lyre

The musical instrument that is most often translated as “lyre” or “lute” in English is translated in the following ways:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016: pangwe (a musical instrument that is made from a hollow tube filled with pellets or small stones to create a rain-like sound) or “five stringed instrument” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “guitar” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Newari: “sitar ” (source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Adilabad Gondi: chondka (source: Adilabad Gondi Back-Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde: marimba (source: Nyakyusa-Ngonde back translation)

In the UBS Helps for Translators‘ Human-made Things in the Bible (original title: The Works of Their Hands: Man-made Things in the Bible) it says the following:

Description: The lyre consisted of a sound box out of the ends or sides of which projected two arms. The arms supported a crosspiece. Strings descended from the crosspiece over the sound box. As with the nevel, the number of strings could vary. Their varying thickness and tension gave the instrument a range of notes. The lyre was normally made of wood. The strings were made of animal intestines (perhaps from sheep).

Usage: The strings were normally plucked with the fingers. The kinor in particular is frequently depicted as an instrument that accompanied singing.

Job 21:12: For the stringed instrument (kinor in Hebrew) accompanying the tambourine, French Common Language Version has “guitar” and the French La Bible de Jérusalem has “zither,” which seems to be an instrument used in 1 Samuel 10:5. The first line of this verse may also be rendered “The children sing as people play the tambourine and the lyre.” In some languages these instruments will be a local drum and a stringed instrument; the latter may be a guitar. If no instruments can be found to render any of the instruments in this verse, the translator may have to express the whole verse differently; for example, “The children dance and sing and make joyful sounds/music.”

The identity of the instrument called sabka’ in Aramaic in Daniel (Hebrew) is uncertain. NRSVue renders it “trigon,” which is a small triangular lyre-type instrument with four strings. Probably trigon is technically correct, but it is unknown to the average English reader. Good News Translation has attempted to find a better-known equivalent with “zither,” but the zither has far too many strings (over thirty). Some translations use “lyre” for sabka’ and render the Aramaic word qathros before it as “zither”. Revised English Bible has “triangle,” but most readers will wrongly identify that as a percussion instrument. Common English Version avoids the problem by rendering only the first three instruments in the list and grouping the last three together, including sabka’ as follows: “Trumpets, flutes, harps, and all other kinds of musical instruments.”

Lyre (source: Knowles, revised by Bass (c) British and Foreign Bible Society 1994)

Quoted with permission.

flute

The musical instrument that is most often translated as “flute” or “pipe” in English is more or less universally used, so it’s typically translated directly with the applicable term.

Since its cultural significance is sometimes different it might be translated with a different instruments is some cases (see also below). When in Matthew 11:17 and Luke 7:32 the flute is mentioned as an instrument played at a wedding, the Chichewa (interconfessional translation, 1999) translates it as “we played the wedding drum for you” (source: Wendland 1987, p. 74), the Yakan and Kankanaey translations use “gongs” (source: Yakan and Kankanaey Back Translations), in Western Bukidnon Manobo “drumming” is used (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation), and in Tagbanwa “stringed-instruments” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).

Or in Jeremiah 48:36 where the flute is used for mourning, Bassa uses “funeral drum” (source: Newman / Stine) or Hiligaynon, while using “flute,” makes the meaning explicit: “like a lonely music of a flute for the dead” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation).

In the UBS Helps for Translators‘ Human-made Things in the Bible (original title: The Works of Their Hands: Man-made Things in the Bible) it says the following:

Description: The flute was a wind instrument consisting of a tube with a series of finger holes used to alter the tone. Some flutes were made of reed and could take several forms: the tube could be a cylinder or it could be more in the shape of a cone. There were instruments made of a single tube, while others had two tubes side by side. Often ancient double flutes or double pipes were arranged in a V-shape, with two separate reeds. One of these pipes had several holes while the other had only one hole and acted as a kind of drone, providing an unchanging tone to accompany the varying tones coming from the first pipe. Some pipes or flutes were made of other materials, such as wood, ivory, bone, or metal.

Usage: Sound was produced with the flute by blowing across an opening leading into a hole running inside the length of the instrument; in some cases the opening hole was in the end of the instrument while in others this hole was in the side of the instrument toward one end. With the reed pipe, on the other hand, a column of air was set in motion by blowing over a reed device, causing it to vibrate.

Translation: If there is no wind instrument available to translate “flute,” a different kind of wind instrument may be used.

The Hebrew word ‘ugav is usually understood to refer to a wind instrument. It is possible, however, that it is a generic term for “instrument” or even refers to a particular stringed instrument. In Job 21:12 and Job 30:31 it is identified as an instrument that expressed joy and contentment.

Psalms 5:1: The Hebrew word nchiloth appears only here in the Old Testament, and its meaning is uncertain. It may mean “wind instruments” in general or “flutes” in particular. Extra-biblical evidence indicates that it may have been an instrument played for funeral laments.

Matthew 9:23: Here NRSVue has “flute players”: According to Jewish tradition, even the poorest people were expected to have two flute players and a wailing woman for a funeral. In order to clarify the role of the flute players Good News Translation adds “for the funeral.” This information was immediately evident to a Jewish reader who was familiar with the funeral customs, but it will not be clear to other readers. Many cultures are familiar with the flute or other instruments that are played by blowing through a wooden tube. If no such instrument exists, then translators can say “those who played musical instruments for a funeral” or, as in Good News Translation, “musicians for the funeral.” See also flute players.

Men playing flutes (source: Louise Bass (c) British and Foreign Bible Society 1994)

Quoted with permission.

mourn

The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “mourn” or similar in English is translated in Newari as “have one’s heart broken” or “have a bursting heart” (source: Newari Back Translation).

complete verse (Job 30:31)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 30:31:

  • Kupsabiny: “I used to sing and dance with happiness
    but now I sing with grief (like in a funeral).” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “The melody of my lyre has become a song of death,
    [and] as for my flute, it has become like the sound of those who mourn.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The sound of my harp and flute became sad.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Job 30:31

My lyre is turned to mourning: in 21.11-12 Job described the happiness of the children of sinners dancing to the music of harps and flutes or, as Revised Standard Version says, “lyre” and “pipe.” Here the same two instruments are mentioned. For comments on these see 21.11-12. My lyre is turned to mourning means that now, in contrast to former times, the instrument plays only the sounds of mourning or mournful music, and so Bible en français courant has “My guitar plays only tunes for mourning.” Good News Translation does not mention any specific instrument but captures the contrast well: “Where once I heard joyful music, now I hear only mourning and weeping.” Following Bible en français courant‘s model, we may also translate “On my instrument I can now only play the sad music of those who mourn for the dead.” The two lines may be combined to say “I can play on my instruments nothing but the sad music of those who weep and mourn for the dead.”

And my pipe to the voice of those who weep: that is, “Now my flute plays only the tunes of those who weep.” By keeping the instruments (whatever they may be) and representing Job as the musician, the reader gets a picture of Job as a person whose spirit is capable of making music, even if it has to reflect the sorrow of his mood.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .