lamb

The term that is translated as “lamb” in English is typically translated as “offspring of a sheep” in Ixcatlán Mazatec since there is no specific word for “lamb.” Since this could distract readers with thoughts of God being the sheep when the “lamb” refers to Jesus the translation into Ixcatlán Mazatec chose “little (individual) sheep” for those cases. (Source: Robert Bascom)

In Dëne Súline the native term for “lamb” directly translated as “the young one of an evil little caribou.” To avoid the negative connotation, a loan word from the neighboring South Slavey was used. (Source: NCAM, p. 70)

For the Kasua translation, it took a long process to find the right term. Rachel Greco (in The PNG Experience) tells this story:

“To the Kasua people of Western Province, every four-legged animal is a pig. They call a horse a pig-horse, a cow, a pig-cow, and a sheep, a pig-sheep, because all of these animals have four legs, which is kopolo, or pig, in their language.

“When the translation team would translate the word, ‘sheep’ in the New Testament, they would translate it as ‘pig-sheep’. So when Jesus is referred to as the ‘Lamb,’ (John 1:29; Rev. 12:11; Rev. 17:14), they translated as ‘pig-sheep’ so that in John 1:29 it would read: ‘Behold, the pig-sheep of God.’

“When some members of the translation team attended the Translators Training Course, they had the opportunity to observe and study sheep for the first time. As they watched and learned more about the animals’ behavior, their understanding of these creatures—and God’s Word—rotated on its axis.

“Once during the course, Logan and Konni — the translation team’s helpers — were driving with the team to a Bible dedication when Amos, one of the team members, said passionately, ‘We can’t use the word kopolo in front of the word, ‘sheep’! Pigs know when they’re about to die and squeal and scream.’ The team had often watched villagers tie up pigs so they wouldn’t escape.

“’But,’ Amos said, ‘Jesus didn’t do that.’ The team had learned that sheep are quiet and still when death walks toward them. They had observed, as they translated the New Testament, the words of Isaiah 53 fulfilled: ‘Like a lamb led to the slaughter, he did not open his mouth.’ And now they understood what it meant. For this reason, the team decided not to put pig-sheep in the New Testament for the word ‘sheep,’ but used sheep-animal or, in their language, a:pele sipi.

“The Kasua translation team also chose to discard the word ‘pig’ before sheep because pigs are unclean animals to the Jews. The team knew that Jesus was called the ‘Lamb of God’ in the New Testament to show that he is unblemished and clean. Hopefully the Lord will open up the Kasua villagers’ eyes to these same truths about Jesus as they read of Him in their own language.”

See also sheep.

lie in his bosom

The Hebrew that is translated as “lie in his bosom” or similar in English is translated in Vidunda as “holding on chest” to avoid any possible misunderstanding with bestiality, plus the phrasing also communicates affection. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

Translation commentary on 2 Samuel 12:3

One little ewe lamb: in a culture where wealth is measured in livestock, the man who owned only one animal would have been poor indeed. The lamb in this case is qualified as being (1) small, (2) female, (3) the only one the poor man owned, and (4) one that the man had paid his own money for, that is, the lamb rightfully belonged to him. In light of the point the prophet wants to make, each of these is significant and should be retained in translation.

The intimate relationship between the poor man and his lamb is emphasized by stating that the man himself did the work of bringing up the animal with his own children. The lamb would actually eat of his morsel, that is, it was allowed to eat from the dish of its master, and drink from his cup.

The word translated morsel shows that, while the lamb was allowed a part of the food, it was indeed “meager fare” (New Revised Standard Version). New American Bible rightly translates it “the little food he had.”

Lie in his bosom: this further shows the close relationship between the man and his pet lamb. Some other model translations are “sleeping in his arms” (New Jerusalem Bible) and “slept right next to him” (Bible en français courant).

The verb forms in this verse should be of the type that are used in speaking of matters that occur repeatedly or habitually. This is the value of forms like it used to … or “he would…” (Good News Translation). It will also be noticed that, instead of making the lamb the subject of these sentences, Good News Translation puts the focus on the man who would allow the lamb to do certain things. Whichever subject is more natural should be used in the receptor language.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .