20So when the decree made by the king is proclaimed throughout all his kingdom, vast as it is, all women will give honor to their husbands, high and low alike.”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Esther 1:20:
Kupsabiny: “When you pass a decree like that and all the people in the whole of your empire hear (it), the women will honor/respect their husbands no matter whether the husband is known/prominent or not.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “In this way, when the royal command is proclaimed to everyone in the land all women, rich and poor will respect their own husbands."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “And if this is already proclaimed throughout your (sing.) very huge/vast kingdom, the wives will-respect their husbands, from the greatest husband to the least.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Eastern Bru: “When all the people in the wide country that you rule hear about the king’s word, than all the women will respect again their husbands, among both rich and poor.” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
English: “Then, when everyone in your empire hears what you have commanded, all the women, including those who are important and those who are not important, will respect and obey their husbands.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:
Ninia Yali: “big brother with the uplifted name” (source: Daud Soesilio in Noss 2007, p. 175)
Nyamwezi: mutemi: generic word for ruler, by specifying the city or nation it becomes clear what kind of ruler (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Ghomála’: Fo (“The word Fo refers to the paramount ruler in the kingdoms of West Cameroon. He holds administrative, political, and religious power over his own people, who are divided into two categories: princes (descendants of royalty) and servants (everyone else).” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn))
Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo (Dinė) was determined:
“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”
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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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, das-are-ru (出される) or “go/let out” is used.
A fifth word is found in this verse relating to commands, pithgam, translated decree in some versions (Revised Standard Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), “proclamation” in others (Good News Translation), and “edict” in still others (New International Version). The important components in this word are that the command is in written form and it is made known as a public pronouncement or proclamation. The verb is proclaimed is literally “will be heard.” In this context a possible model for translating this part of the verse is the following: “When all the people throughout all the land of the king hear the decree that he has made….” Many languages have a special verb for making an official proclamation that can be used in translating this verse. For instance, a decree may be “announced” or “declaimed,” or it may be “cried out.”
In the words vast as it is, the word “it” can refer to the decree, as in Segond (“When people become informed of this decree that is so important”), but nearly all interpreters understand “it” to refer to the size of the kingdom, as in Good News Translation; Revised English Bible has “throughout the length and breadth of the kingdom.”
For women to give honor to their husbands means in this context “to treat her husband with proper respect” (Good News Translation; also New Jerusalem Bible). In this narrative, though, to treat one’s husband with proper respect means more precisely to “bow to the authority of their husbands” (New Jerusalem Bible) or “to show herself to be submissive to her husband” (Bible en français courant). It is the opposite of showing contempt to one’s husband, referred to in verses 17 and 19 above. The translator may need to choose either “honor” or “obey,” depending on which is the more appropriate in the context.
The words high and low, like “great and small” in 1.5, refer primarily to social rank or position and not to age (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “whatever their social position might be”). The Hebrew words “great” and “small” refer to the husbands (so Good News Translation, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible en français courant, and most translations). A few translations (Revised English Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) connect these words to the wives of the common people (1.17), that is, the low, and of the nobles (1.18), that is, the high: “all women, high and low alike, will give honour to their husbands.” Revised English Bible and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch are not the best models here.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Noss, Philip A. A Handbook on Esther (The Hebrew Text). (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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