12he went down to the king’s house, into the secretary’s chamber, and all the officials were sitting there: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the officials.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 36:12:
Kupsabiny: “he went to the home of rulership and entered the room of the secretary where all the leaders were sitting including the secretary Elishama, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Akbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan and Zedekiah son of Hananiah.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “he went to the palace, there in the room of the secretary where all of the officials are gathering. There were Elishama the secretary, Delaya the child of Shemaya, Elnatan the child of Acbor, Gemaria the child of Shafan, Zedekia the child of Hanania, and the other officials.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “he went down to the secretary’s room in the palace, where all the king’s officials were meeting. Elishama the king’s secretary was there. Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Acbor, Gemariah, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the other officials of the king were also there.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:
Ninia Yali: “big brother with the uplifted name” (source: Daud Soesilio in Noss 2007, p. 175)
Nyamwezi: mutemi: generic word for ruler, by specifying the city or nation it becomes clear what kind of ruler (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Ghomála’: Fo (“The word Fo refers to the paramount ruler in the kingdoms of West Cameroon. He holds administrative, political, and religious power over his own people, who are divided into two categories: princes (descendants of royalty) and servants (everyone else).” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn))
Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo (Dinė) was determined:
“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”
As at the temple in verse 10, the secretary is a high official at the palace. Here Good News Translation has “court secretary,” and Revised English Bible has “chief adviser.”
The princes (Good News Translation “officials”) are the equivalent of modern cabinet ministers. Elishama, Delaiah, and Zedekiah are mentioned only here in the Old Testament; for Elnathan, see also 26.22.
These officials were sitting there. As is clear in Good News Translation, they were actually having a meeting, and translators can say “were meeting together.”
If translators have used a term such as “officials” for the first occurrence of princes in this verse, then all the princes at the end can be “all the other officials,” as in Good News Translation.
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 .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.