6If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked leave of me to run to Bethlehem his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.’
The town name that is transliterated as “Bethlehem” in English is translated in Finnish Sign Language with the signs signifying “manger + town” (referring to Luke 2:7). (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
In American Sign Language it is translated with the signs for “bread” and “house,” referring to the original meaning of “Bethlehem” as “house of bread.” (Source: RuthAnna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Bethlehem” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
The name that is transliterated as “David” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign signifying king and a sling (referring to 1 Samuel 17:49 and 2 Samuel 5:4). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff.)
If your father misses me at all: literally “If to miss, he will miss me, your father,” which again uses reinforcing verbs. Revised Standard Version attempts to capture the emphatic nature of this Hebrew construction by adding at all. Fox provides another way of expressing the emphasis: “If your father takes-account, yes, account of my (absence).”
The Hebrew text contains another quotation within a quotation. In some languages it will be more natural to change the embedded quotation into an indirect quotation, as in Good News Translation.
Earnestly asked leave: literally “to ask, he asked.” As with the previous verb in this verse, translators need to capture the emphatic nature of the Hebrew. Revised Standard Version adds “earnestly,” and New American Bible says “David urged me to let him go.” Fox says “David requested, requested-leave,” and though this translation does not express in English the same sense as the Hebrew, at least the translator attempted to preserve this aspect of the Hebrew. Other languages may say quite naturally at this point “David begged me” (New Century Version) or “… pleaded with me.”
To run: probably this verb should not be understood literally but rather in the sense of “to hurry off” (Revised English Bible) or “to go on short notice” (New American Bible).
Bethlehem his city: Good News Translation omits his city but retains the meaning by saying “hurry home.” Other models include “Bethlehem, his home town” (New Jerusalem Bible), “Bethlehem, his town of birth” (La Bible du Semeur), or “his home in Bethlehem” (Revised English Bible). Since Bethlehem is not simply the place where he now lives but is rather the place of his birth, New Jerusalem Bible and La Bible du Semeur provide especially good models. If this embedded quotation is changed into an indirect quotation, then the first person pronoun will need to be used, as in Good News Translation.
All the family: “the whole clan” (New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, and Fox, “the entire clan”). See the comments on 18.18.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.