural substitute, if it produces edible fruit and oil. The “Russian olive” grown in dry regions of the world is a member of the Elaeagnus family and not a true olive. A variety of olive (Olea cuspidate) is used for building in India and Nepal, but it is probably not possible to use it in the Bible except perhaps in a study Bible where you could say that the biblical olive was related to this tree.
Since most of the kinds of olive trees in the world do not have edible fruit, it may not be possible to substitute a local variety. If it is done, however, a footnote would be required saying that the Palestinian kind produced edible fruit and oil. If a variety of Canarium is eaten in your area, you could use the local name for it. Otherwise transliterate from a major language.
And there are two olive trees by it: Olive trees were and are very common in the Holy Land. Their fruit can be crushed to produce oil, which was used both as fuel for lamps, and for other purposes. The presence of olive trees near the lampstand suggests that they represent a source of fuel (compare verse 12). Once again, the word it is ambiguous. It may refer to the lampstand or to the bowl. The direct mention of the bowl in the second half of the verse suggests that it in the first half refers to the bowl. But the bowl as the functional part stands for the lampstand as a whole, so there is no real difference in meaning. For comments on olive trees, see the notes on Hag 2.19. There is no reason to suppose, as some commentators have done, that the olive trees were made of gold.
One on the right of the bowl and the other on its left: In some languages it may be better style to follow the example of Good News Translation and say “one on each side of it.” Or else translators could follow the model of Contemporary English Version for the whole verse: “One olive tree is on the right side and another on the left of the oil container.”
Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Zechariah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2002. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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