Translation commentary on Baruch 3:4

Hear now the prayer of the dead of Israel: This statement (which is the clear sense of the Greek text) is one of the great problems of the book, since what it seems to say is that the dead are praying, and this is in complete contradiction to what was just said in Bar 2.17, that the dead do not pray. The only possible way to understand the phrase the dead of Israel is that the people of Israel considered themselves as all but dead; compare Good News Translation “We are no better off than the dead” or Contemporary English Version “We are almost dead.” A textual problem has long been suspected here, however, or rather a problem created when Baruch was translated into Greek. The Hebrew word for “dead” is spelled exactly like (but pronounced differently from) a word meaning “men.” This word for “men” is not used frequently, but in two occurrences (Gen 34.30 and Deut 26.5), it is used in the sense of a small number of men. The translator may have been misled into rendering the word for “dead” because of the reference to death in the previous verse. (This same mistake occurs in several places in the Hebrew Bible.) Moore translates here “the men of Israel,” but New American Bible has been bolder, and it is convincing. For the whole clause New American Bible translates “hear the prayer of Israel’s few.” The writer has just bemoaned the fact that his people are becoming steadily fewer in number, and now he cries out to God to hear the cry of those few who are still alive. An alternative model for the whole verse (which is printed in separate lines not because a poetic form is suggested, but simply for convenience here) is:

• Lord Almighty, God of Israel, hear our prayer!
We are the few who are left out of Israel.
We are children of those who sinned against you, the Lord their God,
and we are suffering the consequences of that sin.

A footnote after “the few who are left out of Israel” would be in order, reading “Greek: the dead of Israel.”

The sons of those who sinned before thee: Here sons refers broadly to “children.” Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version express the idea in terms of ancestors rather than descendants, which is just as good. However, we need to ask in this situation whether the writer is thinking of their ancestors for generations past, or is focusing just on the previous generation who provoked God to carry out his threats against Israel. In English “children” points the reader to the previous generation without ruling out generations long ago. Compare the comments on Bar 2.33. Where a choice must be made, however, it is safer to refer to ancestors. A possible rendering, then, is “Our ancestors sinned against you” (Good News Translation) or “We are descended from people who sinned against you.”

Who did not heed the voice of the Lord their God: See the comments on Bar 1.15-18.

Calamities have clung to us may be translated “we are suffering the consequences of their sins,” “we are being punished for the sins of our ancestors” (Contemporary English Version), or even “You are punishing us for the sins of our ancestors.” See the comments on Bar 1.20.

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 3:36

He found the whole way to knowledge: For found see the comments at verse 32. The word also means “devised” here. However, if the idea of a way is maintained, something like “pioneered” would be satisfactory. For the whole way to knowledge, see the comments on verses 20 and 27. Translators may render the whole line as “He blazed the trail to understanding,” “He pioneered the whole path [or, road] to knowledge,” or “He revealed the path to knowledge.”

And gave her to Jacob his servant and to Israel whom he loved: Good News Translation has “and gave Wisdom to his servant Israel, whom he loved.” Jacob here has the same meaning as Israel (see Sir 24.8). Translators who put this verse into poetry should combine Jacob and Israel as “Israel,” unless it is clear in the translation that both names refer to the “people of Israel.” For the Jews at that time this was no problem, but in most modern-day cultures, mentioning these two names can easily be misunderstood. Contemporary English Version suggests a helpful model with “then gave it to his servant Israel, the one he loved.”

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 4:31

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 1:17

Just as the gates are shut on every side: The gates is literally “the courtyards.” New English Bible has “just as the palace-court is barricaded.” It is hard to say whether Revised Standard Version translates gates because it is easier to lock gates than yards, or because it is correcting the Greek text. It would be exceptionally easy for the Greek words for “gate” and “courtyard” to be mistaken for one another in the manuscripts; there is only one letter difference. By focusing on the prisoner, the restructuring in Good News Translation does not mention gates or courtyards. But notice that Good News Translation has shifted the comparison from gates … temples to “gods … prisoner.” Translators must beware of rendering this in such a way that the gates are compared to the gods or the temples compared to the prisoner.

A man who has offended a king may be rendered “a prisoner … for a crime against the king” (Good News Translation; similarly Contemporary English Version).

As though he were sentenced to death: This may be simplified by saying that the man who has offended the king is “about to be executed” (Good News Translation).

