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.

Translation commentary on Isaiah 22:7

This verse describes more fully the large number of chariots and horsemen in the invading armies.

Your choicest valleys were full of chariots: The chariots of the invaders filled the valleys around Jerusalem. The pronoun Your refers to the people of Jerusalem. Good News Translation renders this pronoun as “Judah,” but it is better to keep the direct address. Choicest valleys is an unusual phrase. It contrasts the beauty of the valleys with the fact that they became a battlefield. An alternative model for this line is “Your most beautiful valleys were covered with chariots” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

And the horsemen took their stand at the gates is parallel to the previous line. The horsemen set up their siege at the city gates. The Hebrew phrase rendered took their stand at the gates is onomatopoeic (shoth shathu hashshaʿrah). It sounds like the clatter of horses’ hoofs.

Translation examples for this verse are:

• Your beautiful valleys were full of chariots,
horsemen besieged your city gates.

• Your lovely valleys were filled with chariots,
horsemen laid siege to your city gates.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .