gentiles / nations

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė)) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).

Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).

In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

See also nations.

complete verse (Jeremiah 6:18)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 6:18:

  • Kupsabiny: “So, listen now you community/nation,
    and see with your eyes you/those who (are able to) see
    what those people will meet with.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘Therefore you (plur.) nations listen. Notice-with-care my people if what will-happen to them.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Therefore, you people in the other nations, listen to this:
    Pay attention to what is going to happen to the Israeli people.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 6:18

Hear can be “Listen [to this].” In many languages it will be more natural to put O nations earlier in the verse: “Therefore, you nations, listen to this.”

The Hebrew word translated O congregation, if given slightly different vowel marks, would then become an infinitive form of the verb know. If this is the case, its function is to intensify the verb know, giving the meaning “know well.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (“give close attention”) accepts this proposal, accompanied by a textual note. This is also the basis for Good News Translation “Listen, you nations, and learn what is going to happen to my people.” But at least one difficulty with this interpretation is that in Hebrew hear is a second masculine plural imperative, while know is a second feminine singular imperative. In Bright the second line is left blank, with a note indicating that it is “corrupt,” and that all solutions are problematic. As examples of what others have done, compare the following translations: “Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O earth, what I will do with them” (New American Bible); “Therefore listen, you nations, and tell to all your people!” (Luther 1984); “Hear then, O heavens, bear witness against them” (Moffatt); and “Therefore hear, O heavens, and learn well what shall befall them!” (An American Translation). The introduction of “O heavens” into the verse by Moffatt and An American Translation represents an attempt to draw a parallel with “Hear, O earth” of verse 19, but the phrase is without textual support. All in all, the best solution may be that of Revised English Bible: “Therefore hear, you nations, and take note, all you who witness it, of the plight of this people.”

Who the pronoun them refers to is often identified: “my people” (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 .