burnt-offering

The Hebrew olah (עֹלָה) originally means “that which goes up (in smoke).” English Bibles often translates it as “burnt-offering” or “whole burnt-offering,” focusing on the aspect of the complete burning of the offering.

The Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate Bibles translate it as holokautōma / holocautōsis (ὁλοκαύτωμα / ὁλοκαύτωσις) and holocaustum, respectively, meaning “wholly burnt.” While a form of this term is widely used in many Romance languages (Spanish: holocaustos, French: holocaustes, Italian: olocausti, Portuguese: holocaustos) and originally also in the Catholic tradition of English Bible translations, it is largely not used in English anymore today (the preface of the revised edition of the Catholic New American Bible of 2011: “There have been changes in vocabulary; for example, the term ‘holocaust’ is now normally reserved for the sacrilegious attempt to destroy the Jewish people by the Third Reich.”)

Since translation into Georgian was traditionally done on the basis of the Greek Septuagint, a transliteration of holokautōma was used as well, which was changed to a translation with the meaning of “burnt offering” when the Old Testament was retranslated in the 1980’s on the basis of the Hebrew text.

In the Koongo (Ki-manianga) translation by the Alliance Biblique de la R.D. Congo (publ. in 2015) olah is translated as “kill and offer sacrifice.” (Source: Anicet Bassilua)

The English translation of Everett Fox uses offering-up (similarly, the German translation by Buber-Rosenzweig has Darhöhung and the French translation by Chouraqui montée).

See also offering (qorban).

Translation commentary on 2 Kings 10:24

He went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings: Instead of he went in, the Masoretic Text and most ancient versions have “they went in” (also Revised English Bible, Nouvelle Bible Segond). It is possible that the plural verb refers to the worshipers of Baal, who offered sacrifices and burnt offerings. If this is the intended meaning, then Jehu apparently did not enter the temple (see the comments on verse 25). Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, for example, says “The worshipers of Baal entered the temple to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings.” Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {B} rating to the Masoretic Text. Many interpreters, however, follow some ancient Greek manuscripts in reading the singular, as verse 25 seems to require (but see the comments there). Even if translators should follow the Greek by keeping the focus on Jehu with the singular pronoun, the context indicates that Jonadab accompanied Jehu at this point. It will be possible to retain focus on Jehu while at the same time including Jonadab by translating “he and Jonadab went in…” (Good News Translation) or “Jehu and Jonadab entered…” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible; similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Bible en français courant). Either rendering may be a good model for some languages.

The problem with the translations and interpretations just mentioned is that the text says that someone (whether Jehu, Jehu and Jonadab, or the worshipers of Baal) entered the temple (verse 24) even though they were already in the temple according to verses 21 and 23. How did they go in when they were already in the temple? Some interpreters understand the Hebrew construction of the verb meaning “to go” or “enter” plus the infinitive to mean “to begin (an action).” With this understanding the Hebrew at the beginning of verse 24 would be translated “Then they proceeded to offer sacrifices…” (New Revised Standard Version, New American Bible) or “He then proceeded to present sacrifices…” (New Jerusalem Bible). This interpretation is preferable here.

For sacrifices see the comments at 1 Kgs 1.9 and 2 Kgs 5.17; for burnt offerings, see the comments at 1 Kgs 3.4. Some languages render the expression sacrifices and burnt offerings as “sacrifices that are burned and other kinds of sacrifices.”

Now Jehu had stationed eighty men outside: The verb stationed may be rendered in certain languages by a causative form meaning “caused to stand” or possibly “instructed to take a position.” Most translations understand the Hebrew to mean that Jehu had placed these men outside the temple of Baal before he entered it. But since Biblia Dios Habla Hoy says that it was the worshipers of Baal who entered the temple, here it says “Meanwhile, Jehu put eighty men outside”; that is, Jehu stationed eighty men outside while the worshipers were going in.

In some languages it will be important to make it clear that the soldiers were stationed outside the temple of Baal (so Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) and not in some indefinite outdoor location.

The verb said in this context may be legitimately translated “commanded” or “ordered” (as in verse 20) since what is involved is a military officer speaking to the men under his authority. Revised English Bible says “warned them.”

The man who allows any … to escape shall forfeit his life: Shall forfeit his life is literally “his life in place of his life.” The eighty men stationed outside the temple were to kill the worshipers of Baal. If any guard allowed a worshiper of Baal to escape, the guard himself was to be put to death.

The direct quotation of Jehu’s order may be made indirect in those languages where this would be more appropriate. A possible model for this is:

• And he instructed the soldiers to kill all the people inside the temple. He said that anyone who allowed a person to escape would lose his own life.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .