fat, oil

The different Hebrew and Greek terms that are translated as “(olive) oil” and “(animal) fat” in English are translated in Kwere with only one term: mavuta. (Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Jeremiah 41:8)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, the Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation both use the exclusive pronoun, excluding Ishmael.

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 41:8

It may be confusing that ten of the mourners are still alive after verse 7, which seems to indicate that all the mourners were killed. So Bassa in Liberia translates verses 7-8 as follows:

• 7 And as soon as they entered the town, Ishmael and his men killed seventy of them, and they threw their bodies in a water-hole. 8 The ten remaining men said to Ishmael …

Stores: This means “supplies” in this context. It can also be expressed as a verb: “We have stored wheat, barley, olive oil, and honey in hidden places in the fields.”

For wheat see 12.13.

Barley is also a grain. Translators can have “the grain barley” or “other grain.”

For oil see 31.12; 40.10.

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 .