cardinal directions

The cardinal directions “east” and “west” are easy to translate into Maan here since the language uses “where the sun comes up” and “where the sun goes down.” For “north” the translator had “facing toward the sun rising to the left,” and for “south” she had “facing toward the sun rising to the right.” So the listener had to think hard before knowing what direction was in view when translating “to the north and south, to the east and west.” So, in case all four directions are mentioned, it was shortened by saying simply “all directions.” (Source: Don Slager) Likewise, Yakan has “from the four corners of the earth” (source: Yakan back-translation) or Western Bukidnon Manobo “from the four directions here on the earth” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo back-translation).

Kankanaey is “from the coming-out and the going-away of the sun and the north and the south” (source: Kankanaey back-translation), Northern Emberá “from where the sun comes up, from where it falls, from the looking [left] hand, from the real [right] hand” (source: Charles Mortensen), Amele “from the direction of the sun going up, from the direction of the sun going down, from the north and from the south” (source: John Roberts), Ejamat “look up to see the side where the sun comes from, and the side where it sets, and look on your right side, and on your left” (source: David Frank in this blog post).

In Lamba, only umutulesuŵa, “where the sun rises” and imbonsi, “where the sun sets” were available as cardinal directions that were not tied to the local area of language speakers (“north” is kumausi — “to the Aushi country” — and “south” kumalenje — “to the Lenje country”). So “north” and “south” were introduced as loanwords, nofu and saufu respectively. The whole phrase is kunofu nakusaufu nakumutulesuŵa nakumbonsi. (Source C. M. Doke in The Bible Translator 1958, p. 57ff.)

“West” is translated in Tzeltal as “where the sun pours-out” and in Kele as “down-river” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel).

In Morelos Nahuatl, “north” is translated as “from above” and “south” as “from below.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

The Hebrew text that gives instructions where to place items in the tabernacle with the help of cardinal directions (north and south) had to be approached in the Bambam translation specific to spacial concepts of that culture.

Phil Campbell explains: “There are no words in Bambam for north and south. In Exodus 26:35, God instructs that the table is to be placed on the north side and the lamp on the south side inside the tabernacle. The team wants to use right and left to tell where the lamp and table are located. In many languages we would say that the table is on the right and the lampstand is on the left based on the view of someone entering the tabernacle. However, that is not how Bambam people view it. They view the placement of things and rooms in a building according to the orientation of someone standing inside the building facing the front of the building. So that means the table is on the left side and the lampstand is on the right side.”

See also cardinal directions / left and right.

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 1:15

For, lo represents an emphatic transitional marker that Luther 1984 translates “For look.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch combines this transitional marker with says the LORD and renders “Listen to what I am saying to you.” Good News Translation makes clear the relation between the previous verse and what is said here by rendering the expression as “because.” New Revised Standard Version has “For now,” thereby eliminating the archaic word lo.

Here calling does not mean calling out to, but rather “summoning.” Since the meaning is not that he is actually calling as he speaks, “I am about to summon” will be better in some languages.

The tribes of the kingdoms is best interpreted to mean “the nations and their kings.” Kingdoms apparently has the meaning of “kings,” which it does in other contexts as well. Thus it is not necessary to follow the Septuagint (so also New American Bible), which omits the tribes of. Moreover, it is quite possible that the Septuagint translators understood the tribes as a parallel expression to the kingdoms or else that the double expression was understood in the manner suggested above. In any case, on translational grounds it is possible to reduce the double structure to “the nations” (Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), without resorting to textual alterations. Thus all the tribes of the kingdoms … they … every one may be translated “all the nations … Their kings” (Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).

For says the LORD, see the discussion at verse 8. Here it occurs virtually in the middle of a sentence, and Good News Translation and others have found it more natural to drop it.

And they shall come …: Most translators accept that in the context, they refers to the kings, not to the nations or peoples, and make that clear. See New English Bible, for example, “Their kings shall come and each shall set up….” But others do something similar to Bible en français courant: “They [the people] will come set up the thrones of their kings in front of the gates of Jerusalem.” Certainly either is acceptable.

Every one shall set his throne: Thrones are the signs of the power exercised by the kings who attacked from the north. If in a language set his throne could only be understood literally, then it would be better to use an expression such as “established his [royal] authority.”

The gates of an ancient city were of great significance. As a rule there were two gates, an inner gate and an outer gate, which added to the defensive capabilities of the city. Above the gate was an enclosed room, and above that was a roof that served as a lookout post. The space immediately inside the gates served for various functions, but especially as a place where the leaders of the city or kings might sit to make official decisions or to pass judgment. Thus when the other kings set their thrones at the gates of Jerusalem, this means that they were in fact replacing the royal authority of Judah with their own. This information could be indicated in a footnote. It was possible also to use gate as a figure of speech for a city itself (“within your gates” of Deut 12.12, 15, 17, 21 means “within your towns”). Thus it is that Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch can reduce at the entrance of the gates … and against all the cities of Judah to “around the walls of Jerusalem and the walls of all other cities in Judah.” Note that Jerusalem is one of the cities of Judah, so Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has the word “other.”

New International Version makes it clear that these kings are attacking Jerusalem with “they will come against all her surrounding walls,” which certainly is clearer than the more literal setting of thrones against all its walls round about. Bible en français courant on the other hand has “They will encircle its walls, they will attack all the cities of Judah.”

The walls of the cities may be a problem, if this concept is completely unknown, or if in a culture people will think only of the fences that they put around their villages to keep out marauding animals and keep in their livestock at night. In such cases translators might have to say “walls to protect them from their enemies [or, from attack].”

The Bassa (Liberia) translation reorders this verse to give a natural sequence:

• Behold, I am gathering all the nations in the north to come. The kings of the nations will defeat Jerusalem and all the other cities of Judah, and they will set up their thrones at the gates of Jerusalem.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .