30Then Hoshea son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah son of Remaliah, attacked him, and killed him; he reigned in place of him, in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah.
The name that is transliterated as “Uzziah” in English is translated in Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) with a sign that refers to Uzziah contracting a rare forehead disease until he died as a result of him wrongly wanting to make an offering in the temple (see 2 Chronicles 26:16, 26:19, and 26:21). (Source: Missão Kophós )
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Kings 15:30:
Kupsabiny: “And/But when Jotham son of Uzziah had twenty years having ruled the country of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah got up to make a plot against Pekah, and then he killed (him) and ruled replacing Pekah.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “During the twentieth year of the reign of Jotham, son of Uzziah, Hosea, son of Elealeh, started a conspiracy against Pekah, son of Remaliah, and killed him. Then he became king in his place.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Then Hoshea the child/(son) of Elah made-a-plan against Peka the child/(son) of Remalia. He killed Peka and succeeded (him) as king. This happened in the 20th year of the reign of Jotam, the child/(son) of Uzia, in Juda.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Then Hoshea, the son of Elah, plotted to kill Pekah. He assassinated him when Uzziah’s son Jotham had been ruling Judah for almost 20 years. Then Hoshea became the king of Israel.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Made a conspiracy: See the comments on 2 Kgs 12.20.
The son of Remaliah: This repetitive phrase may be omitted at this point if it seems awkward in the language of translation. See the comments on verse 25.
Struck him down, and slew him: The two verbs here may be better translated by a single verb in other languages. New Jerusalem Bible, for example, has only the verb “murdered.” But it may be possible to translate “attacked and killed him” as in Revised English Bible. See the comments at verse 10.
Reigned in his stead: See the comments at 1 Kgs 11.43 and 2 Kgs 8.24.
In the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah: The number “twenty” does not fit with the statements that Jotham reigned sixteen years (verse 33) and that Hoshea began to reign during the twelfth year of King Ahaz of Judah (2 Kgs 17.1). Therefore these words are taken by some experts to be a later addition to the text and are left untranslated in some versions (New Jerusalem Bible). But the vast majority of modern translations include these words, and Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament also recommends their inclusion in the text, giving the Masoretic Text a {B} rating.
Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament is probably correct in claiming that the readings in several Greek manuscripts of the Old Testament are attempts to eliminate this chronological difficulty. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament is further correct in suggesting that the number “twenty” is part of a mixed-up text. Even so, these words should not be left out of the translation. In some languages, however, it may be more natural to shift this information to the beginning of the sentence as has been done by Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.