19your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life, but I cannot flee to the hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die.
The Hebrew that is translated as “steadfast love,” “lovingkindness” (Goldingay 2018: “commitment”) or similar in English is translated in a number of ways:
Vidunda: “love of enduring” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Bura-Pabir: “love which cannot be-changed” (hyirkur na a palidzi wa)
HausaCommon Language Bible “his love without changing” (kaunarsa marar canjawa) (source for this and above: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
Elhomwe: “love that does not finish” (echikondi yoohisintheya) (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Nyamwezi: chelu, combining “love,” “faithfulness,” “loyalty,” and “kindness” (source: James Lundeen)
Newari: dayāmāyā (दयामाया), a compound word made from two Sanskrit-derived terms: dayā (दया) or “compassion, mercy, kindness” and māyā (माया) or “love, affection” (source: Newari Back Translation)
In Pijintinghevi long or “think heavy about” is used. “The Pijin expression ‘think heavy about’ is very much within the domain of committed relationships. The relationship between father and child, husband and wife, God and His people. There is a very strong element of ‘loyalty’ in this expression.” (Source: Bob Carter)
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin terms that are typically translated as “mercy” (or “compassion” or “kindness”) in English are translated in various ways. Bratcher / Nida classify them in (1) those based on the quality of heart, or other psychological center, (2) those which introduce the concept of weeping or extreme sorrow, (3) those which involve willingness to look upon and recognize the condition of others, or (4) those which involve a variety of intense feelings.
While the Englishmercy originates from the Latinmerces, originally “price paid,” Romance languages (Italian, Spanish, Corsican, Catalan, Friulian) and other Germanic languages (German, Swedish, Danish — Barmherzigkeit, barmhärtighet and barmhjertighed, respectively) tend to follow the Latin misericordia, lit. “misery-heart.”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 19:19:
Kankanaey: “Admittedly large is your mercy in saving us (excl.). But the mountains are definitely too far-away. I will not yet arrive and I will be overtaken by the punishment and I will die just the same.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Newari: “You have done a great work for me. You have delivered me. I am not able to escape to the mountain. Before I get there this city will have been destroyed. And we will also die.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “You (sing.) have-shown- me -mercy and you have-shown- to me your goodness by saving my life. But the mountain is very far; I might be-overtaken by the disaster and I will-die before I can-reach there.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Please, listen. You have been pleased with me and have been very kind to me and spared my life. But I cannot flee to the mountain. If I try to do that, I will die in this disaster.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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 benefactive constructions as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. Here, ikashite (生かして) or “let them live,” hodokoshite (施して) or “dispense,” and goran (ご覧) or “see/behold/look” (itself a combination of “behold/see” [ran] and the honorific prefix go- — see behold / look / see (Japanese honorifics)) are used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).”
Also, the honorific form kudasai (ください) reflects that the action is called for as a favor for the sake of the beneficiary. This polite kudasai imperative form is often translated as “please” in English. While English employs pure imperatives in most imperative constructions (“Do this!”), Japanese chooses the polite kudasai (“Do this, please.”).
And lastly, when the referent is God, a god, or a person or persons to be greatly honored, the honorific prefix go- (御 or ご) can be used, as in go-kōi (ご好意), a combination of “favor” (kōi) and the honorific prefix go-.
Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight: for behold as used here, see comment on “I pray you” in 19.2. Lot refers to himself as your [singular] servant as in Gen 19.2. See there for comments. Lot softens his refusal to leave the valley by recognizing the kindness the angels have shown to him and his family. Your sight is also singular. This whole expression was first used in regard to Noah in 6.8, “in the eyes of the LORD.” See there for comments.
You have shown me great kindness in saving my life begins literally “You [singular] have magnified your [singular] mercy.” Lot repeats what he has just said using different words. The sense is the same and forms a parallelism.
But I cannot flee to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me, and I die: Lot argues that the hills are too far away. He would be killed in the destruction before he could reach them. Overtake means that the effects of the destruction will spread out more quickly than Lot can run from them, and the destruction will reach him before he can be at a safe distance. Disaster translates a word meaning evil, distress, or misery, and refers to the destruction of Sodom. We may also translate, for example, “But I cannot reach the hills before you destroy Sodom, and I will be caught in it and die” or “But the hills are far away … and while I still have a long way to go, the town will be destroyed and I will die with it.”
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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