Interpretation vs. Explanation (and Other Issues with Translation)

The Tension in Translation

For many of us, the Old Testament is read in English, although originally written in Hebrew.  This means then that we rely on translators to change the Hebrew text into an English text.  

Anyone who has learned a second language is aware of some of the inherent difficulties of translation.  A particular word in one language might not have a direct translation in another language -- one word may have a meaning in one language that can only be covered by several different words in the second language. This is complicated further by cultural flavors of a word, the images a word may bring that reflects the thought patterns of the cultural atmosphere.

Examples from our study in Genesis include the Hebrew words zera and nichamti. Robert Alter argues that zera is most literally "seed", but is used in the Torah to mean plant seed, animal seed (semen), or the results of that seed, that is, offspring.  One might always translate zera as "seed" -- the King James Version does that -- or one might reflect the different meanings of that Hebrew word by translating it, in the appropriate places, as "offspring" or "descendants". Alter describes a tension between translation and explanation. This tension occurs in any attempt to translate from one language to another.  At what point do you use terms that are not direct translations but include some aspect of explanation?

The Hebrew word nichamti, translated as "grieved", "was sorry", or regretted" in Genesis 6:6 apparently has a wide variety of meanings, some that have (says Walton) an accounting image: to settle debts, to set right, to balance.  In Genesis 6:6 is God feeling sad and sorrowful? Or is He making a correction or restoring a balance?  

At what point does a translation veer into an explanation that makes assumptions about the text?

There are a variety of ways translators may attack this issue.  In Robert Alter's beautiful translations of the Old Testament, he adds copious footnotes that describe the various historical uses of a particular word.  The Amplified Bible does something similar, replacing one word by a number of synonyms that attempt to pull out the various translation options.

An old and excellent resource for Bible scholars is Strong's Concordance which tracks the uses of a particular Hebrew (or Greek) word throughout the Old (or New) Testament. Originally designed to go with the King James Version of the Bible, it is now available online and documents how ancient words are translated into several different versions of the Bible. For example, here is the Strong's Concordance on zera and here is the Strong's Concordance on nichamti.

Idioms, Rhymes, Rhythm, Puns, Sarcasm

Every culture has idioms and phrases that are deeply embedded in the culture but are difficult to translate.  For example, what does the English phrase "pulling your leg" mean?  Do other languages (say Mandarin) have an equivalent phrase?  

In the cultures of Bible times, there were idioms involving covering/uncovering one's feet. If one wore a robe, then one held or tied the robe up when walking.  Thus to "uncover one's feet" meant "to get to work".  And "covering one's feet" meant to sit down or relax.  In the New Testament an equivalent phrase "gird your loins" meant "tie up your robe and get ready to work!"

Additionally, words in one language might have a certain rhythm or rhyme that was useful in creating a proverb or a memorable phrase.  Alter argues in Genesis 9:6 that the Hebrew would have heard the rhyme of dam and adam in the statement about "blood" and "humankind".

Just as idioms are difficult to translate, so also is wordplay (such as puns) based on the sounds of the ancient words.  In some cases there are euphemisms that may be understood by the ancient culture that have been lost today.  (What was wrong with Ham seeing Noah's nakedness in Genesis 9? Why did Zipporah touch her son's foreskin to Moses's feet in Exodus 4? Did Hebrew girls giggle when they heard the story of Ruth lying at the feet of Boaz in Ruth 3?)

Vivid Storytelling

Alter argues that 

"Modern translations, in their zeal to uncover the meanings of the biblical text... frequently lose sight of how the text intimates its meaning -- the distinctive artfully deployed features of ancient Hebrew prose and poetry that are the instruments for the articulation of all meaning, message, insight, and vision." (The Five Books of Moses, p. xix) and then worries about translations that lose the vividness of the story.  He gives some examples. Here is Alter's translation of Rebekah's energy in Genesis 24 (ibid., p. xxvi; the formatting and italics is mine):

And she came down to the spring 
and filled her jug
and came back up 

and the servant ran toward her 
and said, "Pray, let me sip a bit of water from your jug."
And she said, "Drink, my lord"
and she let him drink his fill 
and said, "Fill your camels, too.  I shall draw water until they drink their fill."
And she hurried
and emptied her jug into the trough
and she ran again to the well to draw water 
and drew water for all his camels.

Alter argues that the original Hebrew, with its fast-paced repetition of the word "and" is intended to emphasize Rebekah's hurry and energy.  This woman is working very hard!  But modern translations tend to drop the word "and" (it seems rather clumsy) and so lose the vividness of the story.

Other examples include Esau's demand for food in Genesis 25.  Alter translates that passage "Let me gulp down some of this red red stuff".  The Hebrew word Alter translates as "gulp" is an unusual one for eating, a word that in the Talmud usually reserved for stuffing food in the mouth of an animal (ibid., p. xxxi.)  The phrase translated "red red" carries the same hurried image.  The sudden colloquialism conveys (says Alter) that Esau is crude and impatient.

In the same way, Robert Hubbard, in his commentary on the book of Ruth, points out places where the Hebrew provides a vivid story that may be missed by the modern reader.

I will attempt to look for other examples as we continue our exploration of the Old Testament.