4David took from him one thousand seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand foot soldiers. David hamstrung all the chariot horses but left enough for a hundred chariots.
The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated into English as “chariot” is translated into Anuak as “canoe pulled by horse.” “Canoe” is the general term for “vehicle” (source: Loren Bliese). Similarly it is translated in Lokạạ as ukwaa wạ nyanyang ntuuli or “canoe that is driven by horses.” (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )
Other translations include:
Chichicapan Zapotec: “ox cart” (in Acts 8) (ox carts are common vehicles for travel) (source: Loren Bliese)
Chichimeca-Jonaz, it is translated as “little house with two feet pulled by two horses” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
HausaCommon Language Bible as keken-doki or “cart of donkey” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “soldier” in English didn’t have a direct equivalent in Enlhet so it was translated with “those that bind us” (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. ) and in Noongar it is mammarapa-bakadjiny or “men of fighting” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Samuel 8:4:
Kupsabiny: “David took/captured one thousand chariots/carts of horses of Hadadezer and seven thousand of his people who went/rode on horses. He also caught twenty thousand people who went on legs/walking (foot soldiers). (He/They) cut the Achilles tendons of all the other horses which were pulling the chariots, but he remained with enough to pull the chariots/carts.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “David captured 1700 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers. Except for 100 horses, David crippled all the horses that pulled Hadadezer’s chariots.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “David and company took-by-force his 1,000 chariots, 7,000 charioteers, and 20,000 soldiers. David and company hamstrung the horses that were-pulling the chariots except the 100 that they left for them to-use.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “David’s army captured 1,700 of Hadadezer’s soldiers who rode on horses, and 20,000 of his other soldiers. They also crippled/hamstrung most of the horses that pulled the chariots, but they left/spared enough horses to pull 100 chariots.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Many languages use a “body part tally system” where body parts function as numerals (see body part tally systems with a description). One such language is Angguruk Yali which uses a system that ends at the number 27. To circumvent this limitation, the Angguruk Yali translators adopted a strategy where a large number is first indicated with an approximation via the traditional system, followed by the exact number according to Arabic numerals. For example, where in 2 Samuel 6:1 it says “thirty thousand” in the English translation, the Angguruk Yali says teng-teng angge 30.000 or “so many rounds [following the body part tally system] 30,000,” likewise, in Acts 27:37 where the number “two hundred seventy-six” is used, the Angguruk Yali translation says teng-teng angge 276 or “so many rounds 276,” or in John 6:10 teng-teng angge 5.000 for “five thousand.”
This strategy is used in all the verses referenced here.
A thousand and seven hundred horsemen: the ancient Greek translation, as well as the parallel passage in 1 Chr 18.4, speaks of “a thousand chariots and seven thousand cavalry.” And this is followed by New International Version. The textual evidence for this reading, however, is so weak that the problem is not even treated by Hebrew Old Testament Text Project or Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament. Translators are therefore advised to translate the text as it stands, using the word horsemen rather than “chariots” and “cavalry.” This problem is treated more fully in the comments on 2 Sam 1.6.
Hamstrung: the Hebrew word used here literally means “to pluck up [by the roots]” in its base form. It is used in its more literal sense in Eccl 3.2; but in some other contexts, where the verb has a doubled consonant in the middle of the verb, it conveys the idea of a simple operation to cripple animals such as oxen (Gen 49.6) or horses (Josh 11.6, 9). Most English versions take it in this sense here (New American Bible, New International Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, New Jerusalem Bible, New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, in addition to Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation). But this verb is also used in its base form in a figurative sense meaning to “uproot,” “exterminate,” or “destroy” as in Zeph 2.4. While Contemporary English Version takes it in this sense here, it is more likely that the reference is to the crippling operation, as the majority of versions indicate.
French versions say that David “cut the hocks” (Nouvelle version Segond révisée, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible) or “had the hocks cut” (La Bible du Semeur, Bible en français courant), using the rather technical term for the tendon that is cut to make an animal lame. If the name of this tendon is well known, then this may prove to be good translation model.
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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