A metaphor is a figure of speech in which one concept (the "image") stands for another concept (the "topic"). That is, the topic is spoken of as if it were the image. For example, someone might say,
Sometimes speakers use metaphors that are very common in their language. However, sometimes speakers use metaphors that are uncommon, and even some metaphors that are unique.
Speakers most often use metaphors in order to strengthen their message, to express their feelings better, to say something that is hard to say in any other way, or to help people remember their message.
These are metaphors that people recognize as one concept standing for another concept. People also easily recognize them as giving strength and unusual qualities to the message. For this reason, people pay attention to these metaphors. For example,
> For you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. (Malachi 4:2 ULB)
Here God speaks about his salvation as if it were the sun rising in order to shine its rays on the people whom he loves. He also speaks of the sun's rays as if they were wings. Also, he speaks of these wings as if they were bringing medicine that would heal his people.
Here is another example:
Jesus said, 'Go and tell that fox...,'" where "that fox" refers to King Herod. The people listening to Jesus certainly understood that Jesus was referring to Herod either as a very evil, cunning person or as a king who was only pretending to be great.
A dead metaphor is a metaphor that has been used so much in the language that its speakers no longer regard it as one concept standing for another. Examples in English are "table leg," "family tree," "leaf" meaning a page in a book, and "crane" meaning a large machine for lifting heavy loads. English speakers simply think of these words as having more than one meaning. Examples in Biblical Hebrew are probably "heal" meaning "repair," and "sick" meaning "spiritually powerless because of sin."
Many ways of metaphorical speaking depend on pairs of concepts, where one underlying concept frequently stands for a different underlying concept. For example, in English, the direction UP often stands for the concept of MORE. Because of this pair of underlying concepts, we can make sentences such as "The price of gasoline is going *up*," "A *highly* intelligent man," and also the opposite kind of idea: "The heat is going *down*," and "The stock market *took a tumble*."
Patterned pairs of concepts are constantly used for metaphorical purposes in the world's languages, because they serve as convenient ways to organize thought. In general, people like to speak of abstract qualities, such as power, presence, emotions, and moral qualities, as if they were objects that could be seen or held, as if they were body parts, or as if they were events that could be watched as they happened.
When these metaphors are used in normal ways, it is rare that the speaker and audience regard them as figurative speech. Examples of metaphors in English that go unrecognized are:
English speakers do not view them as unusual expressions, so it would be wrong to translate them into other languages in a way that would lead people to pay special attention to them as figurative speech.
For a description of important patterns of this kind of metaphor in biblical languages, please see [Biblical Imagery - Common Patterns](../translate-bita-part1/01.md)and the pages it will direct you to.
In the metaphor below, the speaker describes the woman he loves as a red rose. The woman (his "love") is the **topic**, and "red rose" is the **image**. Beauty and delicacy are the points of comparison that the speaker sees as similarities between both the topic and image. Note, however, that a rose's beauty is not identical to a woman's beauty. Neither are the two kinds of delicacy the same. So these points of comparison are not built upon identical characteristics, but rather upon characteristics that are seen by the writer as similar in some way.
Often, as in the metaphor above, the speaker explicitly states the **topic** and the **image**, but he does not state the points of comparison. The speaker leaves it to the hearer to think of those points of comparison. Because the hearers must do that, the speaker's message tends to be more powerful.
Also in the Bible, normally the **topic** and the **image** are stated clearly, but not the points of comparison. The writer hopes that the audience will understand the points of comparison that are implied.
> Jesus said to them. "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." (John 6:35 ULB)
In this metaphor, Jesus called himself the bread of life. The **topic** is "I," and the **image** is "bread." Bread is a food that people ate all the time. The point of comparison between bread and Jesus is that people needed break every day for nourishment. In a similar way, people need Jesus every day in order to live spiritually.
