joy

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The Greek, Latin and Hebrew that is translated with “joy” or “gladness” in English is translated with various associations of “sweetness” or taste: Bambara has “the spirit is made sweet,” Kpelle translates as “sweet heart,” and Tzeltal as “the good taste of one’s heart,” Uduk uses the phrase “good to the stomach,” Baoulé “a song in the stomach,” Mískito “the liver is wide open” (“happily letting the pleasures flooding in upon it”) (source: Nida 1952), Mairasi says “good liver” (source: Enggavoter 2004), Noongar has koort-kwabba-djil or “heart very good” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang), and Chicahuaxtla Triqui “refreshed heart” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.).

See also Seat of the Mind for traditional views of “ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling,” happiness / joy, and exceeding joy.

Translation commentary on Baruch 4:23

Compare Psa 126.6 and Isa 55.12.

Translators may omit the connector For at the beginning of this verse.

I sent you out with sorrow and weeping: This line is almost identical with a line in verse 11. See the comments at that point. Those comments do not entirely agree with the restructuring of Good News Translation here, but notice that the Good News Translation translation of this verse echoes its translation of verse 11, as is proper (similarly Contemporary English Version).

God will give you back to me with joy and gladness for ever: With joy and gladness refers to Jerusalem, not to God or to the exiles. This phrase is parallel to with sorrow and weeping in the previous line. The parallelism is effective, and it would be nice to carry through with it in translation, if possible. A possibility is:

• I shed sorrowful tears when you were taken from me, but I will be joyful forever when God brings you back to me.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.