Translation commentary on Baruch 3:8

Behold, we are today in our exile where thou has scattered us: The word Behold puts focus on what follows. Sometimes this word is too effective to be eliminated, as Good News Translation and New English Bible have done. The writer is ending the prayer here by calling on God to consider his people’s situation. An alternative rendering for the first part of this verse is “Look at us. Here we are in exile where you scattered us.”

For scattered see the comments on Bar 2.4-5.

To be reproached may be rendered “You have made them [the nations] despise [or, insult] us.” See the comments on “reproach” at Bar 2.4-5.

Cursed means “say bad [or, evil] things about us.”

All the iniquities of our fathers may also be expressed as “all the sins of our ancestors.”

Who forsook the Lord our God may be translated “who rebelled against you, the Lord our God.”

From a literary point of view, this verse seems a clumsy way to end the prayer, even though the author apparently wanted it this way. In fact, much of this summary section, 3.1-8, appears jerky. A suggested reordering of clauses in verses 4-8 is made here, in full knowledge that translators must be cautious; the suggestion is that verses 4-8 would read much more smoothly if those verses are arranged in the order 4, 8, 5, 7, 6 as follows:

• Lord Almighty, God of Israel, please listen to our prayer! We are the few who are left out of Israel! We are the children of those who sinned against you, the Lord our God, and we are suffering the consequences of that sin. Look at us! Here we are living in an enemy country where you scattered us. Our enemies despise us and say evil things about us. We are suffering for all the sins of our ancestors, who rebelled against you, the Lord our God. Don’t think about our ancestors’ sins anymore. This is a time to concentrate on your own power and reputation. You put deep within us a great respect for your power, so that we would know where to turn for help. So here living in this foreign land we praise you, because we have stopped doing all the evil things that our ancestors did. Yes, Lord, we will praise you. You are the Lord, our God.

Translators should note that the Handbook is not urging this reordering; we are simply pointing out possibilities.

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 4:3

Do not give your glory to another: The Law is Israel’s unique and shining possession. The people are urged not to surrender it to others. This is the second reference in the poem on Wisdom (the other is Bar 3.10) that connects the poem with the setting of the book of Baruch in the time of the exile. Glory or “glorious” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) here means “magnificent,” “splendid,” “marvelous.”

Your advantages to an alien people: Your advantages refers to something (Wisdom) that the Jews have that is better than what other people possess. Good News Translation combines glory and advantages as “glorious privileges,” while Contemporary English Version has “the glorious Wisdom that rightfully belongs to you.” If translators put this verse into poetry, it must be clear to the readers that these two words both refer to Wisdom. Another and an alien people refer to the same people, that is, foreigners, and may be combined by translators who are not putting this into poetry; for example, “any other people [or, nation].”

An alternative model keeping the poetic structure is:

• Do not give it [or, the Law] away to foreigners.
It is your most glorious possession.

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 4:35

Translators who are following the suggestion that verse 34 be restructured in the third person for God will want to take care that the third person is kept here, and not changed to the first person, as in Good News Translation.

For fire will come upon her from the Everlasting for many days: Translators can express this in a more direct way; for example, Good News Translation has “I, the Eternal God, will send down fire on her, and it will burn for many days,” and Contemporary English Version says “The eternal God will send down fire, and she will burn for days and days.” For the Everlasting, see the comments on verse 10.

This verse works in both lines with the imagery of Isa 13.19-22 and 34.9-14. The reference to fire recalls Isa 34.9-10, in which Edom suffers the fiery fate of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19.24). In Isa 13.19 it is said that Babylon will suffer the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. See also Jer 51.58.

For a long time she will be inhabited by demons: Good News Translation helpfully makes it clear that the city haunted by demons will be a city in ruins: “Her ruins will be haunted by demons for a long time to come.” The Greek says only that she will be inhabited by demons …, but in English “haunted” is an excellent choice of words. The idea can easily be expressed in the active voice: “Demons will haunt [or, live in/lurk within] her ruins for a long time to come.”

The word demons here does not have the same meaning as in verse 7, where demons are simply pagan gods (see the comments there). Here the Greek surely translates the Hebrew word translated “satyr[s]” by Revised Standard Version and the King James Version [King James Version] in Isa 13.21 and 34.14. The word is also used at Lev 17.7 and 2 Chr 11.15 (where Revised Standard Version translates “satyrs” and King James Version “devils”). New Revised Standard Version translates “goat-demon[s]” at each of those four places, but not here in Baruch, where it has “demons.” The Hebrew word simply means “hairy one,” which describes some kind of hideous, hairy creature, perhaps imaginary, that was thought to haunt deserted habitations. (The word “demon” is never used in King James Version because at the time of its translation the word had a favorable sense.) Other ways to express this here are “hideous spirits” and “filthy demons.”

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 1:21

Bats, swallows, and birds …: Bats are not birds but flying mammals. In cultures that do not have bats, it may be necessary to transliterate the word and provide a footnote describing the mammal. Swallows are present in many parts of the world, but in the case where they are not known, we may combine them with and birds and say something like “Bats and many kinds of birds….”

The presence of cats (otherwise unknown in Scripture) along with the bats and swallows makes this verse difficult. Despite what is in almost all the versions, the Greek does not say that the bats, swallows, and other birds light, “perch,” or “sit” on the idols. It says they flutter over them. But it says cats do the same. And cats don’t fly. English translators have tried to find a verb appropriate for all the creatures mentioned, but they really haven’t succeeded, because bats do not perch any more than cats fly. The cats present a long and unsolved problem for scholars—this is an obvious place to search for textual solutions, but there are none that are convincing. So it is left to the translator to deal with the cats. Maybe the Greek verb rendered light is used to refer to a kind of two-dimensional fluttering, the kind of quick back-and-forth movements cats make when trying to catch insects. Or maybe it is three-dimensional; the cats go climbing up on the idol to catch the birds. It is not out of the question, given verse 21, that the reference is to the creatures defecating on the idols, but this is really guesswork. We can only offer the following as a practical suggestion for translators: have the flying creatures “flutter” and supply a different verb for the cats; for example, “Bats, swallows, and other birds go fluttering about their heads and bodies—even cats go scampering about [or, over] 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 1:53

This verse contains four separate problems, which are found in its four clauses, and which we can conveniently deal with separately.

