priest

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that are typically translated as “priest” in English (itself deriving from Latin “presbyter” — “elder”) is often translated with a consideration of existing religious traditions. (Click or tap for details)

Bratcher / Nida (1961) say this:

“However, rather than borrow local names for priests, some of which have unwanted connotations, a number of translations have employed descriptive phrases based on certain functions: (1) those describing a ceremonial activity: Pamona uses tadu, the priestess who recites the litanies in which she describes her journey to the upper or under-world to fetch life-spirit for sick people, animals or plants; Batak Toba uses the Arabic malim, ‘Muslim religious teacher;’ ‘one who presents man’s sacrifice to God’ (Bambara, Eastern Maninkakan), ‘one who presents sacrifices’ (Baoulé, Navajo), ‘one who takes the name of the sacrifice’ (Kpelle, and ‘to make a sacrifice go out’ (Hausa); (2) those describing an intermediary function: ‘one who speaks to God’ (Shipibo-Conibo) and ‘spokesman of the people before God’ (Tabasco Chontal).”

In Obolo it is translated as ogwu ngwugwa or “the one who offers sacrifice” (source: Enene Enene), in Mairasi as agam aevar nevwerai: “religious leader” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Ignaciano as “blesser, one who does ritual as a practice” (using a generic term rather than the otherwise common Spanish loan word sacerdote) (source: Willis Ott in Notes on Translation 88/1982, p. 18ff.), and in Noongar as yakin-kooranyi or “holy worker” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

For Guhu-Samane, Ernest Richert (in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. ) reports this:

“The [local] cult of Poro used to be an all-encompassing religious system that essentially governed all areas of life. (…) For ‘priest’ the term ‘poro father’ would at first seem to be a natural choice. However, several priests of the old cult are still living. Although they no longer function primarily as priests of the old system they still have a substantial influence on the community, and there would be more than a chance that the unqualified term would (in some contexts particularly) be equated with the priest of the poro cult. We learned, then, that the poro fathers would sometimes be called ‘knife men’ in relation to their sacrificial work. The panel was pleased to apply this term to the Jewish priest, and the Christian community has adopted it fully. [Mark 1:44, for instance, now] reads: ‘You must definitely not tell any man of this. But you go show your body to the knife man and do what Moses said about a sacrifice concerning your being healed, and the cause (base of this) will be apparent.'”

For a revision of the 1968 version of the Bible in Khmer Joseph Hong (in: The Bible Translator 1996, 233ff. ) talks about a change in wording for this term:

​​Bau cha r (បូជា‌ចារ្យ) — The use of this new construction meaning “priest” is maintained to translate the Greek word hiereus. The term “mean sang (មាន សង្ឃ)” used in the old version actually means a “Buddhist monk,” and is felt to be theologically misleading. The Khmer considers the Buddhist monk as a “paddy field of merits,” a reserve of merits to be shared with other people. So a Khmer reader would find unthinkable that the mean sang in the Bible killed animals, the gravest sin for a Buddhist; and what a scandal it would be to say that a mean sang was married, had children, and drank wine.

Translation commentary on Hosea 6:9

This verse begins with the Hebrew waw conjunction (literally “And” [King James Version]), which may be omitted (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation).

As robbers lie in wait for a man: In this context the Hebrew word for robbers refers to a roving band of people that raid an area. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “bandits.” Lie in wait for a man refers to a planned robbery or “ambush” (Good News Translation). The Hebrew word for a man should be interpreted as a generic expression, referring to people in general, so it is better rendered “someone” (New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation), “a victim” ( NET Bible), or “a person” (God’s Word). Although the meaning of this line is uncertain, as the Revised Standard Version footnote indicates, the second half of this verse hardly leaves room for a different interpretation than the one in Revised Standard Version. The Septuagint assumes a different root of the Hebrew word rendered lie in wait for with the meaning “violence” or “power” (as in Eccl 4.1), but we do not recommend this reading.

So the priests are banded together follows the Peshitta rather than the Hebrew, which reads “a band of priests.” There is no compelling reason to abandon the Hebrew text in this instance, unless the receptor language calls for it. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project prefers the Hebrew here (a {B} decision). The Hebrew word for “band” may simply mean “group” or “company,” or it may be derogatory, referring to a worthless group or to one that has evil motives, that is, a “gang.” A model that follows the Hebrew for the first two lines of this verse is “The band [or, company] of priests is like [a band of] robbers who lie in wait for someone,” placing the priests first in the sentence for normal English structure of comparisons. Good News Translation is similar: “The priests are like a gang of robbers who wait in ambush for someone.” For priests see 4.4.

They murder on the way to Shechem: The pronoun they refers to the priests. On the way to Shechem indicates that the ambush occurs on the road mentioned here. Shechem was an ancient city in the center of Israel. Levites lived there, so it was a religious center (Josh 21.21). It was also a city of refuge, where a person who killed someone accidentally was supposed to be safe from revenge (Josh 20.7). Therefore murders by priests near Shechem were all the more condemnable.

Yea, they commit villainy: Yea renders the Hebrew word ki, which is an emphatic particle here, so it may also be translated “surely” or “indeed.” The Hebrew word for villainy refers to evil deeds or crimes that are deliberately planned, so a possible model for this line is “indeed, they fulfill their treacherous plans.” In some languages the natural discourse structure will call for this statement to come at the beginning of the verse, with the remainder of the verse showing how the plans were fulfilled. Good News Translation expresses it as a final commentary on the event: “And they do all this evil deliberately!” Their crimes form a pattern of behavior. The Hebrew word order in this line is unusual: first the noun and then the verb. This puts the atrocious behavior in focus. Many translations prefer to emphasize the shamefulness of the evil, saying “committing shameful crimes” (New International Version), “appalling behavior, indeed!” (Jerusalem Bible), “behold the horrors which they commit!” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), “truly, their conduct is infamous!” (Bible de Jérusalem), “committing monstrous crime” (New American Bible), and “their deeds are outrageous” (New English Bible).

A translation model for this verse is:

• The gang of priests is like a mob of robbers,
they are lying in ambush for people.
They murder on the road to Shechem,
atrocious behavior indeed!

Quoted with permission from Dorn, Louis & van Steenbergen, Gerrit. A Handbook on Hosea. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2020. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .