complete verse (1 Kings 1:3)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Kings 1:3:

  • Kupsabiny: “So they searched for a beautiful young girl through the entire Israel till a young girl who was called Abishag who belonged to the city of Shunem was found. Then that young girl was brought to the king.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “So they looked, searching all over Israel, for a beautiful teen-age girl. Finding a Shunammite teen-age girl named Abishag they brought her to the king.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “So they looked for a beautiful lady in the entire Israel, and they found/saw Abishag who comes-from-Shunem, and they brought her to the king.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The king gave them permission, so they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful young woman. They found a woman named Abishag, from Shunem town, and brought her to the king.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

king

Click here to view graphically

Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:

(Click or tap here to see details)

  • Piro: “a great one”
  • Highland Totonac: “the big boss”
  • Huichol: “the one who commanded” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Ekari: “the one who holds the country” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Una: weik sienyi: “big headman” (source: Kroneman 2004, p. 407)
  • Pass Valley Yali: “Big Man” (source: Daud Soesilo)
  • Ninia Yali: “big brother with the uplifted name” (source: Daud Soesilio in Noss 2007, p. 175)
  • Nyamwezi: mutemi: generic word for ruler, by specifying the city or nation it becomes clear what kind of ruler (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Ghomála’: Fo (“The word Fo refers to the paramount ruler in the kingdoms of West Cameroon. He holds administrative, political, and religious power over his own people, who are divided into two categories: princes (descendants of royalty) and servants (everyone else).” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn))

Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo (Dinė) was determined:

“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”

(Source: Faye Edgerton in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 25ff. )

See also king (Japanese honorifics).

Translation commentary on 1 Kings 1:3

So translates the common Hebrew conjunction, which here expresses the logical result of what the servants suggested in verse 2.

They sought for a beautiful maiden throughout all the territory of Israel: No explicit subject of the verb sought is stated in Hebrew. It is not clear whether the king’s officials, mentioned in verse 2, are the persons who actually searched throughout the kingdom or whether they gave this task to other unnamed persons.

Regarding the word maiden, see the comments on verse 2. Here the noun is qualified by the adjective beautiful, which in Hebrew is used of both men and women and refers to outward physical appearance.

The search was made in all the territory of Israel. Here the word Israel refers to the entire kingdom of both the northern and southern tribes.

And found Abishag the Shunammite: The Shunammite refers to a person from the village of Shunem, which is located southwest of Lake Galilee and at the northern end of the Valley of Jezreel, near Mount Gilboa (1 Sam 28.4). The prophet Elisha in the ninth century B.C. frequently visited Shunem (2 Kgs 4.8-37). It may be helpful to make explicit that Shunem was a village (so Parole de Vie). Contemporary English Version translates “who lived in the town of Shunem.” Abishag reappears in the narrative of Adonijah’s death in 1 Kgs 2.13-25.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .