וְאָֽנֹכִי֙ נְטַעְתִּ֣יךְ שֹׂרֵ֔ק כֻּלֹּ֖ה זֶ֣רַע אֱמֶ֑ת וְאֵיךְ֙ נֶהְפַּ֣כְתְּ לִ֔י סוּרֵ֖י הַגֶּ֥פֶן נָכְרִיָּֽה׃
21Yet I planted you as a choice vine
from the purest stock.
How then did you turn degenerate
and become a wild vine?
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 2:21:
The Hebrew, Greek and Latin that is translated in English typically as “vine” is translated in Lak as къюмайтӀутӀул мурхьра: “the (grape-) cluster tree.”
Vitaly Voinov tells this story: “Laks (who live in the mountainous regions of Dagestan) historically have had no experience with planting and tending vineyards. They buy grapes at the market or the store, but that’s about all they know of grape growing. Thus, in field testing, none of the readers could picture the primary image of this chapter. The translator’s initial attempt of rendering ‘vine’ as ‘grape stalk’ met with complete non-understanding. After much discussion of the problem and potential solutions, we settled on what one of the field testing respondents suggested to remedy the problem: ‘vine’ was rendered as ‘the (grape-)cluster tree’ (къюмайтӀутӀул мурхьра). Technically grapes of course don’t grow on trees, but something had to be put in the text, and it had to be said in a way that the average reader/hearer could understand it. The Lak team could have borrowed the Russian word for ‘vine’ (лоза), but since this is a very low-frequency word in the Russian language, it’s likely that many Laks wouldn’t know the Russian word either. So the team settled for a reduction of accuracy in order to achieve greater clarity. After all, the primary point of importance in this passage is not a horticultural analysis, but a metaphorical comparison to the spiritual world, to the relationship between the Father, His Son, and the followers of Jesus. This rendering allows readers to get to the core of this meaning without getting tangled up in unknown terms.”
In Elhomwe it is translated as “tree of grapes” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext), Akan (Fante dialect) and Ewe have “wine tree” (source: Anthony Badu in Journal of Mother-Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics and Theology 2021, p. 88ff. ).
The Common Grape Vine Vitis vinifera is mentioned more often than any other plant or tree in the Bible. Excavations in Greece have discovered grape seeds dating to 4500 B.C. Egyptian records document the existence of cultivated vines in Canaan as early as 2375 B.C., and subsequent records report trade in vine products around 1360 B.C. and many times thereafter.
The vine is a creeping plant that develops a woody stem when it matures. It grows along the ground until it finds a tree or other object to climb, using tendrils. It bears bunches of small round fruit that are sweet and juicy. Today farmers grow them commercially throughout the Mediterranean area, in South Africa, in North America, and in many other countries. The first reference to the vine in the Bible (Genesis 9:20) tells us that Noah planted a vineyard (Hebrew kerem) and that he made an alcoholic drink from the fruit. Farmers since then have improved on the size, color, and quality of the fruit by careful pruning and selection until now there are at least 65 kinds of grapevines. Like many other plants in temperate areas, the vine has leaves that appear in early spring. After the fruit is picked and the weather gets cold, the leaves drop off and the plant is bare until the following spring. A typical vineyard in Bible times was surrounded by a stone fence. It had a stone tower from which the owner could watch for predators, and a place to squeeze the juice out of the fruits.
The vine is the most frequently cited plant in the Bible, and that alone makes it special. Vines, grapes, raisins, and wine were a major element of Jewish life, so it is not a surprise that the vine and its products are used figuratively probably more than any other Bible plant. After the flood purified the earth at the time of Noah, the vine became the means by which the human race was plunged again into sin (Genesis 9:20). We know from Jacob’s blessing in Genesis 49:11f. and other passages that the vine was the symbol of blessing, prosperity, and happiness. The fact that there were groups like the Nazirites and Rechabites who abstained from drinking wine simply shows the radical self-denial that these people imposed on themselves. A drink offering of wine was an important part of worship (Exodus 29:40), and the image of contentment was “every man under his vine and under his fig tree” (Micah 4:4). Jotham includes the vine in his well-known Parable of the Trees (Judges 9:7ff.). In the New Testament, Jesus rescued a man from humiliation at a wedding party by miraculously providing a fresh supply of wine (John 2:1ff.). Wine becomes a major symbol in the Christian community when Jesus foreshadows his crucifixion by comparing the wine poured out in the Passover celebration to his blood (Matthew 26:27f. et al.). He speaks of the need for Christians to be like the branches of the vine, drawing their nourishment from him, the True Vine (John 15.:1ff.). Nearly every New Testament writer makes some metaphorical reference to the vine or its products.
There are around 65 kinds of grapevines (Vitis vinifera) found in the Northern Hemisphere. They belong to a larger family of creeping plants called Vitaceae, which has over 800 species throughout the world including many in the tropical and warm climates of the world.
Grapevines have occasionally been grown in West Africa (for example, in The Gambia and in northern Nigeria) but are not well known even where they are grown commercially. Attempts at substituting a local tree name have not been entirely successful because the species chosen is usually not cultivated and/or does not have the same economic or social function that the grape had in Israel.
