chariot

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:

  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “cart pulled by horses” (source: Larson 1998, p. 98)
  • 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.)
  • Hausa Common Language Bible as keken-doki or “cart of donkey” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
  • Mairasi: “going-thing [vehicle]” (source: Enggavoter 2004)

It is illustrated for use in Bible translations in East Africa by Pioneer Bible Translators like this:

Image owned by PBT and Jonathan McDaniel and licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

See also cart.

army

The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin that is translated as “army” in English is translated in Chichewa as “group of warriors.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Judith 7:20

Their infantry, chariots, and cavalry may be rendered “their foot soldiers, soldiers in war carts drawn by horses, and horse soldiers.” See 2.22.

Surrounded them for thirty-four days is a problem because the verb “surround” implies the start of an action. “Kept them surrounded” would be better, or as Good News Translation has it, “blockaded,” which is more appropriate for continuous action.

The vessels of water is ambiguous; the Greek word can refer to anything capable of holding water, small or large. The word will be used of small vessels in 10.5. Some translations take it to refer to household vessels (New Jerusalem Bible “Every water-jar”). Others assume larger tanks of some kind (New American Bible “all the reservoirs”; Moore “all the water reserves”). Good News Translation also uses “reservoirs,” but shifts this noun into the next verse to be subject of the next verb along with “cisterns.” “Until the town ran out of water” (Good News Translation) or “until the town had no more water” expresses quite adequately the last clause in verse 20.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Judith. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.