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 Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation both use the exclusive pronoun, excluding Moses.
The name that is transliterated as “Moses” in English is signed in Spanish Sign Language and Polish Sign Language in accordance with the depiction of Moses in the famous statue by Michelangelo (see here ). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff.)
American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here).
In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:
The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).
Even at the time of his translation, Jerome likely was not the only one making that decision as this recent article alludes to.
In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).
And said to Moses may be rendered simply “and reported” (Good News Translation) or “and said” (Contemporary English Version), since Moses is clearly in view here from the previous verse.
Your servants have counted the men of war who are under our command: The military officers refer to themselves as Your servants to show Moses their respect. In languages where such a reference to oneself would not be natural, the respect and deference should be expressed in a different way, for example, “Sir” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). New Living Translation, SPCL, and Contemporary Russian Version say “We, your servants.” Have counted is literally “have taken up the head,” which is the same Hebrew idiom translated “Take the count” in verse 26 (see the comments there). A possible model here that is close to the Hebrew idiom is “have taken a head count.” The men of war is literally “the men of the battle” (see verse 28), which may be rendered “the men who went out to battle” (New Living Translation) or simply “the soldiers” (Good News Translation). Under our command is literally “in our hand.” Some languages will have a similar idiom.
And there is not a man missing from us may be rendered simply “and not one of them is missing” (Good News Translation). No Israelite men were lost in the battle with the Midianites, which is another feature of a holy war, that is, the LORD fighting on behalf of his people.
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 .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.