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.

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Jeremiah 11:19)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, the Adamawa Fulfulde translation uses the exclusive pronoun, excluding Jeremiah.

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 11:19

In Hebrew the pronoun I is in the emphatic position. This emphasis is sometimes rendered with a phrase such as “But I, I…” or “For my part, I….”

Gentle more naturally carries the meaning of “trusting” (Good News Translation, New American Bible; New Jerusalem Bible “trustful”) or “obedient” (New English Bible); Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders “without resisting.” Like a gentle lamb could be “I was trusting, like a lamb.”

Devised schemes is translated “planning evil things” by Good News Translation. Although the phrase is in itself neutral, the context definitely points to something negative and evil. Translators may say something like “I did not know it was against me they were planning to do things” or “… it was about me they were speaking when they said.”

Saying, though not present in Hebrew, is clearly required and something like it must be included in translation; Good News Translation introduces a new sentence with “They were saying….”

In Hebrew fruit is literally “bread.” It may be that “bread” may be used with the meaning “fruit,” but a majority of scholars believe this not to be the case. Good News Translation adopts a proposal that requires a slight alteration of the Hebrew (literally “in its sap”), thus translating “while it is still healthy.” Revised English Bible is similar: “while the sap is in it.” This seems to be what was done also by New Jerusalem Bible (“in its strength”), Moffatt (“in my full bloom”), and New American Bible (“in its vigor”).

Cut him off from the land of the living is a Hebrew way of saying “kill him” (Good News Translation). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “will bring his life to an end.” Since a person’s name may be used of the person himself, that his name be remembered no more is translated “so that no one will remember him any more” by Good News Translation. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible has “so that his name will no longer be mentioned.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .