The Greek and Hebrew phrases that are often translated as “birds of the air” in English “refer to the undomesticated song birds or wild birds, to be distinguished in a number of languages from domesticated fowl. In Tzeltal these former are ‘field birds’.” (source: Bratcher / Nida)
Q’anjob’al also uses an established term for non-domesticated birds. Newberry and Kittie Cox (in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. ) explain: “Qʼanjobʼal has two distinct terms, one to identify domesticated birds and the other non-domesticated birds. The additional descriptive phrase ‘of the air’ seemed entirely misleading, for Qʼanjobʼal speakers had never heard of such creatures. Actually, of course, all that was necessary was the term for non-domesticated birds, for that is precisely the meaning of the Biblical expression.”
In Elhomwe they are just translated as “birds” or “birds of the bush” (i.e., wild birds) to “not give the impression that these are special type of birds.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated in English as “wild animal” or similar is translated in Newari as “animal that lives in the jungle.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 17:44:
Kupsabiny: “He told him that, ‘Come here! Today you will be eaten by vultures and wild animals.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “He said, "OK, come! I will give the sparrows who live in the sky and the animals who live on the earth your flesh to eat.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Then he said, ‘Come-near here, for I will-have- your (sing.) dead-body/corpse -eaten by the birds and by the cruel/(wild) animals!’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “He said to David, ‘Come here to me, and I will kill you and give your dead body to the birds and wild animals to eat!’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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. )
The context may require a more colorful rendering of the ordinary verb said. Some may prefer “shouted” (Contemporary English Version) or “cried out” where Good News Translation has “challenged.” La Bible du Semeur, on the other hand, translates “he added,” since this is really a continuation of what Goliath started to say in verse 43.
Come to me: this may be translated “Keep on coming” or “Come close” (Knox) in some languages, since the text has already indicated that David was approaching Goliath (verse 40).
Your flesh: this refers to the physical part of a person as opposed to the spiritual. It may be translated “your body” as in Good News Translation and New Century Version or simply by the pronoun “you” (Contemporary English Version). Some languages may even say “I will give what is left of you to the animals and birds.”
Birds of the air … the beasts of the field: the Hebrew does not state explicitly why Goliath would give David’s dead body to the birds and animals. Good News Translation makes this explicit, “to eat.” Good News Translation also omits of the air and of the field as redundant and unnatural. This threat of Goliath echoes the words of Deut 28.26.
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 .
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