complete verse (2 Kings 3:19)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Kings 3:19:

  • Kupsabiny: “You (plur.) will defeat every city which has a wall and every big/important city. You will fell every tree that is eaten (fruit tree), also stop/seal all water holes and throw stones on every fertile field.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “You will succeed in conquering all the great cities and cities that are fortified. You will cut down all the good trees, block all the springs, and spoil all the really good crop-bearing fields by throwing rocks on them.’” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “You (plur.) will-destroy their nice towns which are-surrounded by stone-walls. You (plur.) will-cut-down their good trees, cover their springs, and ruin their bountiful/fruitful farms/fields by putting some stones (there).’ ’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “You will conquer all their beautiful cities, cities that have high walls around them. You must cut down all their fruit trees, stop water from flowing from their springs, and ruin their fertile fields by covering them with rocks.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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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).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on 2 Kings 3:19

The second person pronoun you is still plural and this should be reflected in translation.

Every fortified city, and every choice city: These two phrases seem to refer to both the walled cities as well as the unfortified cities in the countryside. La Bible du Semeur and Nouvelle Bible Segond call them “all their fortified cities and all the important cities.” Cogan and Tadmor take these two phrases as needless repetition caused by scribal error. The second part of the double reading is also omitted by the ancient Greek version, and this is followed by New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, and Osty-Trinquet. But very possibly the Hebrew words translated and every choice city were accidentally omitted by the Greek, so they should be translated.

Fell every good tree: The meaning of the Hebrew verb rendered fell is “cut down” or “chop down.” The words good tree most likely refer to fruit trees (so Good News Translation, New American Bible, Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie). Deut 20.19-20 prohibits the cutting down of fruit trees in a time of war. But some commentators state that the law does not apply here (Hobbs, page 37). In any case, the translation of this passage will have to follow the text.

Stop up all springs of water: In Gen 26.15 this was done by putting dirt into the wells dug by Abraham. Here the reference is to natural springs (see the comments at 2 Kgs 2.21) rather than to wells dug by people. In some languages it may sound very strange to speak of stopping up springs. A more natural way of talking about this might be to say “spoil all the springs” or “stop up all wells of water” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh).

Ruin every good piece of land with stones: The Hebrew verb translated ruin is more literally “cause harm” or “cause pain.” Throwing stones on a cleared and fertile piece of land would certainly cause harm to farming. In some languages it may be necessary to say more precisely “dump stones on every plot of good land to make it bad” or “spoil every good piece of land by placing stones on it.”

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 .