Note that this metaphor is really several metaphors. The first metaphor is that bread is used to represent Jesus. The second metaphor, which is inside the first one, is that physical life represents the spiritual life, which consists of living with God forever. The third metaphor is that eating bread represents benefitting from Jesus, who enables us to live with God forever.
* One purpose of metaphor is to teach people about something that they do not know (the **topic**) by showing that it is like something that they already do know (the **image**).
* Another purpose is to emphasize that something has a particular quality or to show that it has that quality in an extreme way.
* Another purpose is to lead people to feel the same way about one thing as they would feel about the other.
* People may not recognize that something is a metaphor. In other words, they may mistake a metaphor for a literal statement, and thus misunderstand it.
* People may not be familiar with the thing that is used as an image, and so not be able to understand the metaphor.
* If the topic is not stated, people may not know what the topic is.
* People may not know the points of comparison that the speaker is thinking of and wants them to understand. If they fail to think of these points of comparison, they will not understand the metaphor.
In this metaphor Amos speaks to the upper-class women of Samaria (the topic is "you") with as if they were cows (the image). Amos does not say what points of comparison between these women and the cows he has mind, but from the context it seems that he means that both the women and the cows are fat and interested only in eating.
Note, however, that Amos does not actually mean that the women are cows, for he speaks to them as human beings.
The example above has two related metaphors. The topics are "we" and "you," and the images are "clay and "potter." The intended point of comparison between a potter and God is the fact that both make what they wish: the potter makes what he wishes out of the clay, and God makes what he wishes out of his people Israel. The point of comparison between the potter's clay and "us" is that both the clay and the people of Israel are made into something different from what they were before.
>Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of <u>the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees</u>." The disciples reasoned among themselves and said, "It is because we took no bread." (Matthew 16:6-7 ULB)
Jesus used a metaphor here, but his disciples did not realize it. When he said "yeast," they thought he was talking about bread, but "yeast" was the image in his metaphor, and the topic was the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Since the disciples (the original audience) did not understand what Jesus meant, it would not be good to state clearly here what Jesus meant.
If people would understand the metaphor in the same way that the original readers probably understood it, go ahead and use it. Be sure to test the translation to make sure that people do understand it.
1. If the metaphor is a common expression of a patterned pair of concepts in a biblical language, express the main idea in the simplest way preferred by your language. (See [Biblical Imagery - Common Patterns](../translate-bita-part1/01.md) for lists of some of these patterned pairs of concepts.)
2. If the metaphor seems to be a "live" metaphor, you can translate it literally if you think that the target language also uses this metaphor. If you do this, be sure to test it to make sure that the language community understands it correctly.
3. If the target audience does not realize that it is a metaphor, then change the metaphor to a simile. Some languages do this by adding words such as "like" or "as." See [Simile](../figs-simile/01.md).
4. If the target audience would not know the image, see [Translate Unknowns](../translate-unknown/01.md) for ideas on how to translate that image.
5. If the target audience would not use that image for that meaning, use an image from your own culture instead. Be sure that it is an image that could have been possible in Bible times.
6. If the target audience would not know what the topic is, then state the topic clearly. (However, do not do this if the original audience did not know what the topic was.)
7. If the target audience will not know the intended points of comparison between the image and topic, then state them clearly.
8. If none of these strategies is satisfactory, then simply state the idea plainly without using a metaphor.
1. If the metaphor is a common expression of a patterned pair of concepts in a biblical language, express the main idea in the simplest way preferred by your language.
2. If the metaphor seems to be a "live" metaphor, you can translate it literally if you think that the target language also uses this metaphor. If you do this, be sure to test it to make sure that the language community understands it correctly.
3. If the target audience does not realize that it is a metaphor, then change the metaphor to a simile. Some languages do this by adding words such as "like" or "as."
5. If the target audience would not use that **image** for that meaning, use an image from your own culture instead. Be sure that it is an image that could have been possible in Bible times.
6. If the target audience would not know what the **topic** is, then state the topic clearly. (However, do not do this if the original audience did not know what the topic was.)
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