purple

The Greek that is translated as “purple” in English is translated as “blue-red” in Ojitlán Chinantec.

In Kasua was a little bit more involved, as Rachel Greco recalls (in The PNG Experience):

“The Kasua people of Western Province have no word for the color purple. They have words for many other colors: black, red, white, yellow, green, and blue, but not for the color of royalty.

“About nine New Testament passages mention people placing a purple robe on Jesus. The Kasua translation team always wanted to use the word ‘red,’ or keyalo, to describe the robe. Tommy, one of the translation team helpers, disagreed because this is not historically accurate or signifies the royalty of Jesus.

“One of the main rules of translation is that the team must stick to the historical facts when they translate a passage. If they don’t, then how can the readers trust what they’re reading is true? Other questions about truth could bubble in the reader’s minds about the Scriptures. For this reason, Tommy was not willing to change the word purple. So the team hung up the problem, hoping to revisit it later with more inspiration.

“God did not disappoint.

“Years later, Tommy hiked with some of the men near their village. They saw a tree that possessed bulbous growths growing on the side of it like fruit. These growths were ‘the most beautiful color of purple I’d ever seen,’ explained Tommy.

“’What is the name of this tree?’ Tommy asked the men.

“’This is an Okani tree,’ they replied.

“Tommy suggested, ‘Why don’t you, in those passages where we’ve been struggling to translate the color purple, use ‘they put a robe on Jesus the color of the fruit of the Okani tree’?

“’Yeah. We know exactly what color that is,’ the men said enthusiastically.

“Everyone in their village would also visualize this phrase accurately, as the Okani tree is the only tree in that area that produces this kind of purple growth. So now, among the Kasua people, in his royal purple robe, Jesus is shown to be the king that he is.”

Translation commentary on Exod 39:24 - 39:26

These verses refer to the instructions given in 28.33-34. They are not identical in wording, however. On the skirts of the robe is changed from “On its skirts,” but the meaning is the same. They made is changed from “you shall make.” Pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet stuff is the same as 28.33, but the words and fine twined linen are added here. Literally the Hebrew has only “twisted,” which usually follows the word for fine … linen. A few translations relate this word to the blue and purple and scarlet stuff. For example, Revised English Bible translates it as “finely woven,” and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “twisted,” referring to the same thing. For some reason this word is missing in the Masoretic Text, but it probably should be added here.

Bells of pure gold is changed from “bells of gold” in 28.33. And put the bells … changes the word order of 28.34. The verb put, literally “and they put,” is not used at all in 28.33-34. The bells, of course, refers to the “bells of gold,” as they are called in 28.33. The word gold is not repeated again here, in contrast to the repetition of “golden bell” in 28.34. Upon the skirts of the robe round about is the same as in 28.34, but it is advanced here in verse 25 before the repetition of verse 26. Between the pomegranates, literally “in the midst of the pomegranates,” is repeated twice here, whereas 28.33 has simply “between them” one time only.

The first part of verse 26 is identical with 28.34, except that “a golden bell” is simply a bell. The second part of verse 26 is added. For ministering is literally “to serve,” the same word used in 28.35. (See the comment there.) And for the fifth time the formula as the LORD had commanded Moses is added. (See the comment at verse 1 above.)

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 .