Translation commentary on Bel and the Dragon 1:15

If integrated into the book of Daniel: 14.15.

The priests came … as they were accustomed to do: Instead of as they were accustomed to do, Good News Translation reads “as usual” (Contemporary English Version “as they always did”), and it inserts “into the temple by the secret entrance” to help the reader out a bit.

Ate and drank everything; that is, everything there was either eaten (in the case of the food) or drunk (in the case of the wine). Revised Standard Version‘s wording is not dangerously unclear, but Good News Translation inserts appropriate objects for the two verbs: “ate all the food and drank all the wine.” The two verbs here in Greek have connotations of eating and drinking greedily.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.

Translation commentary on Baruch 1:8

At the same time refers to the time when the money was sent to Jerusalem.

On the tenth day of Sivan: Sivan is the third month of the Jewish year (mid-May to mid-June), which would be ten months after the reading of the book, if we are right in assuming the reading took place in the fifth month (see the note on verse 2).

Baruch took the vessels of the house of the Lord … to return them to the land of Judah: For vessels of the house of the Lord, Good News Translation has “sacred utensils.” They were the valuable objects used in the worship at the temple. A list of them is given in 2 Kgs 25.14-15; for the most part they were objects that had functions in the liturgy, and were small enough to be handled. The Greek text does not actually say that Baruch took these vessels back to Jerusalem; it simply says “he” (Revised Standard Version footnote). However, there is agreement that Baruch is intended. So Good News Translation has “Baruch took the sacred utensils … and returned them to Judah” (similarly Contemporary English Version). The house of the Lord and the temple refer to the same place, so Good News Translation simply has “the Temple.” The Jews believed that God resided in this place, so in some languages translators may need to say “the Lord’s house” or even “the place where people worship the Lord.”

Which had been carried away from the temple may be rephrased in the active voice as “which the Babylonians had carried away by force from the temple” (see the model below).

What happened on the tenth day of the month of Sivan mentioned here is not clear. Both Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version seem to mean that on that day Baruch took the sacred vessels and started out to Jerusalem to return them. The interpretation of New English Bible is more credible, that the tenth of Sivan is the day Baruch actually returned the objects: “This was the time when he took the vessels … which had been looted from the temple, and returned them to the land of Judah, on the tenth of the month Sivan.” The intended sequence seems to be as follows: (1) Baruch read his book. (2) As the people heard the reading, they wept, fasted, prayed, and took up a collection. (3) Baruch then took the collection along with the sacred vessels to Jerusalem, presenting them to the high priest on the tenth day of the month Sivan.

It is therefore possible to combine verse 7 and the first part of verse 8 as follows:

• On the tenth day of the month of Sivan, Baruch took the money to Jerusalem for Jehoiakim the high priest…, as well as the other priests … in Jerusalem. He also took the utensils belonging to the Lord’s [or, God’s] temple that they [or, the Babylonians] had forcibly taken from the temple, and returned them to Judah.

The silver vessels which Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, had made: There is no mention of this in the Hebrew Bible. Nebuchadnezzar took sacred objects from the temple during his invasion of 597 B.C. (2 Kgs 24.13; 2 Chr 36.10) as well as at the time of the final conquest of the city in 587/586 (2 Kgs 25.13-15; Jer 52.17-19). Nothing is ever said about Zedekiah replacing the first lot of looted vessels. For that matter, the Hebrew Bible never mentions these objects being returned until about 537 B.C., when Sheshbazzar brought several thousand vessels back from Babylonia to Judah (Ezra 1.7-11). Of course, this verse does not mean that Zedekiah himself fashioned these vessels, only that he, as king, ordered them made. So translators may say “These included the silver utensils that Zedekiah the son of King Josiah of Judah ordered his craftsmen to make.” King of Judah may refer to Zedekiah or Josiah, who were both kings of Judah. It is more natural to take it as referring to Josiah, but if a translator finds it easier to have it refer to Zedekiah, there is no reason not to do so.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.

Translation commentary on Baruch 2:19

Compare this verse with Dan 9.18b.

