9Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my earthly sojourn are one hundred thirty; few and hard have been the years of my life. They do not compare with the years of the life of my ancestors during their long sojourn.”
The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is transliterated as “Jacob” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign that signifies “lentil,” referring to the soup he gave his brother in exchange for his birthright (see Genesis 25:34). Note that another Spanish Sign Language sign for Jacob also users the sign for Jewish. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the signs signifying “smooth arm” (referring to the story starting at Genesis 27:11). (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
The term that is used for monarchs in ancient Egypt and is transliterated as “Pharaoh” in English is translated in Finnish Sign Language with the sign signifying the “fake metal beard (postiche)” that was word by Pharaohs during official functions. (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 47:9:
Kankanaey: “And Jacob said replying, ‘I have lived for 130 years merely wandering-around the earth. My life has-been-harder and shorter than my ancestors in the past.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Newari: “Jacob said — I have now moved about hither and thither for only a hundred and thirty years. Even though this lifetime of mine has not been all that long, [it] has been full of trouble.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “He replied, ‘130 years-(old) now. My life here on earth (has been) short/brief and hard. This can- not -be-matched to the length of the lives of my ancestors.'” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Jacob replied, ‘I have been traveling around for 130 years. I have not lived as long as my ancestors, but my life has been full of troubles.'” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Jacob does not answer the king’s question directly; rather he calls attention to the nature of his life as a nomad and foreigner.
The days of the years of my sojourning: for the use of the verb and noun sojourning, see 12.10 and 17.8. Translators may find it better to express sojourning as a clause, as does Bible en français courant: “For one hundred and thirty years I have gone as a foreigner from one country to another.” Examples of renderings from two other translations are “I have been walking around the land [earth] for many years, a hundred and thirty” and “I have a hundred and thirty years, in which I have been traveling all the time and going around to many places.”
Few and evil … life: few is used either in the sense of a perspective on life in old age, or more likely in comparison with his father Isaac, who died at age one hundred and eighty (35.28-29), and Abraham, who died at age one hundred and seventy-five (25.7-8). Evil means “hard” or “difficult.” This clause is expressed as, for example, “My life has been short, and I have always had a hard time” and “I haven’t stayed very long, not like my grandfathers, and I’ve had a rough time, poor me.”
And they have not attained … life of my fathers: that is, “my life has not been as long as that of my father and my grandfather.”
In the days of their sojourning: that is, “who also went as foreigners from place to place.”
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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