The LORD spoke to Aaron, saying: the construction here is exactly the same as in 4.1, and it is used to begin many other paragraphs in this book. However, in those other cases only one verb is used in Revised Standard Version. In most cases it will be more natural to use a single verb in this case also. But some languages naturally use such repetition to introduce a quotation.
Drink no wine nor strong drink: the restructuring of Good News Translation makes it clearer that the priests are not necessarily forbidden alcoholic drinks in all circumstances, but that the restriction applied when they were about to go into the Tent. The word translated wine indicates a drink made from grapes, and the context makes it clear that fermentation is probably involved. The second term, rendered strong drink in Revised Standard Version, actually refers to a fermented drink made from barley. The most common equivalent in many languages is “beer.” But these two terms used together represent any alcoholic beverage, and the prohibition is not limited to two kinds. The translation should make it clear that a general rule is intended.
In some cases it may be better to restructure the entire verse 9 to say something like “No priest, whether you or your sons, shall enter the Tent of the LORD’s presence after having drunk…” or “If you or your sons have drunk…, then you must not go into the Tent….” The reason for this prohibition may be twofold: (a) the need to be sober and clear-thinking in order to distinguish between what is holy and what is common, between what is clean and unclean (see verse 10); but also (b) the need for separation of the Jewish priests from common Canaanite practices, since alcohol played an important role in Canaanite rites.
Lest you die: see verse 6.
It shall be a statute for ever: this gives the regulation a permanent value. See comments on 3.17b.
Throughout your generations: this includes the generation of Aaron and his sons as well as those who would come after them. Many languages will have to use a completely different expression such as “as long as your children continue to have grandchildren” or “as long as your family continue as priests.”
Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Drawing by Ismar David from Charles L. Allen, 1967.
For other images of Ismar David drawings, see here.
Additional insight on purity of heart.
It echoed throughout my childhood: my mother’s exasperated voice, entreating my brother and me to stop our constant fighting before it cut years from her harried life. She was right on one of those assertions and wrong on another: my brother and I did indeed fight a lot, but he and I will gather peacefully in Hamburg, Germany, this year to celebrate her 80th birthday with her, so she was happily wrong about the life-shortening consequences of that bickering.
Having siblings can be a uniquely rich experience, but growing up with those same siblings can be hard. Very hard.
In many languages, including English and biblical Hebrew, the same word is used for biological siblings as for those who are deeply united in a cause, such as fellow Israelites serving the Lord or fellow Christian believers in the New Testament. The biblical text contains ample testimony to both the pitfalls and the thrills of forging that outward union into an inward unity.
“How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” The first line of Psalm 133—likely sung as people from across Israel made their way to Jerusalem for the High Holy Days—can evoke either jubilation about a unity and togetherness that is firmly in place or a pleading reminder that much needs to be done to achieve that unity.
Either way, the rewards the psalmist mentions are tremendous.
It’s like the soothing, healing, fragrant oil from above that runs down the hair, through the beard, and onto the robe of Aaron, where it pools on his chest plate containing the 12 stones that represent Israel’s tribes. (In both Spanish and Catalan Sign Language, Aaron’s name is signed by pointing to where the stones on his chest plate would be.) It’s also like the metaphoric covering of the whole land with life-giving, refreshing moisture, all the way from Mount Hermon in the far north to Jerusalem in the south.
Complete unity. Oneness, given from above.
See the rest of the lectionary with data from the Translation Insights & Perspectives tool right here.
For another perspective on the same text see Forgive and Forget?
I recently celebrated my 59th birthday during an especially debilitating flare-up of multiple sclerosis, my unwelcome companion of three decades. Though I can still take my daily beach walks with my dingo, I now use a cane to propel myself through the sand. And I find myself musing on questions that haven’t plagued me since my late adolescence: Who am I? What is my purpose in life? What do I have to offer the world with my unique set of limitations? Where do I fit in to this world?
It’s an age-old human question, honed to obsession in the 21st century: Who am I? But though it permeates our culture now, we don’t have a monopoly on the question. For proof of the importance of identity, look no further than the genealogy that launches the Gospel of Matthew, where the writer lays out a historical resume to prove Jesus’ identity. Then, as now, questions of identity and belonging are essential.
When Jesus asks his disciples the divinely existential question of who the people and then the disciples think he is, his essential question is also all about identity—Jesus’ identity, Peter’s identity, and ultimately our identity as Christians.
The disciples report that people (anthrōpoi) see Jesus (huios tou anthrōpou or “Son of man/humanity” in Jesus’ question) in the context of figures from the past, but Peter recognizes Jesus as someone who melds the past and the future into the present time: the long-awaited Messiah who was and is to come has indeed arrived. One who, Peter clarifies, is also “the Son of the living God.”
We don’t know if the writer of Matthew was familiar with the letter to the Hebrews and its thundering proclamation that “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (10:31), but he most certainly was intimately familiar with the Hebrew Bible. In the Hebrew Bible, the phrase “the living God” often carries the sense that this deity is to be feared by those who are not on his side. As Moses asks the people, “For who is there of all flesh that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the fire, as we have, and lived?” (Deut. 5:26).
See the rest of this lectionary right here.
For another perspective on the same text see Losing puns in translation (Matthew 16:13-20).
The article “10 Biblical Terms I Wish Christians Had in English” that uses content from the Translation Insights & Perspectives tool was translated and published in Indonesian by Christianity Today. See here.
“This devotion that is intended to accompany you from Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday presents Jesus as he approaches his death and is glorified in his resurrection in a way you might not have encountered him: Through the words of languages from around the world. Find out how other cultural norms and concepts find their expression in Bible translation and how that can have a deep impact on your own appreciation and understanding of God’s love for you.”
Subscribe to the 7-day reading plan on YouVersion right here.
Pentecost reveals a God who understands that language is more than communication.
Just days after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit arrives, and with him, the apostles’ ability to speak in other languages. Diasporic visitors from as far away as today’s Iraq, Libya, and Italy suddenly can hear the gospel in their mother tongues. Hearing about Jesus in this intimate way surprises and amazes the listeners in Jerusalem and viscerally reinforces the personal nature of Jesus’ mission. (The fact that these visitors likely understood Jerusalem’s prevailing languages of Greek or Aramaic further underscores this.)
Yet the church was slow to adopt this message of Pentecost when it came to translating Scripture. Yes, they translated the Bible, but predominantly into Latin, Koine Greek, Ge’ez, Coptic, or Church Slavonic—languages that, over time, became the domain of just a few.
This first changed during the Reformation, and then again with the advent of Bible societies in the 19th century and with translation organizations such as Wycliffe Bible Translators in the 20th century. Today, more than 3,500 languages have at least a portion of the Bible translated into their language (a huge jump from about 2,000 languages just 20 years ago!).
The explosion of modern Bible translations amplifies the ongoing story of Pentecost, a grace that becomes most apparent when we’re able to unearth the riches of these translations and share their treasures beyond their original target audiences.
A couple of those gems can be found in Acts 2:4, the verse that reports on the lifting of that language barrier: “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they began to speak in other languages which the Holy Spirit made them able to speak” (NLV).
You can read the rest of the article right here.