The English New Revised Standard Version translates this as “he clothed himself with cursing as his coat, may it soak into his body like water, like oil into his bones.” Mam (Ostuncalco) has an expression which comes from the way liquor enters into the entire body to warm it, and they used this idiom to replace the two figures for complete identification of the curse with the person. “May the curse saturate him as liquor saturates the one who drinks it.”
Language-specific Insights
incline your heart
The phrase that is translated in English versions as “incline your heart” is translated into Mam (Ostuncalco) as “throw your stomach.”
See also Seat of the Mind for traditional views of “ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling.”
cry out
The Hebrew that is rendered with “cry out” in English translation is translated into Mam (Ostuncalco) as “call out with all your stomach” (for emphasis).
discern, understand
The Hebrew term that is translated as “you will understand” (or “discern”) in English versions is translated into Mam (Ostuncalco) as “understand in your eye/face” (= understanding, insight.)
trust with all your heart
The Hebrew that is rendered in English versions as “Trust in the LORD with all your heart” is translated into Mam (Ostuncalco) as “sit your stomach down with God.”
See also Seat of the Mind for traditional views of “ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling” and trust.
his word
The Hebrew that is rendered in English as “his word” is translated into Mam (Huehuetenango) as “his action.” Word and action may seem contrasting to us, but actually biblically word and action are closely related, especially in the context of a promise to do something, as here (whether God or Hannah).
blaspheme, blasphemy
The Greek that is translated as “blasphemy” or “blaspheme” is (back-) translated in various forms:
- Panao Huánuco Quechua: “speak evil of God”
- Southern Bobo Madaré: “break God’s name”
- Loma: “spoil the name of God”
- Luvale: “insult God”
- Pamona and Malay: “slander God”
- Javanese and German: “defame God”
- Tae’: “bring curses (or “calamitous words”) against God”
- Uab Meto: “talk to pieces” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
- Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “treat God with contempt”
- Ojitlán Chinantec: “say bad words”
- Yatzachi Zapotec: “slander God”
- Tenango Otomi: “don’t respect God with what one says”
- Navajo: “say evil about God” (source for this and four above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125)
- Sochiapam Chinantec: “ugly words about God” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
- Q’anjob’al: “that which hurts the high” (source: Newberry and Kittie Cox in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. )
- Mam: xmayin ti’j Dios or “mockery against him-God” (source: Edward Sywulka in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 54ff. )
- Bacama: “spoil the name of God” (source: David Frank in this blog post )
insects that fly, swarming insects
The Hebrew that is translated as “insects that fly” or “swarming insects” in English is translated as “small animals with wings like flies” in Mam, “insects that fly in big groups” in Chuj, and “animals that fly and have more than two legs” in Kaqchikel. None of these languages has a pre-existing category for insects.
See also birds of the air / fish of the sea.