years (age)

In Aekyom, years are counted as “turtles” (ambum).

Norm Mundhenk tells this story:

“Recently I was checking some New Testament material in the Aekyom language of western Papua New Guinea. It seemed relatively clear until suddenly we came to a passage that started, ‘When Jesus had 12 turtles, …’ Surely I had misunderstood what they said.
“‘Did you say that Jesus had 12 turtles?’
“‘Let us explain! Around here there is a certain time every year when river turtles come up on the banks and lay their eggs. Because this is so regular, it can be used as a way of counting years. Someone’s age is said to be how many turtles that person has. So when we say that Jesus had 12 turtles, we mean that Jesus was 12 years old.’
“It was of course the familiar story of Jesus’ trip with his parents to Jerusalem. And certainly, as we all know, Jesus did indeed have 12 turtles at that time!”

In Tok Pisin, krismas (derived from “christmas”) is taken as the fixed annual marker, so Jesus had 12 “christmases” (Jisas i gat 12-pela krismas pinis) or Abram (in Gen. 12:4) had 75 (Abram i gat 75 krismas) (source: Norm Mundhenk). In Noongar it is biroka kadak or “summers had” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

See also advanced in years.

Abraham

The name that is transliterated as “Abraham” in English is translated in virtually all sign languages, including American Sign Language with the sign signifying “hold back arm” (referring to Genesis 22:12).


“Abraham” in American Sign Language (source )

In Tira it is transliterated as Abaram. The choice of this, rather than the widely-known “Ibrahim,” as used in the Tira translation of the Qu’ran, was to offset it against the Muslim transliteration which originates from Arabic. (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )

Click or tap here to see two short video clips about Abraham (source: Bible Lands 2012)

See also our ancestor Abraham and Abram.

complete verse (Genesis 21:5)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 21:5:

  • Kankanaey: “One hundred were the years of Abraham when- Isaac -was-born (lit. came-out).” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Newari: “When Isaac was born, Abraham was already 100 years old.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The age-of Abraham was 100 years when Isaac was-born.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Genesis 21:5

Abraham was a hundred years old: the standard birth report in Genesis states the age of the father at the time of the birth of the son. See the introduction to chapter 5. In some translations this information about Abraham’s age is placed at the beginning of verse 2: “When Abraham was a hundred years old, his wife Sarah became pregnant and bore him a son.” Alternatively verse 5 may be placed before verse 2 and not repeated.

When his son Isaac was born to him: that is, “when Isaac was born” or “when Abraham’s son Isaac was born.” Some languages place the time clause first.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .