15Then all the men who were aware that their wives had been making offerings to other gods and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who lived in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah:
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 44:15:
Kupsabiny: “All the men who knew that their wives were burning those things that smell sweet to the idols were present there and all the women were there, including the people of Israel who lived in the North and South part of the land of Egypt. Those people said to me,” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “So many Jews have-gathered to listen to Jeremias. They live in the north and south of Egipto. Now, all the men who know that their wives burn incense to other gods, and all the women who gather there, said to Jeremias,” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Then a large group of the people who had started to live in northern Egypt and southern Egypt, including all the men who knew that their wives had been burning incense to other gods, and all the women who were standing there, said this to me:” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch introduces a new section heading here with the heading “God has the last word.”
All the people who dwelt in Pathros in the land of Egypt is not found in one of the early Greek versions, and some translations (Moffatt) omit it from the text. This is done because the phrase seems to be loosely structured, and it is assumed by many scholars that all the Jews in Egypt were certainly not present. However, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project sees no reason for its omission. For Pathros see verse 1.
Although Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Bible en français courant all translate this verse as one sentence, it may be necessary in other languages to divide it into at least two sentences, repeating the verb answered in each of the sentences. Or translators can restructure as follows:
• There was a great crowd of people there who answered Jeremiah then. They included all the men who knew that their wives had offered sacrifices to other gods and all the women who were standing there, and also all the Israelites who lived in southern Egypt. They said….
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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