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.

Absalom (image)

Hand colored stencil print on momigami by Sadao Watanabe (1972).

Image taken with permission from the SadaoHanga Catalogue where you can find many more images and information about Sadao Watanabe.

For other images of Sadao Watanabe art works in TIPs, see here.

See also Absalom.

Translation commentary on 2 Samuel 15:1

After this: this reflects the Hebrew verb of transition sometimes translated “and it came to pass.” Here it serves both to indicate the passage of time since the events related in the previous chapter, and to introduce a new episode. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “Sometime afterward,” Moffatt says “Later on…,” and New International Version translates “In the course of time….”

Got himself a chariot and horses: the translation should not give the impression that Absalom had not previously owned or used chariots or horses. But in this passage he is depicted as beginning to act like a person who will soon become king. The verb is rendered “prepared” by Goldman. The Hebrew verb in the Dead Sea Scrolls at this point may be translated “began to make use of…” (Anchor Bible). Riding around in a chariot with fifty men to run before him was behavior typical of royalty (see 1 Sam 8.11). The runners who accompanied him served as a kind of bodyguard to protect their master and see to his every need. The number of these servants is the same as in the story of David’s other rebellious son, Adonijah (1 Kgs 1.5).

On the word for chariot, see 1.6; 8.4; and 10.18 as well as 1 Sam 8.11.

One suggested translation of this verse is:

• Later on Absalom began to move about the city in a chariot drawn by horses, and he had fifty men to run before him [to prepare the way].

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .