5When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to the young man who was with him, “Let us turn back, or my father will stop worrying about the donkeys and worry about us.”
The Greek and Hebrew that are translated as “worry” or “anxious” in English are translated in Navajo as “my mind is killing me.” (Source: Nida 1952, p. 24)
Nida (1952, p. 124) also gives other examples:
“The Piro in Peru use almost the same idiom when they say that a worried man is ‘one who is hard chased.’ The worried person is like a pursued animal in the forest trying to elude the hunter. The impenetrable jungle of the future, the failing strength, and the exhaustion of doubt all press hard upon the soul. And one’s heart seems to fail and even disappear. This is the very phrase employed by the Tzeltal Indians in the rugged mountains of southern Mexico. They describe ‘worry’ by the words ‘their hearts are gone.'”
The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Saul” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign that depicts “sword in chest” (referring to 1 Samuel 31:4 and 1 Chronicles 10:4) and also “self-centered.” (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, the Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation both use the inclusive pronoun, including everyone.
The land of Zuph: the exact location is unknown, but it was probably in the territory of Ephraim (see 1.1). They had by now been traveling for about three days (see verse 20 below).
Who was with him: Good News Translation omits these words as redundant, and it may be wise to do the same in other languages. Some languages may have a term for “companion” that will be useful here.
Lest my father cease to care about the asses: literally “lest my father stop from the she-asses [or, donkeys].” Hebrew does not have a verb in this clause after the verb cease, and various words may be supplied according to the sense: “forget about” (New American Bible) or “stop worrying over” (New Jerusalem Bible).
In those languages that prefer indirect speech to a direct quotation like the one in the text here, the following model may be helpful:
• When they came to the region called Zuph, Saul told his servant that he wanted to go back home because he thought his father might be more worried about them than he was about the donkeys.
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 .
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