tabernacle (noun)

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “tabernacle” in English is translated in San Blas Kuna as “house of prayer that can be carried.” (Source: Ronald Ross)

In Bandi it is translated as “holy sitting place.” The “sitting place for the Bandi is where you live.” Therefore the tabernacle is the place where God lived. (Source: Becky Grossmann in this newsletter )

In Vidunda it is translated as “God’s tent” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext) and in Tibetan as gur mchog (གུར་​མཆོག) or “perfect tent” (source: gSungrab website )

In American Sign Language it is translated with with a sign for “tent” combined with a sign referring to the outer court surrounding the tent (see Exodus 27:9 and following). (Source: RuthAnna Spooner, Ron Lawer)


“Tabernacle” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor

See also tabernacle (verb) / dwell, festival of Tabernacles and ark of the covenant.

Moses

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.)


“Moses” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

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:


“Moses” in French Sign Language (source )

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).


“Moses” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

In Estonian Sign Language Moses is depicted with a big beard. (Source: Liina Paales in Folklore 47, 2011, p. 43ff.)

See also Moses and Elijah during the Transfiguration.

Translation commentary on Exod 39:33 - 39:34

And they brought the tabernacle to Moses, literally “And they caused the mishkan to enter unto Moses,” is the introductory statement to the list of items that follows. The tabernacle, as it is used here, refers to the sum total of all the parts that are listed, and it is not yet put together. The assembling of all these parts is reserved for chapter 40.

The tent is the ʾohel, referring to all the curtains for the tent shrine in 26.1-5. All its utensils means “all its parts” (Durham) that will still have to be put together. The list is the same as in 35.11. (See the comment at 35.10-11.) The word for utensils is the same general term that may mean “equipment” (Good News Translation), “furnishings” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “appurtenances” (New American Bible), or “accessories” (New Jerusalem Bible).

The covering of tanned rams’ skins and goatskins is another mistranslation in Revised Standard Version, for two separate coverings are mentioned. Literally the Hebrew says “the covering of the skins of rams, the ones dyed red, and the covering of the skins of the techashim.” New Revised Standard Version has corrected this, “the covering of tanned rams’ skins and the covering of fine leather.” These are not included in the list of 35.11-19 but are mentioned in 36.19. (See the comments at 25.5 and 26.14.)

The veil of the screen is mentioned in 35.12. (See the comment there.) It refers to the “curtain” (Good News Translation) that was to separate the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. (See 26.31.)

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 .