I the LORD your God am a jealous God

The Hebrew that is translated in English as “I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God” or similar is translated in Toraja-Sa’dan with an established figure of speech: “I am the Lord your God who will not that His face is drawn as water is drawn” (i.e “who will not that a person treats Him without respect, or refuses to figure with Him, or dishonors Him, or in passing Him by honors others above him.”) (Source: H. van der Veen in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 21 ff. ).

In Orma, the phrase is translated as “I, the Lord your God, will not tolerate if you bow down and worship them.” George Payton explains: “When we translated Exodus in Orma, we had difficulty translating ‘jealous’ in the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20. The first commandments in vv.3-5 read, ‘You shall have no other gods before me. 4 ‘You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents…’

“Verse 5 says ‘I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God’ The word jealous/jealousy in Orma is hinaafa. This word brings two negative connotations. One is feeling envious of someone else’s property, or of the prosperity of their livestock or the produce of their farms. In other words, envy or coveting what someone else has but you do not. The word hinaafa can also refer to a jealous husband in a bad way. When a husband is always suspicious of his wife being unfaithful, he easily flies into a rage when she does something that triggers his suspicions, even if she is innocent. Sometimes the husband attacks her or someone else and harms them because of his jealousy. Hinaafa communicates that idea of blind rage, often unreasonable or irrational. We had to choose a different way to communicate God’s attitude. God promised to punish them if they worship any gods because He will not put up with them if they do. We ended up translating vv3-5: ‘Apart from me, you shall not worship any other gods. You shall not make a statue of anything in heaven or anything on earth or anything in the waters. I, the LORD your God, will not tolerate if you bow down and worship them. If you do, I will punish even the children for the sin of their parents…'”

In Chichewa “‘jealousy’ very commonly includes a prominent sexual component” so the solution there was to translated “(a God) who does not allow competition with me” (source: Wendland 1987, p. 127) and in Chamula Tzotzil it is not appropriate to use the usual word for jealousy of humans in relation to God when translating the Hebrew term that is translated as “jealous” in English versions. Here “I get angry with those who go with others” is used (source: Robert Bascom).

wild ass

In the context of being in the wilderness, the Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “wild ass” in English is translated in Chitonga as cibize or “zebra,” because “from the Tonga perspective, no ‘donkey of the bush’ [the literal correspondent of ‘wild ass’] could be expected to live very long, due to predators like lions, etc.” (Source: Wendland 1987, p. 130)

See also wild ass of a man / wild donkey.

Tell the man who sent you to me

The Hebrew that is translated as “Tell the man who sent you to me” or similar in English is translated in Chichewa (interconfessional translation) as “Go tell him who has sent you here,” “since a literal rendering of ‘man’ [somebody] would be impolite in this context, especially since the king is being referred to; ‘to me’ is implicit in the locative adverb ‘here.'” (Source: Wendland 1987, p. 135)

lay your hand upon your mouth

The Hebrew that is translated as “lay your hand upon your mouth” or similar in English is translated in Chitonga with the proverb “grab yourself on the lip” (i.e., in amazement). (Source: Wendland 1987, p. 104)

escaped by the skin of my teeth

The Hebrew that is translated as “escaped by the skin of my teeth” or similar in English is translated in Chitonga with the proverb “my teeth are outside” (i.e., he is so thin [hence near to death] that his lips are stretched tightly, thus exposing his teeth). (Source: Wendland 1987, p. 104)

utterly melt with fear

The Hebrew that is translated as “utterly melt with fear” or similar in English is translated in Chichewa (interconfessional translation) with the proverb “they were broken off in their knees.” (Source: Wendland 1987, p. 104)

cause the eyes of the widow to fail

The Hebrew that is translated as “cause the eyes of the widow to fail” or similar in English is translated in Chichewa (interconfessional translation) with the proverb “cause the widows to grab on to a stone.” (Source: Wendland 1987, p. 104)

was so tormented

The Hebrew that is translated as “was so tormented” or similar in English is translated in Chichewa (interconfessional translation) with the existing metaphor “could not lay down in sleep.” (Source: Wendland 1987, p. 131)