The interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) uses the ideophone ngundangunda to positions like lying prostrate or lying flat (in death). (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.”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 51:47:
Kupsabiny: “The days will truly come when I will punish the idols of Babylon. Its whole land will be disgraced and all its people be killed and lie spread out/scattered.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Time will- surely -come that I will-punish the gods of Babilonia. The entire Babilonia will- surely -be-disgraced, and all the corpse of her people will-lie-down-in-full-view.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
The days are coming is a frequently used expression in Jeremiah; Good News Translation renders “the time is coming.” See 7.32.
The images of Babylon may be expressed as either “Babylonia’s idols” (Good News Translation, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible) or “Babylonia’s gods” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). For images see “graven images” in 8.19.
Put to shame translates a frequently used verb in Jeremiah (see 2.26). It is often rendered “humiliated.”
All her slain shall fall in the midst of her: This is a gruesome picture of dead bodies everywhere. See 49.26 for a similar description of Babylonia’s fate. Perhaps here translators can say something like “those who have been killed will lie fallen throughout the land” or “her dead will lie in the streets” (New Living 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 .
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