6Why should you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? After he had made fools of them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?
The Hebrew and Greek that is typically translated in English as “hardened” or “stubborn” is translated in the HausaCommon Language Bible idiomatically as taurin kai or “tough head.”
Other languages spoken in Nigeria translate similarly: Abua uses oḅom ẹmhu or “strong head,” Bura-Pabirkəra ɓəɓal or “hard head,” Gokanaagẹ̀ togó or “hard/strong head,” Igedeegbeju-ọngịrị or “hard head,” Deragɨddɨng koi or “strong head,” Resheɾiʃitə ɾigbaŋgba or “strong head,” and in Chadian Arabicraas gawi (رَاسْكُو قَوِي) or “hard head” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
Other translation approaches include Western Bukidnon Manobo with “breath is very hard” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation) or Ixil with “callous heart” (source: Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 40).
The Hebrew that is translated into English as forms of “(to not) harden heart” is translated into other languages with their own vivid idioms; for example, Thai uses “black-hearted” (source: Bratcher / Hattoon, p. 272), Pökoot uses makany kwoghïghitu mötöwekwo: “do not let become hard your heads” (source: Gerrit van Steenbergen), Anuak has “make liver strong” (source: Loren Bliese), and The Hebrew that is translated as “divination” or similar in English is translated in Elhomwe has “dried heart” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext).
In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is translated colloquially as wie vernagelt or “obtuse” (in Mark 6:52 and 8:17).
While Moba has a rich metaphorical library using the concept of “heart” (pal) it follows very different paradigms compared to Greek, Hebrew and English concepts. The parallel expression of “hardened heart” means “courageous” or “encouraged” (see hearts burning) so in the 2008 Moba Yendu Kadapaaonn translation various constructs are used to translate “hardness of heart,” including “not willing to change one’s mind” (in Mark 3:5) or “make temptation into the heart” (John 12:40). (Source: Bedouma Joseph Kobaike in Le Sycomore 17/1, 2024, p. 3ff. )
The term that is used for monarchs in ancient Egypt and is transliterated as “Pharaoh” in English is translated in Finnish Sign Language with the sign signifying the “fake metal beard (postiche)” that was word by Pharaohs during official functions. (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 6:6:
Kupsabiny: “Why should you become hard-headed (stiff-necked) like Pharaoh and his people? Did he not release at last the Israelites to go after God punished him plus his people?” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Why will you be stubborn like Pharaoh and the Egyptians? Wasn’t it because of the harsh way He did to them that they allowed the Israelites to go their own way?"” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “[You (plur.)] do- not -harden your (plur.) hearts like what the Egiptohanon and their king did. They just allowed the Israelinhon to-go when God caused- them -to-suffer very severely/[double emphasis marker].” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Do not be stubborn like the Egyptians and their king were. They did not do what the Israelis’ god told them to do, so he punished them. After the Israelis’ god finished punishing them very severely, they were glad to allow the Israelis to leave their country.” (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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
This verse consists of two rhetorical questions. The first question functions as a mild exhortation not to be stubborn as the Egyptians were. The second question functions to remind the people of what God had done. Translators will need to decide whether rhetorical questions will carry the correct meaning, or whether one or both of the questions should be turned into a statement, as Good News Translation does in the second case. In some languages it will be possible to keep the form of a question while making clear that the question is rhetorical; see, for example, Anchor Bible: “Is it not true that when [Yahweh] had had his way with them…?”
The question concerning the Egyptians and Pharaoh is an allusion to Exo 10.1-2. It will be recalled that Pharaoh is a title and not a proper noun. See the comments on 2.27.
Harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts: the expression harden your hearts means “to be stubborn” or “to not submit to God’s will,” and occurs frequently in Exodus (for example, Exo 8.15, 32; 9.34). Here it has been rendered “become stubborn” (New American Bible) and “stiffened themselves” (Moffatt). Other languages may say “refuse to heed God.”
After he had made sport of them: the verb in this clause has negative connotations. In other contexts it refers to arbitrary acts of humiliation, abuse (including sexual abuse), and cruelty. Some translations use a direct expression here such as “make fools of” (Good News Translation), “make a mockery of” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Others use more idiomatic expressions such as “Did he not toy with them?” (Klein) or “when he had had his way with them” (Anchor Bible). The translation of this clause must not give the impression that God was “playing” in a good-natured way with the Egyptians. Them refers to the people of Egypt, including their ruler, the Pharaoh. The people, on the other hand, is a reference to the Israelites.
Did not they let the people go, that is, “Did not the Egyptians and the king of Egypt let the Israelite people go?”
Let … go: the Hebrew verb may have a rather passive meaning as in Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, or a more active meaning “send away [or, send out]” as in New International Version, Klein, and La Bible Pléiade.
And they departed: as Good News Translation makes clear, they refers to the Israelites, who departed “from Egypt.”
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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