complete verse (1 Samuel 17:30)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 17:30:

  • Kupsabiny: “Then David turned to someone and asked him the same question. Whenever David asked that question, they responded to him as before.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Then, turning toward another person, trying again [he] asked the same question. As many times as he asked, that many times there was the same answer.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Then David yet went to other people and asked also the same question, and their answer to him was also the same.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Then he walked over to another man and asked him the same question, but the man gave him the same answer. Each time he asked someone, he received the same answer.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on 1 Samuel 17:30

It will be necessary in some languages to clarify who turned away from whom. The original text has only the pronouns he and him, but the meaning is “David turned away from Eliab.”

And spoke in the same way: the meaning is not that David’s manner of speech remained the same, but rather that he asked the same question as in verse 26.

The people answered him again as before: the people are again the Israelite soldiers (verse 27). Each time David asked another soldier, he received the same response.

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 .