The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Saul” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign that depicts “sword in chest” (referring to 1 Samuel 31:4 and 1 Chronicles 10:4) and also “self-centered.” (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 16:20:
Kupsabiny: “When Jesse heard that message, he loaded a donkey with loaves of bread and containers of wine and gave David to take that donkey including a small goat to Saul’s house.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “And with his son David, Jesse sent Saul one female goat and a load of bread on a donkey, and one vessel of new wine in skin bag.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “So Jesse sent David to Saul bringing gifts: a donkey loaded with bread, a leather/[lit. skin] container full of wine, and a young goat.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “So after they went to Jesse and told him that, he agreed. He got a young goat, a container of wine, a donkey on which he put some loaves of bread, and gave them to David to take to Saul as a present.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “donkey” in English was translated in the 1900 Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) translation (a newer version was published in 2000) as siutitôĸ or “‘something with big ears.” “[This] is based on the word siut ‘ear’ combined with the same suffix –tôĸ (-tooq).” (Source: Lily Kahn & Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi in The Bible Translator 2019, p. 125ff.)
These Hebrew and Greek words (with the exception of pōlos and hupozugion — see discussion below) all definitely refer to the Domestic Donkey equus asinus. However the different words do have slight semantic differences among them.
Chamor and onos are the generic words for donkey while ’athon (feminine gender) refers specifically to a saddle donkey or a donkey used for riding. A saddle donkey is usually a large strong female donkey the males are too difficult to control when they are near a female in heat. The Hebrew word is derived from a root that means “strong”.
‘Ayir refers to the young male or jack donkey (probably with an emphasis on its liveliness and the difficulty in controlling it since the Hebrew root means something like “frisky”).
Onarion means a young donkey of either sex. Some languages will have a special word for a young donkey. This will be appropriate for translating onarion.
The word hupozugion often translated “donkey,” actually indicates any beast of burden. Walter Bauer, the famous German New Testament scholar, has argued very convincingly that the animal referred to in Matthew 21:5 in the expression epi pōlon huion hupozugiou is the foal of a horse not a donkey (1953:220-229). In some languages it will be possible to express this in a way that does not designate a specific species of animal`, as in “beast of burden.”
Pōlos usually refers to a foal, that is a young horse, unless a word for donkey follows.
Donkeys are domestic animals belonging to the same family as the horse, but they are smaller and have longer ears. The donkey bred and used in the Middle East is the domesticated Nubian or Somali Wild Ass Equus Asinus africanus. In its original wild state this was a gray ass with pale, whitish belly and dark rings on the lower part of the legs. It was domesticated in Egypt as early as 2500 B.C. In its domesticated version, as a result of interbreeding with donkeys from Europe and Persia, the donkey came to be a variety of colors from dark brown, through light brown to the original gray and occasionally white. The Hebrew chamor comes from a root meaning “reddish brown.”
Donkeys are good pack animals being able to carry as much as the larger mule without the latter’s unpredictable moods. They also have great stamina and are easy to feed since they eat almost any available vegetation. Larger individual animals (usually females) are also often used for riding.
Donkeys were highly prized in biblical times especially females since they were suitable for packing and riding and had the potential for producing offspring. Donkeys were seen as man’s best friend in the animal kingdom. They were the common man’s means of transport and many ordinary families owned a donkey. They were used for plowing and for turning large millstones as well as a means of transport.
Today domestic donkeys are found all over savannah Africa the Middle East South and Central Asia Europe Latin America and Australia. They do not seem to be reared in rain forest or monsoon areas but they are nevertheless often known in these areas.
A donkey was considered to be a basic domestic requirement and thus the number of donkeys available was a means of measuring the relative prosperity of a society at any given time. While only powerful political or military people rode horses (which were usually owned by the state) the common people rode donkeys. This is the significance of the passage in Zechariah 9:9: the victorious king would return to the city riding a donkey thus identifying himself as a common Israelite rather than a victorious warlord.
In the majority of languages there is a local or a borrowed word for donkey. This is the obvious choice. In areas of Southeast Asia, Papua New Guinea, West Africa, and other places, where donkeys are rare or unknown, the word from the dominant major language or trade language (for example, English, Spanish, French, Chinese, or Arabic) is often transliterated.
In most contexts ’athon should be translated by the equivalent of “female” donkey, but in some contexts riding donkey is better.
‘Ayir should be translated according to the specific context. In Genesis 32:15 the translation should definitely be the equivalent of “male donkey”, and probably also in Judges 10:4 and Judges 12:14. The significance of these latter passages is that female donkeys were the more normal choice of mount.
In Job 11:12 the emphasis is probably on the friskiness of the donkey, and the translation should be the equivalent of “He ties his young donkey to a grapevine, his frisky young ass to the best of the vines” (indicating a certain amount of irresponsibility, and perhaps extravagance).
In Job 11:12 and Zechariah 9:9 the obvious emphasis is on the youth of the donkey, so the equivalent of “colt”, “foal”, “young donkey”, and so on should be used.
Took an ass laden with bread: literally “took an ass of bread,” that is, the Hebrew has no verb form corresponding to the word laden. The Septuagint says that Jesse took a gomor of bread. In the Septuagint the word gomor in Greek translates both the Hebrew word omer and the Hebrew word homer. Some have therefore suggested that a scribe committed an error, confusing either the word omer or the word homer and the similar Hebrew word translated ass, chamor. An omer was a dry measure, equivalent to a little more than two quarts or about five loaves of bread. A homer was a dry measure equal to about 394 liters, or about eleven bushels. This conjecture is the basis for the New English Bible translation: “Jesse took a homer of bread.” Compare also Revised English Bible, “Jesse took a batch of bread.”
Another suggestion is that a scribe mistakenly read the original text, which said “five [loaves] of bread,” as “a donkey of bread.” The Hebrew word for “five,” chamesh, is similar in spelling to the word “donkey.” This conjecture is the basis for the translation “Jesse took five loaves of bread” (New American Bible and similarly New Jerusalem Bible, Osty-Trinquet, and Nueva Biblia Española, all of which say that Jesse took five loaves of bread, but do not mention a donkey).
Another suggestion is that the original is preserved in one form of the Septuagint, which says “took an ass, ladened it with an omer of bread” (so Anchor Bible). According to this solution the words “loaded it with an omer” probably were accidentally omitted by a scribe.
It is difficult to know which reading is correct. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh reads “Jesse took an ass [laden with] bread” and states in a note that the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain. Certainly the Masoretic Text seems to be lacking something. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament correctly notes that an omer is too small an amount to take to Saul, and a homer is too large for a man to carry. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {B} rating to the Masoretic Text and suggests that the words “loaded with” are to be understood. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament recommends a translation similar to that found in New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, although it will not be necessary to enclose the words “laden with” in brackets. Compare Bible en français courant, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, all of which are in agreement with the Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament recommendation.
A skin of wine: see the comments on 1.24.
A kid is a young goat. See the comments on the plural of this word at 10.3.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.