They cannot judge their own cause: There is a textual problem here. The clause can be read as in Revised Standard Version or as “They cannot make judgments.” Most translations prefer the first option; for example, Good News Translation has “They can’t make decisions about their own affairs” and Contemporary English Version says “They can’t make their own decisions.”

They cannot … deliver one who is wronged: There is another textual problem in this clause. It can be read as in Revised Standard Version or as “They cannot redress a wrong.” Most translations prefer the first option; for example, Good News Translation says “They can’t … give justice to someone who has been wronged” and Contemporary English Version has “They can’t … free a person who has been wronged.”

They have no power is literally “being unable.” This clause can be taken with the clause before it or with the clause following it. Revised Standard Version takes it with the previous clause and makes a separate statement of it. Moore, New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and Contemporary English Version associate it with what follows, so that the overall sense of the verse is “They cannot judge … or deliver … since they are as helpless as….” Here “since they are as helpless” renders “being unable.” This is quite possible. Good News Translation says “… they can do absolutely nothing. They are as useless as…,” so it seems to be trying to have it both ways. However, it is probably interpreting “being unable” in the same way as Revised Standard Version, but brings in “They are as useless as…” to help solve the next problem. “Helpless” would be better than “useless” in the context.

They are like crows between heaven and earth: The Greek says the idols are “like crows between the sky and the earth”—whatever that means. New Jerusalem Bible connects it with the previous clause by saying “They are as helpless as crows between sky and ground”; but crows in flight are not a picture of helplessness. New English Bible, which also connects it with the previous clause, is aware of this, so it says “They are as helpless as crows tossed about in mid air.” But this only makes the problem worse; crows simply do not get “tossed about” in the air; they are a picture of control. Good News Translation ventures a guess with “They are as useless as crows flying around in the air” (similarly Contemporary English Version). But why crows? Are crows useful when they are not in flight? Cautious translators will stop right here. Long ago, a suggestion was made by Ball that crows should read “clouds.” The Hebrew words for “cloud” and “crow/raven” are strikingly similar. If the correct word is “clouds,” it also explains why there is no verb here. (What are the crows doing between the sky and the ground? The text doesn’t say they are “flying around” or “tossed about.”) Moore embraces this solution, and translates “for they are as helpless as the clouds between heaven and earth.” This can be defended on textual grounds (though it is only a conjecture) and it makes good sense. Braver translators will want to give serious thought to saying something like “They are as helpless as drifting clouds.” In this case a footnote would be in order: “as drifting clouds; Greek as crows between the sky and the earth.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• They are unable to make their own decisions or give justice to a person who has been wronged. They are as helpless as drifting clouds.

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 1:13

If integrated into the book of Daniel: 3.36

To whom thou didst promise to make their descendants as many as … may be translated “You promised to give them as many descendants as…” (Good News Translation) or “You promised to give them more descendants than…” (Contemporary English Version). Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version make a new sentence out of this verse, which in Greek (see Revised Standard Version) is a relative clause referring back to the three patriarchs. These versions may be a bit choppy, but English is not really comfortable with sentences as long as the one in Greek here, which begins in verse 11.

As the stars of heaven and as the sand on the shore of the sea: The reference is specifically to Gen 22.17. Stars and (grains of) sand are used as examples of items impossible to count. Languages will differ as to whether one can “count sand” or will have to “count grains of sand.” English can have it either way. Heaven refers, of course, to “the sky” (Good News Translation).

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 1:48

If integrated into the book of Daniel: 3.71-72

Another discrepancy in verse numbering occurs here. The order of verses 47-50 differs between the Theodotion Greek text and the Septuagint. These verses correspond to verses 71, 72, 69, and 70 of Dan 3 respectively in New American Bible and New Jerusalem Bible. New American Bible and New Jerusalem Bible are following the traditional order of the Septuagint and the Vulgate. Catholic translators may wish to follow this traditional order. Those who are translating these verses as part of the Apocrypha may follow the order of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. (Rahlfs’ Greek text as well as the Göttingen Greek text give the verses in the order found in the Theodotion manuscripts, but number them as in the Septuagint).

Since nights and days in verse 47 and light and darkness in verse 48 are almost identical in meaning, Contemporary English Version combines these two verses as follows:

• The dark of night
and the light of day
should sing praises
to the Lord forever.

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 1:13

If integrated into the book of Daniel: 13.13.

Up to this point, the narrator has described only the setting against which the story is to take place. With this verse the narrative itself begins. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version signal this with “One day at noon,” an insertion to indicate that something is now going to happen. The need for some marker here is so obvious that most translations supply something. “One day at noon” is very helpful here since it makes the next statement about lunchtime less abrupt.

They said to each other: At the beginning of this new section, it will be helpful to say “the two judges” instead of They.

Let us go home: This does not imply that the two judges lived together, as the next verse makes clear. In some languages this will be clearer with “Let’s return to our homes.”

Mealtime: This refers to “lunch” (Good News Translation), the midday meal. Unlike in verse 7, lunch is specified here. (The Greek word used here originally referred to breakfast, but by Hellenistic and Roman times, it referred to the midday meal.)

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.