altar

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The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “altar” in English is translated in a number of ways:

  • Obolo: ntook or “raised structure for keeping utensils (esp. sacrifice)” (source: Enene Enene)
  • Muna: medha kaefoampe’a or “offering table” (source: René van den Berg)
  • Luchazi: muytula or “the place where one sets the burden down”/”the place where the life is laid down” (source: E. Pearson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 160ff. )
  • Tzotzil: “where they place God’s gifts” (source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation, March 1965, p. 2ff.)
  • Tsafiki: “table for giving to God” (source: Bruce Moore in Notes on Translation 1/1992, p. 1ff.)
  • Noongar: karla-kooranyi or “sacred fire” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “offering-burning table” (source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “place for sacrificing” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “burning-place” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tibetan: mchod khri (མཆོད་​ཁྲི།) or “offering throne” (source: gSungrab website )
  • Bura-Pabir: “sacrifice mound” (source: Andy Warrren-Rothlin)
The Ignaciano translators decided to translate the difficult term in that language according to the focus of each New Testament passage in which the word appears (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight

Willis Ott (in Notes on Translation 88/1982, p. 18ff.) explains:

  • Matt. 5:23,24: “When you take your offering to God, and arriving, you remember…, do not offer your gift yet. First go to your brother…Then it is fitting to return and offer your offering to God.” (The focus is on improving relationships with people before attempting to improve a relationship with God, so the means of offering, the altar, is not focal.)
  • Matt. 23:18 (19,20): “You also teach erroneously: ‘If someone makes a promise, swearing by the offering-place/table, he is not guilty if he should break the promise. But if he swears by the gift that he put on the offering-place/table, he will be guilty if he breaks the promise.'”
  • Luke 1:11: “…to the right side of the table where they burn incense.”
  • Luke 11.51. “…the one they killed in front of the temple (or the temple enclosure).” (The focus is on location, with overtones on: “their crime was all the more heinous for killing him there”.)
  • Rom. 11:3: “Lord, they have killed all my fellow prophets that spoke for you. They do not want anyone to give offerings to you in worship.” (The focus is on the people’s rejection of religion, with God as the object of worship.)
  • 1Cor. 9:13 (10:18): “Remember that those that attend the temple have rights to eat the foods that people bring as offerings to God. They have rights to the meat that the people offer.” (The focus is on the right of priests to the offered food.)
  • Heb. 7:13: “This one of whom we are talking is from another clan. No one from that clan was ever a priest.” (The focus in on the legitimacy of this priest’s vocation.)
  • Jas. 2:21: “Remember our ancestor Abraham, when God tested him by asking him to give him his son by death. Abraham was to the point of stabbing/killing his son, thus proving his obedience.” (The focus is on the sacrifice as a demonstration of faith/obedience.)
  • Rev. 6:9 (8:3,5; 9:13; 14:18; 16:7): “I saw the souls of them that…They were under the table that holds God’s fire/coals.” (This keeps the concepts of: furniture, receptacle for keeping fire, and location near God.)
  • Rev. 11:1: “Go to the temple, Measure the building and the inside enclosure (the outside is contrasted in v. 2). Measure the burning place for offered animals. Then count the people who are worshiping there.” (This altar is probably the brazen altar in a temple on earth, since people are worshiping there and since outside this area conquerors are allowed to subjugate for a certain time.)

See also altar (Acts 17:23).


In the Hebraic English translation of Everett Fox it is translated as slaughter-site and likewise in the German translation by Buber / Rosenzweig as Schlachtstatt.

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (1Sam 23:3)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, the Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation both use the inclusive pronoun, including everyone.

Translation commentary on 1 Samuel 2:33

The man of you whom I shall not cut off is an indirect reference to Abiathar (see 22.20-23). Solomon will later remove Abiathar from serving as priest and banish him to his home town of Anathoth (1 Kgs 2.26-27). The wording of Revised Standard Version is awkward and may be better rendered positively as in Bible en français courant, “However, I will keep one of your descendants [near my altar]” or something similar. However, the translation of New International Version (“every one of you”) seems to be off the mark. The verb rendered cut off is a different verb in Hebrew from that translated “cut off” in verse 31; but it is also used figuratively to mean “to destroy” or “to eliminate.” Revised English Bible says “If I allow any to survive to serve my altar.” In some Old Testament texts where this verb is used, it is difficult to know whether the meaning is “to kill” or “to separate or expel” from the community. (See, for example, 28.9.)

His eyes … his heart: the Hebrew says “your [singular] eyes” and “your [singular] heart.” It has seemed impossible to many interpreters to think that the fate of Abiathar, long after Eli’s death, will cause Eli sorrow. Many translations therefore follow the Septuagint and a manuscript from Qumran, which say “his eyes” and “his soul.” Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, however, gives a {B} rating to the Masoretic Text, stating that even though Eli will be dead, he will suffer by seeing Abiathar banished by Solomon. New International Version, which attempts to translate the Hebrew, says “Every one of you that I do not cut off from my altar will be spared only to blind your eyes with tears and to grieve your heart.” See also New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, “I shall not cut off all your offspring from My altar; [but] to make your eyes pine and your spirit languish, all the increase in your house shall die as [ordinary] men.” The recommendation of Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament as well as the translations in New International Version and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh attempt to make sense of the second person pronouns in Hebrew, but such translations seem to force a strange meaning. Translators may follow the models of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation in reading “his” instead of “your.”

Weep out his eyes: the Hebrew verb means “to complete” or “to use up.” Klein and New Century Version say “will wear out his eyes,” and La Bible du Semeur says “wear out his eyes by crying.” But more natural English will be “for his eyes to go blind” (New Jerusalem Bible) or simply “become blind” (Good News Translation).

Grieve his heart: the verb translated grieve occurs only here in the Old Testament, and the root from which this verb form comes is uncertain. The sense seems to be “to grieve,” “despair,” or “mourn.” The words his heart (literally “your soul/life/breath”) may be redundant in some languages, in which case Good News Translation may provide a good model.

Shall die by the sword of men: Revised Standard Version follows the Septuagint by inserting the words by the sword. Revised English Bible (“and his issue will be weaklings and die off”) is based on a change of vowels in the Hebrew text. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, however, gives a {B} rating to the Masoretic Text. The sense of the Hebrew “shall die as men” is disputed. New International Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente understand this to mean “die in the prime of life.” Similar Stuttgarter Erklärungsbibel: “when they have become men.”

According to Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, however, the sense is that they will die as ordinary men, that is, they will no longer be serving as priests at the time they die. The New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh translation, cited two paragraphs above, appears to follow the interpretation recommended by Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament for the last part of this verse. If translators accept this interpretation, it may be necessary to be more explicit: “all of your descendants will die at a time when they are no longer serving as priests” (similarly Bible en français courant).

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .