complete verse (Romans 11:9)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 11:9:

  • Uma: “Thus also the words of King Daud long ago that say: ‘O Lord, I request that all the blessings of those people, just cause them to end up falling, to the point that they get disaster and punishment, in order that their evil behavior is paid back.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Da’ud said, ‘May it be that because of their pleasures it is as if they were trapped (lit. trap hit-the-mark) and they can’t escape; it is as if they fell in a deep hole and they cannot get out. This is the repayment of their deeds.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And because of the unbelief of the Jews, there is also that which David said long ago, which said, ‘May it be that because of the good blessings which God has given them, they will mistakenly think that they have no sin. And may it be that by means of this they will be punished.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “David also, there is that which God caused-him -to-write saying, ‘May they suddenly be caught/arrested while they are participating-in-their-feasts like a bird who is caught in a snare or an animal who falls into a pit so that they will be properly punished.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “David says the same word, because he said: ‘There where the people feast, they think that they are having pleasure, they think God looks well on what they do. But it is not true that God looks well on what they do. Rather he will punish them for what they do.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Miahuatlán Zapotec: “David said: All of the feasts which the people of Israel do are in vain. Punishment will certainly overtake them and they will not escape.”
  • Teutila Cuicatec: “Also David wrote as follows: “My Lord, cause the different feast days that these people make to be the means of their being lost.” (Source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

Translation commentary on Romans 11:9 – 11:10

The scripture quotation in these verses is basically from the Septuagint of Psalm 69.22-23, with allusions to Psalm 35.8. In Greek these verses appear as a third person imperative, a form which is difficult to translate into English. The traditional translation is “let…,” but the modern English equivalent is more nearly “may….” May they be caught and trapped at their feasts is literally “may their feast [singular] become a snare and a trap,” but in general the plural, feasts, is preferable.

It is impossible in many languages to employ a third person imperative representing a request or supplication. In such languages it is necessary to be explicit about the fact of supplication, and frequently one must indicate precisely who is supplicated and who is to act accordingly. Hence, it may be necessary to change the form, though not the content or meaning, of these supplications by rendering them as “I pray to God that he may catch and trap them at their feasts.” For all of the passive expressions which follow, God may be made the subject: “that God may punish them” or “may God cause their eyes to be closed.” It is God also who is the agent of the causative expression, “that God may make them bend.”

On the basis of a literal translation of the first line in the quotation, it is impossible to determine whether the snare and trap are something they are going to be caught in themselves or something in which they hope to catch others. That the former is the case is made clear by the last two words in the second line of the Greek text, “for them.” The word “snare” is difficult for English readers, and if this verse is to be translated literally the more general term “trap” should probably occur before the less well-known word “snare.”

In order to make the meaning of the first line of the quotation clear to the reader, the Good News Translation does several things. First, it provides in the first line the information that these people are to be the ones who are to be caught and trapped. Second, in order to avoid the difficulty of the simile (“become a snare and a trap”), it transforms these nouns into verbs. Finally, it uses a more generic term, caught, in the transfer from the noun “snare” to the verb “be snared.”

Similar transformations are made in the second line of the quotation. In Greek the second line is a continuation of the first, and the meaning is “may their feasts become a trap.” The word “trap” (some translations “stumbling-block”) technically refers to the stick over which one trips in order to spring a trap, but it is here used simply as a synonym for the two words in the previous line. In order to show the connection between this line and the previous line, the Good News Translation repeats the verb may they and transforms the word “trap” into a verb, fall.

May their eyes be closed so that they cannot see is literally “may their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,” which the New English Bible renders as “may their eyes become so dim that they lose their sight” and the Jerusalem Bible as “may their eyes be struck incurably blind.” The Good News Translation interprets what is literally “bend their backs for ever” (so Revised Standard Version) to mean make them bend under their troubles at all times (see An American Translation* “make their backs bend forever under their burden”).

In some languages it is not possible to say make them bend under their troubles, since bend under is not applicable to such experiences as troubles. In some languages one may say that “troubles cause people to bend down,” but it is more likely that a satisfactory equivalent will be found in some such expression as “cause them to suffer because of their troubles.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .