swear, vow

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “swear (an oath)” or “vow” is translated as “God sees me, I tell the truth to you” (Tzeltal), “loading yourself down” (Huichol), “to speak-stay” (implying permanence of the utterance) (Sayula Popoluca), “to say what he could not take away” (San Blas Kuna), “because of the tight (i.e. “binding”) word which he had said to her face” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “strong promise” (North Alaskan Inupiatun) (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida), “eat an oath” (Nyamwezi — source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext), or sswa nak/”drink an oath” (Jju — source: McKinney 2018, p. 31).

In Bauzi “swear” can be translated in various ways. In Hebrews 6:13, for instance, it is translated with “bones break apart and decisively speak.” (“No bones are literally broken but by saying ‘break bones’ it is like people swear by someone else in this case it is in relation to a rotting corpse’ bones falling apart. If you ‘break bones’ so to speak when you make an utterance, it is a true utterance.”) In other passages, such as in Matthew 26:72, it’s translated with an expression that implies taking ashes (“if a person wants everyone to know that he is telling the truth about a matter, he reaches down into the fireplace, scoops up some ashes and throws them while saying ‘I was not the one who did that.'”). So in Matthew 26:72 the Bauzi text is: “. . . Peter took ashes and defended himself saying, ‘I don’t know that Nazareth person.'” (Source: David Briley)

See also swear (promise) and Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’, or ‘No, No’.

king

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Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:

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  • Piro: “a great one”
  • Highland Totonac: “the big boss”
  • Huichol: “the one who commanded” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Ekari: “the one who holds the country” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Una: weik sienyi: “big headman” (source: Kroneman 2004, p. 407)
  • Pass Valley Yali: “Big Man” (source: Daud Soesilo)
  • Ninia Yali: “big brother with the uplifted name” (source: Daud Soesilio in Noss 2007, p. 175)
  • Nyamwezi: mutemi: generic word for ruler, by specifying the city or nation it becomes clear what kind of ruler (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Ghomála’: Fo (“The word Fo refers to the paramount ruler in the kingdoms of West Cameroon. He holds administrative, political, and religious power over his own people, who are divided into two categories: princes (descendants of royalty) and servants (everyone else).” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn))

Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo was determined:

“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”

(Source: Faye Edgerton in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 25ff. )

Translation commentary on 2 Kings 25:24

Gedaliah swore …: The verb swore accurately reflects the idea of taking an oath, which is found in the Hebrew. Good News Translation drops this notion in the introductory words, but includes the idea in the direct quotation itself using the words “I give you my word” (similarly Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh renders this “Gedaliah reassured….”

Them and their men refers to the Judean military leaders and to those who were loyal to them.

Do not be afraid because of the Chaldean officials; that is, have no fear of the Babylonian officials. The remaining Judeans are encouraged to submit to the Babylonian officials in order to have peace.

Chaldean officials is literally “Chaldean servants.” But this undoubtedly refers to rather high-level officials. As in previous references to the Chaldeans, this will probably be translated “Babylonian officials.” Regarding the name Chaldean, see the comments on 2 Kgs 24.2.

A number of interpreters think the word “servants” makes little sense here. So they propose that the vowels in the Hebrew noun should be slightly changed to read “to serve.” This change is also suggested in the notes of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. Compare American Bible: “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans” (similarly Moffatt, Peregrino, em>Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, La Bible Pléiade).

Since the ancient Syriac and some of the Septuagint manuscripts omit the word “servants,” some modern translations follow this shorter text and read “Do not be afraid of the Chaldaeans” (New Jerusalem Bible; similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Stuttgarter Erklärungsbibel). The words at the end of verse 26 (“for they were afraid of the Chaldeans”) give some support to this reading.

Dwell is better translated “live” as in New Revised Standard Version and most other modern versions.

It shall be well with you is literally “it will be good for you.”

In some languages it will be more natural to transform the words of Gedaliah into indirect discourse according to the following model, which is similar to the translation in Biblia Dios Habla Hoy:

• Gedaliah promised them that there was no need for them to be afraid of the Babylonian officials. He told them that if they would settle in the land and serve the king of Babylonia, everything would go well for them.

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