witness

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “witness” in English is translated in these ways:

  • “truly have seen” in Highland Popoluca
  • “telling the truth regarding something” in Eastern Highland Otomi
  • “know something” in Lalana Chinantec
  • “verily know something to be the truth” in San Mateo del Mar Huave
  • “we ourselves saw this” in Desano
  • “tell the truth about something” in Eastern Highland Otomi
  • “know something is true because of seeing it” in Teutila Cuicatec (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • “ones who will confirm that these-things that you have seen are true” in Kankanaey (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • “ones who are to testify about these things, because it all happened before your eyes” in Tagbanwa (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

complete verse (Jeremiah 32:10)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 32:10:

  • Kupsabiny: “Then I signed/gave hand to what we had registered/written down and sealed (it) with people seeing it and then I counted out those money.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “I signed and sealed the deed of sale before/[lit. in front of] witnesses. I weighed then the silver and paid-(for-it) to Hanamel.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “I signed the paper/papyrus on which it was written that I was buying it, while others were watching/witnessing it. Then I weighed the silver and gave it to him.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 32:10

I signed the deed is literally “I wrote in the book,” which may mean either “I signed the deed” (Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Revised English Bible) or “I wrote out the deed” (New American Bible, Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). If no term is available to render deed, translators can say “the paper to say that I had bought it.”

Sealed: If this custom is not known, translators can use an expression like “closed it with wax and put my personal mark on it.”

Got witnesses can be “had people write that what I wrote was true” or “had other people write that they had seen me write these things in this way.”

Scales; that is, balance scales.

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 .