chariot

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated into English as “chariot” is translated into Anuak as “canoe pulled by horse.” “Canoe” is the general term for “vehicle” (source: Loren Bliese). Similarly it is translated in Lokạạ as ukwaa wạ nyanyang ntuuli or “canoe that is driven by horses.” (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )

In Eastern Highland Otomi it’s translated as “cart pulled by horses” (source: Larson 1998, p. 98) and in Chichicapan Zapotec as “ox cart” (in Acts 8). Ox carts are common vehicles for travel. (Source: Loren Bliese)

In Chichimeca-Jonaz, it is translated as “little house with two feet pulled by two horses” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.) and in the Hausa Common Language Ajami Bible as keken-doki or “cart of donkey” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

It is illustrated for use in Bible translations in East Africa by Pioneer Bible Translators like this:

Image owned by PBT and Jonathan McDaniel and licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

See also cart.

Translation commentary on 1 Kings 7:33

Some translators may need to know in what way The wheels were made like a chariot wheel. It almost certainly does not refer to their size, since they would have been considerably smaller. The idea is probably that they followed the pattern or design of chariot wheels. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “The structure of the wheels was like the structure of chariot wheels.” In order to avoid misunderstanding, some may have to translate “The wheels were like small chariot wheels.” For chariot see the comments at 1 Kgs 1.5.

Their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs, were all cast: Axles, rims, spokes, and hubs are somewhat technical terms in English. New Jerusalem Bible renders these four nouns as “axles, felloes, spokes, and naves.” “Felloes” is another word for rims, and “naves” is a synonym of hubs. Most languages will have terms for these parts of the wheel. Translators should, however, avoid terms that are too technical if most readers will not know them. Rims and hubs, for example, are preferable to “felloes” and “naves” for American readers. In some languages all of these terms will be foreign. To introduce four foreign terms into the translation may be very difficult and distracting for the average reader. If this is the case, then it may be wiser to say simply that “all the parts of the wheels were made of bronze” and give the specific terms in a footnote.

Were all cast means they were all made of cast bronze.

Parole de Vie may provide a useful model for the whole verse:

• They [The wheels] were made like chariot wheels. All the parts of which they were made were in cast bronze.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .