The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “soldier” in English didn’t have a direct equivalent in Enlhet so it was translated with “those that bind us” (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. ) and in Noongar it is mammarapa-bakadjiny or “men of fighting” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
complete verse (1 Kings 20:39)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Kings 20:39:
- Kupsabiny: “And when the king was passing by, that person cried out saying, ‘Lord, I was in front in the battle, and then a soldier brought to me a person who had been captured in the war. He told me to look after that person, but/and if he manages to flee, I shall avenge his life on you or if not that you pay thirty-four kilos of silver.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
- Newari: “As soon as the king arrived alongside him, the prophet said, "Sir! While I was doing battle, a soldier brought one of the enemies to me and said, ‘Take care of this one! If he escapes, you will be killed or you will have to pay 34 kilograms of silver.’” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
- Hiligaynon: “As the king passed-by, the prophet shouted to him, ‘Sir, I went-out into the battle, and there was a man there who brought to me a captive and said, ‘Guard this man. If he can-flee, you shall-be-killed or cause-to-pay 35 kilos of silver.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
- English: “When the king passed by, the prophet cried out to him, saying ‘Your majesty, after I was wounded while I was fighting in a battle, a soldier brought to me one of our enemies that he had captured, and said to me, ‘Guard this man! If he escapes, you must pay me 3,000 pieces of silver, and if you do not pay that, you will be executed!’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
king
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:
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- 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).
2nd person pronoun with low register (Japanese)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.
In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
See also first person pronoun with low register and third person pronoun with low register.
Translation commentary on 1 Kings 20:39
And renders the Hebrew verbal transition that is sometimes translated “And it happened.” Like Good News Translation, most modern versions do not render it explicitly in this case. The same is true at the beginning of the next verse.
He cried: The subject of the verb cried is the prophet. This will have to be made clear in certain languages where there may be a possibility of misunderstanding.
The prophet uses the common way of showing his submission to the king by referring to himself in the third person as Your servant (see the comments on 1 Kgs 1.26). But since this is unnatural in many languages, translators must seek some other way of showing respect. Good News Translation attempts to do this by the use of the address “Your Majesty,” which is followed by the first person singular pronoun “I.” Contemporary English Version is similar. In other languages translators may have to use a word like “Sir.” Still others will begin with a complete sentence like “I am your servant.”
The focusing particle behold directs the reader’s attention to the most important element in the story told by the prophet.
A soldier turned and brought a man to me: Revised Standard Version follows the form of the Hebrew here, but in this context a man may be translated as “a captured enemy” (Good News Translation) or “a prisoner of war.”
If by any means he be missing: The verb rendered be missing is repeated in Hebrew for emphasis. Revised Standard Version expresses this emphasis with the words by any means. Other possible renderings for the whole clause are “if for any reason he is missing” (New American Standard Bible), “If by any chance he gets away” (Revised English Bible), and “if he escapes, yes if he escapes at all.”
The sense of this verse seems to be that the soldier was going to keep the captured enemy soldier as a slave. If the enemy soldier escaped, then the prophet would have to take the enemy soldier’s place as a slave. If this is the intended sense, then the words your life shall be for his life are not a threat of death as in Contemporary English Version, which says “I would … be killed.” Rather, these words are a threat of slavery.
A talent was equivalent to about 34 kilograms or 75 pounds. See the comments on 1 Kgs 9.14.
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 .
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