The priests make their temples secure …: The author makes a comparison here that gets overly involved, and translators will do well to follow Good News Translation in restructuring it quite drastically. Good News Translation comes first to the main point: “The priests fortify the temples … so that thieves cannot break in.” Literally, the Greek speaks of the thieves plundering, not breaking in, and the danger is the loss of everything of value inside the temples, including the idols themselves. Good News Translation makes this clear, however, in its second sentence, where the comparison is made: “The gods are locked up [obviously to keep thieves from carrying them off] as securely as….” “Fortify” may be the wrong word to choose; it gives the impression that the temple is to be attacked, as by an army. We need a word here (such as “secure”) that gives a sense of protection from theft, not attack.

With doors and locks and bars: These are three different ways that the Babylonians protected their idols. There were doors to the temples, and these were secured with locks and bars. The locks were some sort of metal protective device, using keys, that performed the same function as locks in modern times. The large wooden or metal bars were placed securely across the inside of the doors. If people were pushing in the doors from the outside and the locks gave way, these large bars would prevent the intruders from gaining entrance.

A possible alternative model for the last half of the verse is “The priests make their temples secure by closing the doors and locking them up with bolts and bars. This prevents robbers from stealing anything.”

Possible alternative models for the whole verse are:

• The priests lock up these idols in their temples as securely as prisoners who are about to be put to death for committing a crime against the king. They make the temples secure by closing the doors and putting the bolts and bars on them. This prevents robbers from stealing anything.

• The priests make the temples secure by closing the doors and putting bolts and bars on them. This prevents robbers from stealing anything. When the priests do this, they lock up the idols just as securely as prisoners about to be put to death for committing a crime against the king.

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 1:49

Since they are made of wood and overlaid with gold and silver: The use of the word Since results in the peculiar thought that if the idols were not made of wood, that is, if they were made of something else, then they might not be proved false. Good News Translation is a better rendering: “These idols are nothing more than wood covered with silver and gold” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

It will afterward be known that they are false: The word afterward also raises the question, “after what?” The Greek is literally “after these things,” which is a common idiom; here it means just what Good News Translation says, “one day” (Contemporary English Version “Someday”) in the sense of “sooner or later,” “in the end.” The Good News Translation translation of false as “really not gods at all” expresses the sense very well.

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 The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men 1:9

If integrated into the book of Daniel: 3.32

Thou hast given us into the hands of lawless enemies, most hateful rebels: Given us into the hands of means “let … conquer us.” Lawless enemies means these enemies refused to obey God’s Law. Obviously they obeyed the laws of their own country. So we may translate “enemies who didn’t obey the Law of our God.” Since enemies in some languages will be translated something like “those who hate us,” it will be necessary to make it clear that hateful here means “the ones we hate.” The Greek for most hateful rebels can also be translated as “hateful, and defiant” (Good News Translation), bringing out the meaning of rebels. Azariah virtually spits out a series of abusive adjectives without bothering to join them with “ands.” So this whole line may be rendered “You have given us into the hands of enemies—lawless—hateful—defiant.” However, in some languages it will be necessary to restructure it somewhat; for example, “You have let enemies who don’t obey the Law of our God conquer us. They are hateful and defiant people” or even “… They are defiant toward you and we hate them.”

To an unjust king, the most wicked in all the world: In the context of the narrative, the wicked king is Nebuchadnezzar, but the writer may well be thinking of a king who may have been ruling Palestine in his own time, Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164 B.C.). See 1 Macc 1.20-50.

Alternative translation models for this verse are:

• You have given us over to enemies—lawless, hateful, defiant enemies—and to an unjust king—the most wicked the world has ever known.

• You have let enemies whom we hate conquer us. They refuse to obey your Law and are defiant toward you. You have also let the most wicked king in the whole world conquer us.

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 Susanna 1:9

If integrated into the book of Daniel: 13.9.

They perverted their minds … may be rendered “They desired Susanna so much that….” New American Bible has “They suppressed their consciences….”

Turned away their eyes from means “they lost interest in” (so Good News Translation).

Looking to Heaven: Revised Standard Version capitalizes Heaven to indicate that it is a way of referring to God without using the word. (New Revised Standard Version also does it in verse 35; compare 1 Macc 3.18; Luke 15.18). Contemporary English Version makes this clear with “They even stopped praying to God.”

Remembering righteous judgments: New English Bible says “[they] forgot the claims of morality,” which is striking. However, it is probably closer to the meaning to say “they forgot their responsibility as judges” (similarly Good News Translation).

Their minds and eyes are perverted. Rather than giving thought to legal matters, they are obsessed with Susanna. Rather than lifting their eyes in prayer, they stealthily watched for Susanna.

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.