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.

striped / speckled / spotted

The Hebrew that is translated as “striped, speckled, and spotted” in English did not have an immediately accessible translation in Orma.

George Payton tells about how the translation team went about finding the right terms: “In Gen. 30 Jacob is living with uncle Laban taking care of Laban’s livestock. Then when Jacob complained about what his payment should be, Laban said that Jacob could keep all the livestock that were spotted, speckled or striped, but the solid colors white and black belonged to Laban. The trouble was how to translate ‘speckled, spotted, striped.’ The people we were translating for were herdsmen; they kept goats, sheep and cattle. They told me that they have one set of words for colors and patterns for describing the cattle, and a different set of vocabulary when talking about goats and sheep. I thought maybe we could tap into their rich ‘goat’ vocabulary and use some of their words in Genesis. So we went to a friend’s livestock to see the animals. I saw a pattern that was ‘strip-ish’ and asked what they called that pattern. Then I did the same for ‘spot-ish’ and ‘speckle-ish.’ Our goal was not to get an exact representation of the patterns mentioned in the Bible, but to give a general picture of some common patterns that people would know. So we used those terms in the translation and it read very well. When we tested it, no one asked what those words meant because everyone knew them.”

In Low German the different colors are swartbunt / “black pied” or swartbrun / “black-brown,” the traditional colorings of cattle in Northern Germany, where Low German is spoken (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1937, republ. 2006).

sheep

“Sheep are known throughout most of the world, even though, as in Central Africa, they are a far cry from the fleecy wool-producing animals of colder climates. Where such animals are known, even by seemingly strange names, e.g. ‘cotton deer’ (Yucateco) or ‘woolly goat’ (Inupiaq), such names should be used. In some instances, one may wish to borrow a name and use a classifier, e.g. ‘an animal called sheep’. In still other instances translators have used ‘animal which produces wool’, for though people are not acquainted with the animals they are familiar with wool.” (Source: Bratcher / Nida)

In Dëne Súline, it is usually translated as “an evil little caribou.” To avoid the negative connotation, a loan word from the neighboring South Slavey was used. (Source: NCAM, p. 70)

Note that the often-alleged Inuktitut translation of “sheep” with “seal” is an urban myth (source Nida 1947, p. 136).

See also lamb.

complete verse (Genesis 30:32)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 30:32:

  • Newari: “Today allow me to choose the spotted female goats and the black sheep [from] among your cattle. That will be my wages.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “I will- now -look-at your livestock and I will-take the dark-colored/black sheep and spotted goats. That only will-be my wages.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Allow me to go and look at all of your flocks today and remove from them all the speckled sheep, all the spotted sheep, and every dark-colored lamb, all the goats that are speckled, and all the goats that are spotted, and keep them for myself. They will be my wages.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Genesis 30:32

Verse 32 has several problems of text and vocabulary. Revised Standard Version follows the Hebrew text with its extra wording. See Good News Translation footnote.

Let me pass represents the Hebrew text. The Vulgate has “[You] go through.” Most modern translations follow Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation.

Removing from it: this just means “taking out” or “taking away.” However, people who keep herds of animals often have special words or expressions for the way a flock or herd is divided; for example, one translation says “… if you let me go and cut out all the….”

Every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb: Jacob’s plan is to take out of Laban’s flocks all the sheep and goats that are of mixed colors. Sheep were normally white, and goats were brown or black. Jacob would separate out all the animals that were speckled and spotted (sheep that had dark spots on their white wool, or among goats, those that had white or other light colored spots on their dark hair). The words every speckled and spotted sheep are omitted by the Septuagint. Kidner says that these words “seem to have crept into the text from the second half,” while Speiser comments, “At this point, the Heb. text reads redundantly ‘speckled and spotted, and every sheep’ evidently added through conflation with the following verse.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project agrees with Revised Standard Version‘s wording except that it translates spotted sheep as “spotted lamb.” Besides Good News Translation, Speiser, New Jerusalem Bible, and Revised English Bible also omit the additional words.

And the spotted and speckled among the goats: if the addition in the Hebrew is really part of the text, then it simply repeats information already given in the previous sentence, since the word translated sheep refers to one of a flock and may mean both sheep and goats or either sheep or goats.

Such shall be my wages: such refers to the colored animals: “they will be my wages” or “you must give me those ones as my pay for working for you.”

A suggested model for translating verse 32 is “Let me take out of your herd today every black lamb and every [sheep or] goat that has more than one color. That is all the payment I ask.”

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 .