Translation commentary on Baruch 1:9

Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon: Babylon was the capital city of Babylonia. Since Nebuchadnezzar ruled over the whole country of Babylonia and not just its capital city, Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version prefer to refer to “King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia.” The second reference to Babylon in this verse is to the city itself and should be rendered that way.

Carried away from Jerusalem means “deported from [or, forcibly made to leave] Jerusalem.”

The princes and the prisoners: The Greek word for princes here is a general term for “rulers” (Good News Translation) or “important leaders” (Contemporary English Version); it is not the “sons of the kings” found earlier at verse 4. There is a problem with the inclusion of prisoners in this list of exiles, for in a sense, all the exiles were prisoners. Compare Jer 24.1, obviously parallel to this verse, where “craftsmen” appear in the list. The Hebrew word used there can mean either “prisoners” or “metalworkers.” It is reasonable to assume that “craftsmen” are intended here, and that the Greek translator made a mistake with “prisoners.” The Greek text is clear, but there are a few manuscripts that add “and craftsmen.” Good News Translation and the New Jerusalem Bible (New Jerusalem Bible) prefer “craftsmen” to “prisoners” here; other versions follow the Greek text. We recommend that translators follow Good News Translation, with a footnote.

Mighty men: See the comments on verse 4.

The people of the land: This is the usual Hebrew idiom for “the common people.” According to 2 Kgs 24.14, the common people were not taken into exile. Contemporary English Version tries to solve this problem partially with “most of the people,” indicating that some were left behind; but that is saying more than the writer says, and it is suggested that translators not follow Contemporary English Version in this.

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 2:20

For …: The Greek text begins this verse with a causal conjunction, but the causal connection with verse 19 is quite loose. Trying to express it may cause more trouble than faithfulness to the text calls for. Good News Translation and New American Bible ignore it. New Jerusalem Bible opens effectively with “No, you have sent down your anger and your fury on us….” Another effective opening may be “No, you were angry and punished us….”

Thou hast sent thy anger and thy wrath: Good News Translation “You turned your anger and wrath against us” and Contemporary English Version “You have punished us in your anger” catch the force of the Greek verb rendered sent a bit better. This verb has the sense of sending with powerful anger. The two words anger and wrath have substantially the same meaning, but the repetition has a cumulative effect. So we may translate “You were furiously angry, so you punished us” or “Your heart became so hot with anger that you punished us.”

As thou didst declare by thy servants the prophets, saying: In Greek this is literally “just as you spoke by the hand of your servants the prophets saying.” The sense of declare needs to be expressed more clearly. There are several options, such as “threatened” (Good News Translation), “warned” (Contemporary English Version, New American Bible, Revised English Bible), or even “promised” (Moore). Good News Translation “just as you had threatened to do when your servants the prophets spoke your word to us and said” is wordy and open to misinterpretation, since it is not clear that the word spoken by the prophets was the threat. It sounds as if the prophets spoke, and then God issued a threat. An alternative is “just as you warned us you would through your servants the prophets, when they said.”

By thy servants the prophets means “by using [or, causing] your servants the prophets.” However, in languages where prophets will be translated by something like “persons who proclaimed your message” (see the comments on Bar 1.15-18), we may say “just as your servants spoke your message giving us the following warning.” We may then restructure the verse as follows:

• You were furiously angry with us and punished us. This happened just as you warned us through your servants the prophets who said….

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 2:31

And they will know that I am the Lord their God: This clause can be connected very easily and smoothly with the previous clause, and several translations have done so. It actually seems to fit better with the previous clause than with what follows. Good News Translation can be reworded this way: “ … you will come to your senses and realize that I am the Lord your God. Then I will give….” Know here has the sense of “realize, acknowledge.” The people already know that the Lord is their God, but in exile they will come to appreciate just what that means.

I will give them a heart that obeys and ears that hear: This is literally “I will give them a heart and hearing ears.” In Greek something has most likely dropped out in connection with the word for heart, so the reader needs some kind of help. Since the heart was seen as the organ of thought and understanding, what is meant here is that God will give the people a new understanding of things (“a heart”) and a new readiness to obey (“hearing ears”). This may be rendered “I will make you understand more clearly and be more ready [or, eager] to obey.” It is certainly not necessary to maintain the imagery of the heart and ears if this is unnatural style in the translator’s language. Good News Translation “a desire to know” is hard to account for. “A mind with which to understand” in Good News Translation is also not satisfactory, because the people already have a mind with which to understand—they just don’t use it. The idea of obedience included in the imagery of hearing seems absent from 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 Baruch 3:28

The two lines of this verse mean the same thing, which of course is common in Hebrew poetry. Good News Translation, which does not use poetic format here, combines the two occurrences of they perished. Translators using poetic format will probably want to find an effective repetition. The reference is to the race of giants “dying out,” an appropriate expression in English which Good News Translation uses. It means a gradual disappearance, not a sudden extinction. For translations that keep the poetic format, the second line may be translated “They died out because they were too foolish to survive.”

