19As soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’s anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets from his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “anger” in English in this verse is translated with a variety of solutions (Bratcher / Nida says: “Since anger has so many manifestations and seems to affect so many aspects of personality, it is not strange that expressions used to describe this emotional response are so varied).”
Citak: two different terms, one meaning “angry” and one meaning “offended,” both are actually descriptions of facial expressions. The former can be represented by an angry stretching of the eyes or by an angry frown. The latter is similarly expressed by an offended type of frown with one’s head lowered. (Source: Graham Ogden)
The name that is transliterated as “Moses” in English is signed in Spanish Sign Language and Polish Sign Language in accordance with the depiction of Moses in the famous statue by Michelangelo (see here ). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff.)
American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here).
In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:
The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).
Even at the time of his translation, Jerome likely was not the only one making that decision as this recent article alludes to.
In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).
And as soon as he came near the camp is literally “And it was as he approached unto the camp.” The he refers to Moses; nothing more is said about Joshua. One may also translate “As Moses came closer to the camp where the people were staying….” American Standard Version has “And it came to pass….” And saw the calf refers to the “bull-calf” (Good News Translation) mentioned in verse 4. And the dancing suggests a type of whirling movement, and many cultures will have dance forms using this movement. Good News Translation adds “to see the people dancing.” The same term is used of Miriam and the women in 15.20. It is associated with occasions of joy and celebration. Contemporary English Version has “dancing around.”
Moses’ anger burned hot is literally “and the nose of Moses became hot.” The same expression is used of Yahweh in verses 10-11. (See the comment at 4.14.) And he threw the tables out of his hands is literally “and he threw down from his hand the slabs.” (As in verse 15, “hand” is singular.) Since the word for threw already implies the use of the hands, Good News Translation simply has “he threw down the tablets he was carrying” (similarly New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and Revised English Bible). However, Moses must have used great force to shatter the stones when he threw them to the ground. If translators have a word in the receptor language that implies using great force, that should be used here.
And broke them at the foot of the mountain is literally “and he shattered them under the mountain.” The word for broke has the intensive form, so New International Version has “breaking them to pieces.” Foot of the mountain refers to where the mountain begins to rise. (See the comment at 24.4.) The final part of the verse may be alternatively rendered as “What he saw [or, This] made him so angry that he threw the stones down and broke them into pieces at the foot of the mountain.”
Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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