complete verse (2 Samuel 14:30)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Samuel 14:30:

  • Kupsabiny: “Then, Absalom told his servants that, ‘Have you (plur.) seen, the garden of Joab which has barley is next to mine. Go and set fire to it.’ Those servants went and did like that.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “So Absalom said to his servants, "Joab has a field near to my field, and you know that he has sowed barley in it. Go and set it on fire. [lit.: cause it to burn.]" Then his servants did it.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Then Absalom said to his servants, ‘You (plur.) burn the field/farm of Joab which-is planted with barley. It is just next to mine.’ So they burned the field/farm of Joab.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Then Absalom said to his servants, ‘You know that Joab’s field is next to mine, and that he has barley growing there. Go and light a fire there to burn his barley.’ So Absalom’s servants went there and lit a fire, and all his barley burned.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

barley

Barley Hordeum distichum or Hordeum vulgare is a type of grass like wheat and rice. It has been cultivated in the Middle East for thousands of years and is now one of the most prominent seed crops grown in the world. Twenty species are known, of which eight are European. Barley needs less rain than wheat does, so in the Holy Land it was typically found in the drier areas above the coastal plain and near the desert. From 2 Kings 7:1 and Revelation 6:6 we know that barley was considered inferior to wheat and was often used to feed animals, as it is today. When the wheat supply ran out, people had to make their bread with barley. Barley was gathered before wheat, the harvest coming around March or April in the lower regions and in May in the mountains (see Exodus 9:31 et al.). In Egypt and in ancient Greece barley was used to make beer.

Barley plants look like wheat or rice. They are less than 1 meter (3 feet) tall, and have a single head on each stalk, with six rows of kernels, although the biblical kind may have had only two rows. The head bends at a down-ward angle when it is ripe.

In the story of Gideon and the Midianites in Judges 7:13, “a cake of barley” representing the (despised) Israelite army tumbles into the Midianite camp and knocks down the tent (representing the nomadic Midianites).

Barley is a plant of temperate zones, like Europe and the Near East; it does not grow well in the tropics. However, barley has been recently introduced along with wheat into many parts of the world for brewing beer and other malted drinks. It is also known to have grown in Korea as early as 1500 B.C. along with wheat and millet. It is becoming known in Malay as barli. Except for the reference in Judges, all references to barley in the Bible are non-rhetorical, so unrelated cultural equivalents are discouraged. Some receptor language speakers may coin a name for it as in Malay, or the translator can use a transliteration from Hebrew (se‘orah), Latin (horideyo), or from a major language (for example, Arabic sha’ir, Spanish cebada, French orge, Portuguese cevada, Swahili shayiri), together with a classifier, if there is one (for example, “grain of shayir”).

Barley, Wikimedia Commons

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

See also barley bread.

Translation commentary on 2 Samuel 14:30

Then: the conjunction here may be seen as making a more logical connection. It was because of Joab’s double refusal to come to him that Absalom took the action described in this verse. So the transition word may be translated “Therefore” (Goldman) or “So” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Contemporary English Version, in fact, introduces this verse with the word “Finally,” and New Jerusalem Bible has “At this….”

The pronoun references may be unclear if translated literally into some languages. Translators should ensure that the readers and hearers of this story will know who is being talked about in each case.

See: this imperative verb has the sense of “seeing” but is also often used more figuratively as “perceive” or “consider.” Here Absalom is telling his servants to consider Joab’s field, which was located next to his. In some languages it is necessary to indicate whether the plural consists of two persons only or more than two. The Hebrew does not specify, but probably more than two are intended.

He has barley there: since the barley was in the field, it was still growing or possibly cut but not yet harvested. Whichever the case may have been, the servants of Absalom were instructed to destroy it with fire in order to get Joab’s attention. But in languages that use different terms for grain that is still growing and grain that has been cut, it will probably be better to use the word for what is still growing in the field. In those cultures where barley does not exist, translators will have to use a more general term for “grain” or borrow the word from the dominant language in the area. If this is done it will be helpful to add an explanation in the glossary and include an illustration in the text. Compare Ruth 1.22.

At the end of this verse, the Septuagint has an addition that is the basis for the following words in New American Bible: “Joab’s farmhands came to him with torn garments and reported to him what had been done.” Compare also the addition in Anchor Bible, “Joab’s servants came to him with their clothes torn and said, ‘The servants of Abishalom have set the property on fire.’ ” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project suggests that these words in the Greek were added to introduce Joab’s reaction in the next verse, and most translations seem to agree with this understanding. But Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament also acknowledges that these words may have been original and were accidentally omitted from the Hebrew, and therefore only gives the Masoretic Text a {D} rating.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .