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 Jeremiah 46:9

Advance, O horses, and rage, O chariots: Whatever the picture is in verse 4, the picture here is that of horses and chariots (see 4.13). The command to start the battle is addressed directly to them. For some translators it is more natural to command the soldiers riding horses and the soldiers driving chariots to go forward. Translators can either say something similar to Good News Translation, or possibly “Order the horse riders and chariot drivers to advance for battle.”

Let the warriors go forth: This can be expressed as “Send forward the soldiers.” They are identified by where they come from: Ethiopia, Put, Lud. Many languages use a colon or a dash for the start of a list, and this serves to show the relation between warriors and men of Ethiopia …. But it will be better for some translators to say instead something such as “Send out the soldiers. Send them out, these men of Ethiopia and Libya carrying their shields, and these archers of Lydia.”

Ethiopia: See 38.7.

Put (Good News Translation “Libya”) was a territory in north Africa, west of Egypt.

Lud (Good News Translation “Lydia”) was probably in the same geographical region.

For skilled in handling the bow, refer to “archer” in 4.29.

It seems most probable that the soldiers referred to were mercenaries (“hired soldiers,” verse 21) in the service of the king of Egypt.

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 .