cup

The Hebrew, Greek, and Latin that is translated as “cup” in English is translated in Sar with “calabash” (see here ) (source: Ngarbolnan Riminan in Le Sycomore 2000, p. 20ff. ) and in Bariai with “coconut shell” (source: Bariai Back Translation)

mourn

The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “mourn” or similar in English is translated in Newari as “have one’s heart broken” or “have a bursting heart” (source: Newari Back Translation).

complete verse (Jeremiah 16:7)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 16:7:

  • Kupsabiny: “No one will eat with the one who has lost his person/relative in order to overcome loneliness. No one will show compassion to another one even if a father or mother has died.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “No one will-give food or drink in-order to comfort the ones-who-mourn for the dead, even for the death of a father or mother.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “No one will bring food to comfort those who are mourning, not even if it is their father or their mother who has died. No one will give them a cup of wine to cheer them up.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 16:7

This verse is generally taken to reflect the custom of fasting as a sign of mourning (see 2Sam 3.35). When the time of the fast had come to an end, food and drink would apparently be brought in by friends and neighbors.

Good News Translation assumes that break bread … to comfort him has the same meaning as give him the cup of consolation, and so it puts break bread and give … the cup into the same sentence: “No one will eat or drink with anyone to comfort him….” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is similar in its restructuring. Translators can also restructure the verse as follows:

• No one is to offer food to people in mourning, to comfort them in their loss. Even if it is their father or mother who has died, don’t give them something to drink [or, a comforting drink].

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .