naked

The Greek, Latin and Hebrew that is translated as “naked” in English is translated in Enlhet with a figure of speech: “(one’s) smoothness.” (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )

In Elhomwe the word for “naked” is “shameful to use, and would never be used by a preacher in church.” Therefore “without clothes” is used. (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

hungry

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated in English as “hungry” (or: “famished”) is translated in a number of ways:

  • Noongar: “without stomach” (koborl-wirt) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Kölsch translation (publ. 2017): nix zo Käue han or “have nothing to chew on” and singe Mage hät geknottert wie ne Hungk or “his stomach growled like a dog” (source: Jost Zetzsche)
  • German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): Hunger überfiel ihn or “Hunger overtook (lit.: “attacked”) him” (in Matthew 4:2)
  • Kupsabiny: “hunger ate him” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Mairasi: “feeling tuber pains” (tubers are the main staple) (source Enggavoter 2004)

Translation commentary on Tobit 1:17

I would give my food to the hungry: Another way to express this is “When they [my relatives and other Israelites] were hungry, I gave them food” (similarly Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). The sequence of verbs beginning with I would give makes it clear that these were not one-time actions, but Tobit’s regular practice.

My clothing to the naked: These people are not necessarily nude, but in need of clothing. Good News Translation makes this clear with “if they needed clothes, I gave them some of my own.”

If I saw the dead body of any … I would bury it: Tobit would not only feed and clothe the poor, but he also undertook responsibility for the burial of the dead. Jews regarded it as disgraceful for a body to be left unburied, and assuming responsibility for a burial was a special act of righteousness (compare Mark 14.6-8). In Tobit’s case, he was willing to risk his life to perform this act of mercy for a fellow Israelite.

My people thrown out behind the wall of Nineveh: This seems to be speaking of Israelites executed by the Assyrians as criminals. Otherwise their families would have seen to their burial. The phrase out behind may seem strange in some languages. “Thrown outside the city wall” (Good News Translation) or “thrown outside the wall of the city of Nineveh” is better in English.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Tobit. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.