2He also defeated the Moabites and, making them lie down on the ground, measured them off with a cord; he measured two lengths of cord for those who were to be put to death and one length for those who were to be spared. And the Moabites became servants to David and brought tribute.
The Hebrew that is translated as “offering” in English is translated in Venda as nduvho. J. A. van Rooy (in The Bible Translator 1974, p. 439ff. ) explains: “It is derived from the verb u luvha (‘to pay homage to; to acknowledge the superiority of; at the same time usually asking for a favour’). It is sometimes used as a synonym for ‘asking something from a chief. The noun nduvho means ‘a gift of allegiance,’ which corresponds closely with minchah (מִנְחָה) as ‘offering of allegiance.’ This term nduvho has in it the elements of subjugation, of reciprocity (asking for a favor), of being taken up into the same community as the chief in allegiance to him. Only the element of expiation is missing.”
In Northern Emberá, it is translated as “given to God freely.” (Source: Loewen 1980, p. 108)
The concepts of distance that are translated in English with “long,” “wide,” and “high/tall” are translated in Kwere with one word: utali. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Samuel 8:2:
Kupsabiny: “Then, he also came and defeated the people of Moab. David told those people to lie down and placed (a) rope across measuring those people. All the people who were measured in the length of two ropes were killed and those of the length of one rope were left/spared. David ruled those people so that they would pay taxes to him.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “David also defeated the Moabites and forced them to lie down on the ground. Then they were measured with a rope. He measured off two lengths of rope to kill and one length of rope to keep alive. In this way the Moabites became taxpayers living under his authority.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “David also defeated the Moabnon. He made- them -lie-down in-a-row on the ground and measured-(them)-off with a (length of) cord/rope. Those who-were-included in every two lengths of the cord were-put-to-death, and those who-were-included in every one length of the cord were-allowed to live. The Moabnon that were- not -put-to-death became under/part- of David’s -jurisdiction and they paid taxes to him.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “David’s army also defeated the army of the Moab people-group. David forced their soldiers to lie down on the ground close to each other. His men killed two out of every three of them. The other Moab people were forced to accept David as their ruler, and they were forced to give to him every year the payment/tax that he demanded.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
And: since the conjunction here introduces the discussion of the defeat of a different group of people, it will probably be better translated “Then” (Anderson as well as Good News Translation), “Also” (An American Translation, New American Bible, New International Version, New Revised Standard Version, and Anchor Bible), or possibly “Next.”
The Hebrew text describes in some detail a mass execution of the defeated Moabites. The Hebrew says that “David defeated Moab and measured them.” Most interpreters understand this to mean that he “measured” the defeated soldiers, not all of the people in the country of Moab. Commentators often express surprise at the savage way in which the Moabites were treated, since David’s great-grandmother is said to be from Moab (Ruth 4.21-22), and the Moabites had been helpful to David’s family (1 Sam 22.3-4). The ancient Greek and Latin versions reduce the ratio of those killed to one-half instead of two-thirds. And the parallel passage in 1 Chr 18.2 does not mention the killings. But the meaning of the passage here must be translated as it stands. It will probably not be a good idea to render literally the idea measured them with a line, or as Fox translates, “he measured them with a rope.” The important elements to retain in translation are the fact that the prisoners were required to lie down on the ground, and that two out of every three of them were put to death. A possible model for this is “He forced the prisoners to lie down on the ground in three lines. He had all those in two of the lines killed. He allowed only those in the third line to live.”
The Moabites became servants: this, of course, refers to the Moabites that remained after the other two-thirds were killed. For this reason some translators prefer to say “the rest of the people of Moab,” “the remaining Moabites,” or “those people of Moab who had survived.”
Brought tribute: since this was not a one-time affair, it may be better to translate something like “started to bring gifts.” Commentators observe that the tribute may have consisted of sheep and wool (compare 2 Kgs 3.4) rather than money, which is probably implied by the Good News Translation rendering “taxes.” So it may be better to say “regularly brought gifts” or “gave him what he demanded.”
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 .
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