complete verse (1 Samuel 3:2)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 3:2:

  • Kupsabiny: “Eli had started becoming blind. There was a day when that old man was asleep in his bedroom.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Eli’s eyes had become dim and so he was not able to see clearly. One night Eli was lying down, taking his regular rest.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “One night (during)-that-(time), Eli was-sleeping in his room. Eli could- no-longer -see well.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “By that time Eli’s eyes were very weak; he was almost blind. One night he was sleeping in his room,” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on 1 Samuel 3:2

At that time: literally “And it happened on that day.” The Hebrew word often translated “day” has a wide range of meanings, including “daylight hours,” “a time period of twenty-four hours,” and a general indication of an extended period of time. As the following verses indicate (see especially verse 15), these events occurred at night, as Good News Translation makes explicit (so also New International Version, Revised English Bible, and New Century Version). In some languages it may even be misleading and contradictory to use the word “day” (New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) at this point and then talk about “night” later on.

Whose eyesight had begun to grow dim, so that he could not see: Revised Standard Version translates literally, but Good News Translation compresses the two actions into one: “who was now almost blind.” But it will be better in some languages to make a separate sentence of this relative clause. New American Bible, for example, has “His eyes had lately grown so weak that he could not see.”

His own place, that is “his room,” as in verse 9 also.

Some languages may find it more natural to imitate the restructuring of New Century Version, which uses two separate sentences and reorders some of the elements in this verse: “Eli’s eyes were so weak he was almost blind. One night he was lying in bed.”

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 .