The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated in English as “joy” or “happiness” is translated in the HausaCommon Language Bible idiomatically as farin ciki or “white stomach.” In some cases, such as in Genesis 29:11, it is also added for emphatic purposes.
Other languages that use the same expression include Southern Birifor (pʋpɛl), Dera (popolok awo), Reshe (ɾipo ɾipuhã). (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that are translated as “wine” in English is translated into Pass Valley Yali as “grape juice pressed long ago (= fermented)” or “strong water” (source: Daud Soesilo). In Guhu-Samane it is also translated as “strong water” (source: Ernest L. Richert in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 198ff. ), in Noongar as “liquor” (verbatim: “strong water”) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang), in Hausa as ruwan inabi or “water of grapes” (with no indication whether it’s alcoholic or not — source: Mark A. Gaddis), in sar as kasə nduú or “grape drink” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin), or in Papantla Totonac and Coyutla Totonac as “a drink like Pulque” (for “Pulque,” see here ) (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1971, p. 169ff. ).
In Swahili, Bible translations try to avoid local words for alcoholic drinks, because “drinking of any alcohol at all was one of the sins most denounced by early missionaries. Hence translators are uncomfortable by the occurrences of wine in the Bible. Some of the established churches which use wine prefer to see church wine as holy, and would not refer to it by the local names used for alcoholic drinks. Instead church wine is often referred to by terms borrowed from other languages, divai (from German, der Wein) or vini/mvinyo (from ltalian/Latin vino/vinum). Several translations done by Protestants have adapted the Swahili divai for ‘wine,’ while those done by Catholics use vini or mvinyo.” (Source: Rachel Konyoro in The Bible Translator 1985, p. 221ff. )
The Swahili divai was in turn borrowed by Sabaot and was turned into tifaayiik and is used as such in the Bible. Kupsabiny, on the other hand, borrowed mvinyo from Swahili and turned it into Finyonik. (Source: Iver Larsen)
In Nyamwezi, two terms are used. Malwa ga muzabibu is a kind of alcohol that people specifically use to get drunk (such as in Genesis 9:21) and ki’neneko is used for a wine made from grapes (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext).
In some Hindi translations (such as the Common Language version, publ. 2015 ), one term (dākharasa दाखरस — grape juice) is used when that particular drink is in the focus (such as in John 2) and another term (madirā मदिरा — “alcohol” or “liquor”) when drunkenness is in the focus (such as in Eph. 5:18).
In Mandarin Chinese, the generic term jiǔ (酒) or “alcohol(ic drink)” is typically used. Exceptions are Leviticus 10:9, Numbers 6:3, Deuteronomy 29:6, Judges 13:4 et al., 1 Samuel 1:15, and Luke 1:15 where a differentiation between weak and strong alcohol is needed. The Mandarin Chinese Union Version (2010) translates that as qīngjiǔ lièjiǔ (清酒烈酒) and dànjiǔ lièjiǔ (淡酒烈酒), both in the form of a Chinese proverb and meaning “light alcohol and strong drink.” (Source: Zetzsche)
Click or tap here to see a short video clip about wine in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 24:9:
Kupsabiny: “Never again shall (people) sing/dance while drinking wine, and beer shall become sour.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “No one sings songs, having drunk grape wine, good alcoholic beverage seems bitter to those who drink [it].” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “There is no-longer singing in their drinking, and the drink will-become bitter.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “At that time, people will proclaim, ‘Yahweh is our God! We trusted in him, and he rescued us! Yahweh, in whom we trusted, has done it; we should rejoice because of his saving/rescuing us!’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
This verse continues to focus on the fact that people cannot celebrate anymore.
No more do they drink wine with singing: The pronoun they refers to people in general. The Hebrew word rendered wine is the normal term for fermented wine (see verse 7 and 5.11; see also the comments on 1.22, where a different word for wine is used). The adverbial phrase with singing paints a picture of people joyfully singing as they drink. This sound is no longer heard.
Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it: For strong drink, see the comments at 5.11. Both New International Version and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch say “beer,” which is a good rendering. Good News Translation has only “wine” in this verse. The Hebrew verb rendered is bitter can refer to the beer’s taste or its aftertaste.
Although wine and strong drink are referred to separately here, this verse is an example of all-inclusive parallelism. The comments about each one apply to both of them. People may still drink wine and beer, but they never do it with joyful singing, and the taste is always bitter. The two main verbs in this verse (drink and is bitter) have an imperfect form in Hebrew, which is significant since most of the other verbs in this subsection are perfect in form. The imperfect form is used for actions that occur frequently. This is expressed clearly in the examples below.
Translation examples for this verse are:
• Nobody drinks wine and sings anymore,
those who drink beer find it always bitter.
• People no longer drink wine and sing,
beer is always bitter to those who drink it.
Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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