Thus it is probably best to use a transliteration from a major language. However, in parts of Nigeria and perhaps elsewhere, the word grep refers to “grapefruit” and should be avoided in translation. A transliteration from “vine” or “wine” is preferred, although a translator needs to be careful. The English word “vine” refers to any creeping plant, but it also refers to a particular kind of vine that produces grapes (Vitis vinifera). This can be confusing. Furthermore, translators in English-speaking countries should think carefully about what they are going to do with the word “wine.” In The Gambia, Mandinka translators first used “wayini tree” but later concluded that it may be better to have a word for “vine” that is not necessarily identical with “wine.” Bine, from binekaro (“vinegar”), was considered, as was inabi (“grape”) from Arabic.
Languages that borrow the Arabic word inabi must deal with the fact that this word bears an unfortunate resemblance to annabi (“prophet”) and new readers reading “water of inabi” in a context of prophecy may associate it, for better or worse, with prophets and prophecy. In northern Nigeria church people have gotten used to inabi in the New Testament even though many of them don’t know what it is. Basa in Nigeria uses a wild grape-like plant (afwafwa), and Igala has used the same species (achiwebetema) for years. Likewise, two translations in Mali and Burkina Faso use their local name for a wild vine (Lannea microcarpa) for the biblical vine. There is a species (Rhoicissus tridentata) in southern and eastern Africa known as “African grape” (locally called “bobbejaantou”). In such cases translators should write a footnote (or glossary item) stating that the grapes of Bible times were larger and sweeter than the local variety, and that they were cultivated extensively as a source for producing beverages. Other possibilities for transliteration are: vinyola/videra (Portuguese), vitis (Latin), and inab (Arabic).
Fruit of the vine (Hebrew ‘enav; Greek botrus, staphulē): There is some evidence that botrus refers to a bunch of grapes, while staphulē refers to individual grapes. According to Louw and Nida (Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains, 1988), however, both words may refer to individual grapes as well as bunches of grapes. The Hebrew word tirosh is equivalent to the word “vintage” in English, that is, the grape harvest and possibly the first squeezing of the grapes. It is normally used along with the words referring to the olive harvest (yitshar) and grain harvest (dagan).
Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps 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 a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
See also pronoun for “God”.
Most modern translations have not included the transition Yet. But in some languages some transition such as “But” is quite natural.
I planted you a choice vine may be misunderstood to mean “I planted a choice vine for you.” Good News Translation avoids this ambiguity by translating “I planted you like a choice vine.” Revised English Bible has “choice red vine,” because the Hebrew word refers to a vine that produces red grapes of the highest quality. The same noun is used of the vine in Isa 5.2. Most translators will find that this line is most easily rendered as a comparison, as in Good News Translation. Other possibilities are “I established you [or, gave you your start] like a farmer plants a vine of the best quality” or “I planted you as if you were a vine of choice quality.”
The term vine will be a problem for translators in areas where grapes are not grown or known, and where perhaps the only vines are for sweet potatoes or squash or other such vegetables, or where the only vines are wild ones, of no value for food or wine. Even though in this verse the vine is being used figuratively, so that translators could change the image to a cultivated plant they know, grapes and vineyards and wine and vines are such common figures in the Bible, and are used so often as a symbol, that even here translators should try to retain something of the figure of the vine. They should consider an expression that will indicate a plant that produces fruit and bears year after year, possibly “a tree [or, plant] that produces fruit [called grapes].” In some areas grapes have become known, with the name of the fruit having been borrowed, as has the word for wine, although the vines are not known. Then translators might have “plant for grapes” or “vine people plant to grow grapes.”
Wholly of pure seed (literally “wholly seed of truth”) is clearer in Good News Translation: “from the very best seed.” The meaning is that the LORD used the best possible seed to plant a choice vine for himself. Since grapevines are not normally started by planting seeds, but from cuttings of other vines, New Revised Standard Version has “from the purest stock.”
These first two lines are sometimes more naturally rendered as two sentences: “I planted you like a vine of the highest quality. I used the very best seed.” Or they can be expressed in one sentence: “When I established you, I was like a farmer who used the very best seed to plant a vine of the highest quality.”
As is well known, Hebrew manuscripts originally did not have any separation between words. This means that there are times when two different wordings may result, depending upon the manner in which word divisions are made. Such is the case with How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine? If this choice of word division is maintained, then the Hebrew word rendered degenerate (so also Jerusalem Bible; New English Bible “debased”) is more literally “foul-smelling” (Bright). This meaning is expressed in Good News Translation as “rotten.” On the other hand, wild (so also New International Version, An American Translation) seems better expressed by “worthless” (New English Bible, Good News Translation).
But the Hebrew text may be divided differently with the resultant meaning: “How then did you turn against me into a corrupt…?” (New International Version) or “How could you turn out obnoxious to me…?” (New American Bible). This alternative wording is produced by dividing the word translated degenerate into two parts with the resultant meaning “faithless (see Jer 17.13, where Revised Standard Version has “turn away from”) to me.” This choice of text is apparently followed by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch: “I see only the flourishing branch of a wild grapevine which I no longer recognize.” The rendering “recognize” is based upon a literal meaning of the word translated wild in Revised Standard Version; it really means “strange” or “unrecognizable.”
Translators who follow the first interpretation will have expressions like “How is it then that you turned rotten and become just a worthless vine?” or “How then could you change, and become a rotten and worthless vine?” Those who follow the second interpretation will have sentences such as “How is it then that you turned against me, and became like a rotten and worthless vine?” Of course, all these examples maintain the question form of the text, but they are rhetorical, not asking really for answers. In some languages it might be better to have statements: “But now you have changed, and become a rotten and worthless vine” or “But you have turned against me, and are rotten like a worthless vine.”
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 .
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