coat of mail

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “coat of mail” or similar in English is translated in Newari as “iron sheet” (source: Newari Back Translation).

bronze

The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “bronze” in English is translated in Newari as “bell-metal,” since bells are made of bronze in Nepal (source: Newari Back Translation).

See also bronze vessel.

complete verse (1 Samuel 17:5)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 17:5:

  • Kupsabiny: “He had a hat made from bronze and he had put on his chest a metal made from bronze. That thing was weighing fifty seven kilos. Those things were what he protected himself with in battle.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “He was wearing a bronze cap on his head and had put on a sixty-kilogram bronze coat.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “His helmet (was) bronze, and his shield/defensive-armor on the chest (was) also bronze weighing about 57 kilograms.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “He wore a helmet made of bronze to protect his head, and he wore a coat made of metal plates to protect his body. The coat weighed 125 pounds/56 kg..” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on 1 Samuel 17:5

It may seem odd in some languages to state as the Hebrew does that Goliath wore the helmet on his head, since a helmet by definition is worn on the head. Good News Translation leaves that information implicit. Bronze is a compound consisting of copper and tin. Compare Gen 4.22 and Josh 6.19. But there are contexts in which the same Hebrew term seems to mean “copper” (Deut 8.9). Where copper and bronze are unknown, translators may have to resort to a more general term meaning “metal.”

A coat of mail: this was a garment made of interlocking metal rings or small scales that were tied together with leather thongs. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh calls this “a breast-plate of scale armor” (similarly New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Century Version, New International Version).

Five thousand shekels of bronze: about sixty kilograms (132 pounds). Translators are not encouraged to translate by retaining the Hebrew unit of measure but are rather urged to use a modern equivalent in the receptor language. For example, New International Version, which uses a modern equivalent for the height of Goliath, should not be followed with regard to the weight of his armor, since it adopts a literal rendering of the Hebrew.

The placement of the word meaning of bronze is odd in English. It refers to the material of which the coat of mail was made and seems out of place as a part of the weight. Translators will almost certainly want to shift it forward.

The description of Goliath’s armor in verses 5-6 shows that most of his body is protected. All of this prepares the reader for verse 49, where David strikes the giant in his forehead, the one unprotected part of Goliath’s body.

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 .