14and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and a pleasant land was made desolate.”
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)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Zechariah 7:14:
Kupsabiny: “I swept these people away to go and live in other countries as when a whirlwind sweeps things away. So, this beautiful country shall remain as a deserted place where no one is living.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “’I scattered them among unknown nations like a whirlwind. Thus their land became a desolate place. No one came and went there. Because they did not listen to my word, that pleasant land became desolate.’"” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I’m just like a whirlwind who/that scattered them to places that they have- not -been-to. They left their good land that can- no-longer -be-utilized and can- no-longer -be-lived-in.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “And I caused them to be scattered among many nations, where they were strangers. It was as though a whirlwind picked them up and carried them away from their country. The country/land that they were forced to leave was ruined, with the result that no one could live there or even travel through it. It was previously a delightful land, but they caused it to become desolate/like a desert.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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 direct quotation of the LORD’s words continues.
I scattered them with a whirlwind represents only one word in Hebrew, in which a root meaning “a whirlwind” is used in a bold metaphor as a verb. Probably few languages will be able to do anything similar. Good News Translation uses a simile instead of a metaphor, saying, “Like a storm I swept them away.” It is good to keep some kind of figurative language if at all possible, but if not, then translators may use plain language, such as “I dispersed them” (Bible de Jérusalem). For a similar expression, see Job 27.21.
Among all the nations which they had not known: This does not mean nations the Jews had never heard of before, but rather those they were not closely acquainted with. The unknown, whether people or places, always carries a hint of something fearful. Compare Deut 28.33, 36; Jer 9.16; Jer 16.13. Good News Translation translates this expression simply as “to live in foreign countries.” This gives the content of the Hebrew, but loses the overtones. New International Version and Revised English Bible catch something of the overtones by saying, “among all the nations where they were strangers.” A possible alternative model for the first part of the verse that keeps the Hebrew imagery is:
• As a whirlwind blows everything in its path away, so I swept them away to live in lands where they were strangers.
Thus the land they left was desolate: After the people had gone, there was nobody to cultivate the land and it became wild and overgrown.
So that no one went to and fro: There were no travelers. Moffatt puts this vividly in English as “not a foot stirred in it.” In some languages it may be possible to find an equivalent idiomatic expression. Good News Translation translates it in plain language as “with no one living in it”; Contemporary English Version has “empty of people.”
The pleasant land was made desolate: The pleasant land refers of course to what is often called the Holy Land. In this context both northern Israel and southern Judah are included. A similar expression occurs in Psa 106.24; Jer 3.19. Because this last clause is similar to the first clause of the sentence, Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version run the two together and avoid repetition. It is also possible to treat this final clause as a summary and say, “the land which should have been fruitful they turned into a desert” (similarly New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).
Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Zechariah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2002. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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