complete verse (Jeremiah 48:41)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 48:41:

  • Kupsabiny: “Its cities will be taken over,
    and/with the guarded/protected place.
    The soldiers of Moab will be terrified on that day
    like a woman who is about to give birth.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The cities and the strong-wall/something-that-gives-security of Moab will-be-taken-over. At that time the soldiers of Moab will-be-terrified/-troubled like a woman about to-give-birth.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Its cities will be captured,
    its fortresses will be seized.
    Even their warriors will be afraid,
    like a woman who is about to give birth.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 48:41

The cities: This is the rendering of most translations, though New International Version transliterates the Hebrew as “Kerioth,” the name of a city.

The strongholds: Used elsewhere in Jeremiah only in 51.30, the word means a place difficult to access (see 1Sam 23.14).

The passives shall be taken and seized may need to be made into active constructions, as in “The enemy will capture the cities and the fortresses.”

The heart of the warriors … like the heart of a woman in her pangs: The fear experienced by Moab’s soldiers is compared to that of a woman in labor. Good News Translation is a good model: “On that day Moab’s soldiers will be as frightened as a woman in labor.”

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 .