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 4:23

Compare Psa 126.6 and Isa 55.12.

Translators may omit the connector For at the beginning of this verse.

I sent you out with sorrow and weeping: This line is almost identical with a line in verse 11. See the comments at that point. Those comments do not entirely agree with the restructuring of Good News Translation here, but notice that the Good News Translation translation of this verse echoes its translation of verse 11, as is proper (similarly Contemporary English Version).

God will give you back to me with joy and gladness for ever: With joy and gladness refers to Jerusalem, not to God or to the exiles. This phrase is parallel to with sorrow and weeping in the previous line. The parallelism is effective, and it would be nice to carry through with it in translation, if possible. A possibility is:

• I shed sorrowful tears when you were taken from me, but I will be joyful forever when God brings you back to me.

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 1:9

And sometimes the priests secretly take gold and silver from their gods: The word and, which Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version ignore, is actually emphatic, and can be taken to mean either “It also happens that sometimes the priests…” or “Sometimes the priests even….” We recommend the second of these meanings.

The priests here were the “sacrificers” or “intermediaries” between the Babylonian worshipers and their gods (see the comments on Bar 1.7).

Secretly take better renders the Greek than “steal” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). It is rather like the action described in Bel 13 (New American Bible Dan 14.13). The gold and silver here is presumably that which was used in the manufacture of the idols, and not offerings made by worshipers. A clearer picture of what is involved might be produced by translating “Sometimes the priests even secretly take [some of] the gold and silver off their idols.”

Spend it upon themselves; that is, use it for their own purposes. The Greek verb here actually has overtones of lavish spending.

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 1:41

Yet they themselves cannot perceive this and abandon them: Good News Translation renders perceive this as “realize that their gods cannot help.” Abandon them refers to abandoning their gods. Revised Standard Version (also New Revised Standard Version) contains an exceptionally bad ambiguity here. The writer is not saying that the Babylonians (a) cannot perceive this and (b) abandon their gods. It means that the Babylonians cannot perceive this so as to abandon their gods. In fact they do not abandon their gods, because they cannot perceive this. Good News Translation is clear, correct, and unambiguous.

For they have no sense: The Greek noun rendered sense comes from the same root as the verb translated “understand” in the verse above with reference to Bel. Translators should try to preserve this play on words if possible, since the author is saying that Bel’s worshipers are just as brainless as Bel himself. Compare New English Bible: “… as if Bel could understand him. They cannot see the folly of it … because they themselves have no understanding.”

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 1:1

If integrated into the book of Daniel: 3.24

They: In the context of Dan 3, it is clear to whom they refers. According to Dan 3.22-23, they refers to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. If translators include “The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men” as part of Dan 3, they needs no further clarification. But if they translate it as a separate book of the Apocrypha, it would be helpful to identify the three young men referred by this pronoun. If this is done, the forms used in Good News Translation, “Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,” are appropriate. These are the original names of the three men (see Dan 1.6-7).

Walked about in the midst of the flames: Good News Translation interprets the Greek verb form rendered walked about as placing emphasis on the beginning of the action: “started walking around.” In English this makes for a smoother beginning to the narrative, whether as a separate story or as part of Dan 3. In the midst of the flames may be also expressed as “in the flames [or, fire]” (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version).

Singing hymns to God and blessing the Lord: Any translation must of course make certain that readers will not interpret God and the Lord as two different beings. Good News Translation guards against this with a subtle rephrasing: “singing hymns to God, and praising him as the Lord.” Other options would be to choose just one of the two words, or to use them both together; for example, “the Lord God” (as in verse 3). For a comment on the translation of Lord, see Bar 1.5. Blessing here refers to praise, as Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version have taken it. Here it is used as a verb; it will reappear as an adjective as the first word of the prayer itself (see the comments on verse 3). Presumably it is in the singing of hymns that the three are praising God, and this could be made clear by saying “praising God by singing hymns” or “singing hymns of praise to God.”

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.