There are no lions in Bawm country, so the Bawm Chin translation uses “a tiger with a mane” where the Greek term for “lion” is used and in Sranan Tongo the “roaring lion” in 1 Peter 5:8 is a krasi tigri, an “aggressive tiger.”
In the Kahua culture, lions are not known either so the Kahua translation used “fierce animal.”
In 1 Peter 5:8, the Uripiv translation uses “a hungry shark” instead of a roaring lion.
Sources: David Clark for Bawm Chin and Kahua, Japini 2015, p. 33, for Sranan Tongo, and Ross McKerras for Uripiv)
The Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and Aramaic that is translated into English as “(to) bless” or “blessed” is translated into a wide variety of possibilities.
The Hebrew term barak (and the Aramaic term berak) also (and originally) means “kneel” (a meaning which the word has retained — see Gen. 24:11) and can be used for God blessing people (or things), people blessing each other, or people blessing God. While English Bible translators have not seen a stumbling block in always using the same term (“bless” in its various forms), other languages need to make distinctions (see below).
In Bari, spoken in South Sudan, the connection between blessing and knees/legs is still apparent. For Genesis 30:30 (in English: “the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned”), Bari uses a common expression that says (much like the Hebrew), ‘… blessed you to my feet.'” (Source: P. Guillebaud in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 189ff. .)
Other examples for the translation of “bless” when God is the one who blesses include (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):
“sprinkle with a propitious (lit. cool) face” (a poetic expression occurring in the priests’ language) (Toraja Sa’dan) (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
“give good things” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
“ask good” (Yakan) (source: Yakan Back Translation)
“praise, say good things” (Central Yupik) (source: Robert Bascom)
“showing a good heart” (Kutu) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
“good luck — have — good fortune — have” (verbatim) ꓶꓼ ꓙꓳ ꓫꓱꓹ ꓙꓳ — ɯa dzho shes zho (Lisu). This construction follows a traditional four-couplet construct in oral Lisu poetry that is usually in the form ABAC or ABCB. (Source: Arrington 2020, p. 58)
In Tagbanwa a phrase is used for both the blessing done by people and God that back-translates to “caused to be pierced by words causing grace/favor” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).
Ixcatlán Mazatec had to select a separate term when relating “to people ‘blessing’ God” (or things of God): “praise(d)” or “give thanks for” (in 1 Cor. 10:16) (“as it is humans doing the ‘blessing’ and people do not bless the things of God or God himself the way God blesses people” — source: Robert Bascom). Eastern Bru and Kui also use “praise” for this a God-directed blessing (source: Bru back translation and Helen Evans in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) and Uma uses “appropriate/worthy to be worshipped” (source: Uma back translation).
When related to someone who is blessing someone else, it is translated into Tsou as “speak good hopes for.” In Waiwai it is translated as “may God be good and kind to you now.” (Sources: Peng Kuo-Wei for Tsou and Robert Hawkins in The Bible Translator 1962, pp. 164ff. for Waiwai.)
Some languages associate an expression that originally means “spitting” or “saliva” with blessing. The Bantu language Koonzime, for instance, uses that expression for “blessing” in their translation coming from either God or man. Traditionally, the term was used in an application of blessing by an aged superior upon a younger inferior, often in relation to a desire for fertility, or in a ritualistic, but not actually performed spitting past the back of the hand. The spitting of saliva has the effect of giving that person “tenderness of face,” which can be translated as “blessedness.” (Source: Keith Beavon)
Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the DanishBibelen 2020, comments on the translation of this term: “As for ‘blessing’, in the end we in most instances actually kept the word, after initially preferring the expression ‘giving life strength’. The backlash against dropping the word blessing was too hard. But we would often add a few words to help the reader understand what the word means in a given context — people often understand it to refer more to a spiritual connection with God, but in the Hebrew texts, it usually has to do with material things or good health or many children. So when e.g. in Isaiah 19:25 the Hebrew text says ‘God bless them’, we say ‘God bless them’ and we add: ‘and give them strength’. ‘And give them strength’ is not found in the overt Hebrew text, but we are again making explicit what we believe is the meaning so as to avoid misunderstanding.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )
He couched, he lay down like a lion, and like a lioness: In view of the blessing that concludes this verse, it is probably correct to view the pronoun He as referring now to Israel. Good News Translation makes this explicit by saying “The nation [of Israel].” As in 23.24 (see the comments there), Israel is being compared to a lion again. He couched, he lay down means he stooped down and lay on the ground to rest. Couched is rather obscure literary language, so New Revised Standard Version has “crouched.” The Hebrew verb for couched also occurs in Gen 49.9, in the context of the same image, so translators should use the same expression as there for this verb, especially since these passages occur alike in prophetic speech. As in 23.24, it may be better to render lay down as “lay down to rest” for clarity (compare Good News Translation with “sleeping”). The Hebrew words for lion (ʾari) and lioness (laviʾ) are the same as in 23.24. As mentioned there, in some languages, where different types of lions are not distinguished, it may be natural to combine these two words into one, saying “mighty lion” (Good News Translation). Good News Translation restructures the first two lines of this verse by beginning with “The nation is like a mighty lion….” In this way Good News Translation makes a smooth transition from its references to Israel in the plural (verses 7-8) to the image of a single animal here in verse 9. New International Version keeps plural references to Israel by beginning with “Like a lion they crouch and lie down….”
Who will rouse him up?: Just as in Gen 49.9, the poet drops the image of a female lion and speaks of him, that is, Israel. This question is rhetorical and may be expressed as a strong statement by saying “no one dares to stir it up” or “no one dares wake it” (Good News Translation).
Blessed be every one who blesses you, and cursed be every one who curses you: See the comments on 22.6. The Hebrew verb forms for blessed and cursed are singular, so NET Bible has “Blessed is the one who blesses you, and cursed is the one who curses you!” The pronoun you refers to Israel. Verse 5 addresses Israel in the second person as well. In between verses 5 and 9b Israel is referred to in the third person. Contemporary English Version changes all the third person references to Israel to second person for naturalness. In some languages it will be helpful to do this, although it may eliminate the deliberate ambiguity of the third person singular pronouns in verse 8, which may refer to Israel or God. Good News Translation uses third person references for Israel throughout this oracle, even here in verse 9b, saying “Whoever blesses Israel will be blessed, And whoever curses Israel will be cursed.” But the disadvantage of referring to Israel consistently in either the second or third person in this oracle is that it does not clearly distinguish these final two lines of the oracle, which as mentioned earlier probably function as a conclusion to it (see the comments on verse 3b).
The last two lines of this prophecy are exactly the same as the end of Isaac’s blessing of Jacob in Gen 27.29b, though in reverse order. So the wording here should be consistent with that passage, and it would be helpful to add a cross reference to it.
Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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