Most translations feel, with Good News Translation, that this is a good place for a new paragraph to begin. So we suggest that translators ignore the connector For at the beginning of the verse. Good News Translation has restructured this verse admirably. The sense flows easily and none of the emphasis in the original text has been sacrificed. Another model is Contemporary English Version, which has restructured the verse as follows:

• Our Lord God, we pray for your mercy, even though our ancestors and our kings refused to do what was right.

For our fathers, see the comments on Bar 1.15-18.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.

Translation commentary on Baruch 3:16

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.

Translation commentary on Baruch 4:11

With joy I nurtured them: The Greek verb rendered nurtured is similar to, but not exactly the same as, the verb translated “reared” in verse 8. Good News Translation “with great delight” is a more appropriate description of bringing up children than with joy. It conveys undertones of pride and satisfaction.

But I sent them away with weeping and sorrow: This does not describe a voluntary action, although there is something poignant in the picture of the mother so wanting to extend her care over her children that she speaks of their being forced away as I sent them away. Translators could try to express this with something like “I shed sorrowful tears when I said goodbye to them.” But as Good News Translation (similarly Contemporary English Version) says, “they were taken from me.” That is what it means. It is not clear from the Greek whether with weeping and sorrow describes Jerusalem or the exiles, but it is more likely that Jerusalem is meant from the parallelism with the expression with joy. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version are right in making it clear that Jerusalem is the one weeping and mourning. The prisoners were probably weeping and mourning also, but that is surely not what the author is thinking of here. The translator should take note at this point that an almost identical line occurs in verse 23.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.

Translation commentary on Baruch 5:6

For they went forth from you on foot, led away by their enemies: Translators may omit the connector For. The Good News Translation restructuring here is not as successful as usual. It does not hurt, although it may not be necessary, to introduce “Jerusalem” as the one addressed; this was done in the previous verse. But the sentence, “your children were led away by their enemies,” seems to be telling Jerusalem something that she doesn’t already know. But of course she does. The purpose of the restructuring is to remind the reader of the situation, but perhaps it can be done less intrusively by saying “When your children were taken from you, their enemies led them away on foot.”

But God will bring them back to you: The future tense in Revised Standard Version here is misleading. The present tense is used in Greek, and that is what is called for. These words are presented as if the exiles are even now on their way home. Good News Translation has it right with “but God is bringing them back to you.”

Carried in glory, as on a royal throne: Revised Standard Version takes some liberty here, but so do most other versions. The Greek is difficult, and seems to say “carried with glory as a king’s throne.” Whatever the exact wording of the original text may have been, its meaning is surely what Good News Translation expresses with “carried in royal splendor.” This assumes that the point here is the contrast of the honorable return with the people being taken away to captivity in shame. However, in Isa 49.22 and 66.20, there are references to returning exiles being carried, if not actually riding. Translators who see a connection here may want to preserve the reference to a throne, but it is hard to see how this could be done in such a way as to improve on “carried in royal splendor” (Good News Translation) or “with great honor, as if they were kings being carried on beautiful thrones” (Contemporary English Version).

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.

Translation commentary on Letter of Jeremiah 1:29

Since a new section begins here, the connector For at the beginning of this verse may be omitted.

Why should they be called gods?: In verse 29 the writer has said “from these things you know they aren’t gods.” Now he asks (in different words) “from what things can they be called gods?” What evidence is there that these idols are gods? The Greek verb form used here is the optative mode, which is used to speak of possibilities thought of as far-fetched. Here is where Good News Translation gets its rendering “How can they ever be called gods.” Good News Translation (also Contemporary English Version, New Jerusalem Bible, Moore) connects this far-fetched notion to the next idea: What kind of god would ever accept anything from a woman?

Women serve meals for gods of silver and gold and wood: This says much more than the Greek, which simply says that “women set before gods….” The Greek may refer to meals, but not necessarily; it can just as easily describe any kind of offerings brought to the gods. The text does not actually say that the women are serving as priests. However, verses 30-32 can be understood as describing a ritual practice in which women “make offerings” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) while the priests sit around wailing. But this is not clear.

Contemporary English Version restructures the clauses in verse 30 as follows:

• How could these idols of silver and gold and wood ever be gods, when women are allowed to make offerings to them?

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.

Translation commentary on Letter of Jeremiah 1:61

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.