quietness

The interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) uses the ideophone bata to describe complete quietness. (Source: Wendland 1998, p. 105)

Philip Noss (in The Bible Translator 1976, p. 100ff. ) explains the function of an ideophone: “The ideophone may be identified with onomatopoeia and other sound words frequently seen in French and English comic strips, but in [many] African languages it comprises a class of words with a very wide range of meaning and usage. They may function verbally, substantively, or in a modifying role similar to adverbs and adjectives. They describe anything that may be experienced: action, sound, color, quality, smell, or emotion. In oral literature they are used not only with great frequency but also with great creativity.”

complete verse (Jeremiah 49:23)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 49:23:

  • Kupsabiny: “God said about Damascus,
    ‘The city of Hamath and Arpad are out of words,
    because bad news have come to (them).
    Their stomachs are rumbling from fear
    the fear has hit them so they are confused/disoriented
    as if lightning had stroke!” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “This is the message concerning Damascus: ‘Those from-Hamat and from-Arpad were-terrified with the bad news that they have-heard. They were-troubled and not at ease like a rough/[lit. wavy] sea.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “This message is about Damascus. This is what Yahweh says:
    ‘The people in the nearby cities of Hamath and Arpad are confused,
    because they have heard bad news about Damascus.
    They are very anxious and restless,
    like a sea in a big storm.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

sea / lake

The various Greek, Aramaic, Latin and Hebrew terms that are translated as “sea,” “ocean,” or “lake” in English are all translated in Chichewa with one term: nyanja. Malawi, where Chichewa is spoken, has a lot of lakes but does not share a border with the ocean. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 49:23

Concerning Damascus: Translators can also say “This is the message about Damascus.” See verse 1.

Hamath and Arpad were neighboring cities or city-states which also fell to the Assyrians (Isa 10.9). In translation it is important to identify Hamath and Arpad as cities, and translators can say, for example, “the neighboring cities of Hamath and Arpad.” It is also important to make it clear that those who are confounded, who melt in fear, and who are troubled are the people of these cities.

Confounded translates the same word traditionally rendered “be ashamed” (see 2.36). In some contexts we have recommended “humiliated,” but here “confused” or “confounded” would be better. Elsewhere in Jeremiah the verb is found in 6.15; 8.12; 9.19; and many other places.

Evil tidings: “Bad news” (Good News Translation) is more natural in today’s English.

Melt in fear translates a verb that has as its basic meaning “waver” or “melt.” In the passive form, used here, it can mean “be disheartened” (New International Version) or “worried” (Good News Translation, New American Bible). New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “They shake with anxiety,” while New Jerusalem Bible renders “They are convulsed with anxiety.”

They are troubled like the sea: As the Revised Standard Version note indicates, this is a correction of the Hebrew text, which has “there is trouble in the sea.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project believes the mention of the agitation makes people think of the imagery of the sea, which is expressed in a brief proverb: “In the sea there is trouble, which no one can calm.” However, this is difficult to express in translation, unless we follow Good News Translation and others that use a simile: “Anxiety rolls over them like a sea, and they cannot rest.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders “Also on the coast deep anxiety reigns; no one can any longer be at peace.”

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 .