Translation commentary on Baruch 1:11

Pray for the life of Nebuchadnezzar … and for the life of Belshazzar …: This does not mean that the lives of Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar were in danger. It is simply a way of wishing long life to them. Good News Translation “pray for King Nebuchadnezzar … and … Belshazzar, that they may live as long as the heavens last” captures the idea.

The only Belshazzar known to history was not the son of Nebuchadnezzar, but of Nabonidus, who was the last of the Babylonian kings. Nabonidus came to power a few years after the death of Nebuchadnezzar. Dan 5.2 also has Belshazzar as son of Nebuchadnezzar.

For Babylon see the comments on verse 9. Here it refers to the country of Babylonia (so Good News Translation).

That their days on earth may be like the days of heaven is given a slightly different interpretation in the New American Bible (New American Bible), which says “that their lifetimes may equal the duration of the heavens above the earth” (compare a similar expression in Deut 11.21). This is an equally possible literal understanding of the Greek text, but the meaning of either rendering is expressed in Good News Translation with “that they may live as long as the heavens last.” Heaven or “heavens” here refers to the universe, and in some languages this clause can be expressed as “that they may live as long as the sun, moon, and stars last.” It may sound strange that the exiles are calling on their fellow Jews in Jerusalem to pray for the welfare of their captors, but it is only what Jeremiah himself called for in his letter to the exiles (Jer 29.7).

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 2:22

There is a rather complicated sequence of verbal ideas in Good News Translation:

if you refuse
to obey
my command
to serve him.

One of these levels can certainly be eliminated. An alternative might be “if you refuse to serve the king, as I have commanded you….” Another, more drastic option is to reverse the clauses in verse 21 and shorten verse 22 as follows: “If you want to stay in the land that I gave your ancestors, then obey and serve the king of Babylonia. If you do not do so….”

Notice that this verse literally speaks of the voice of the Lord. In this context, of course, it refers to God’s command. Good News Translation restructures this phrase as a first person reference to God (“my command”) for the sake of consistency with the verses before and after it.

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 3:19

They have vanished and gone down to Hades: This does not mean that they have vanished into thin air, but simply that they have died. Hades is the world of the dead; see the comments on Bar 2.17. If possible, translators should keep the figure of “the world of the dead” (Good News Translation) or even “the place where the dead go.”

Others have arisen in their place: This does not mean that some dead people have come to life, but rather “others have been born to take their place” (see verse 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 4:14

Let the neighbors of Zion come: In Greek this verse begins with a strong imperative (“Come…”) just as do the stanzas beginning at 4.9b, 4.21, 4.27, 4.30, 4.36, and 5.5. For neighbors of Zion, see the comments on verse 9.

Remember the capture of my sons and daughters …: There is an awkward shift of person in the verbs of this verse. The verb in the previous line (Let … come) is expressed as a third person imperative, but the verb here (remember) is a second person imperative. This is very likely original to the text of Baruch, but the translator is advised to make the verb forms consistent. Good News Translation does this by rendering them naturally in English as “come and consider…” (similarly Contemporary English Version “Come and see”). Remember here means “think about,” “give thought to,” “consider.” The Greek noun translated capture is the same noun rendered “captivity” in verse 10. Verse 15 makes it clear that once again the word refers to the act of capture rather than the state of captivity.

In fact, the capture of my sons and daughters and which the Everlasting brought upon them are word for word in Greek the same as the corresponding expressions in verse 10. It is hard to see that much is lost by translating the two differently, as Good News Translation has done, but the repetition could mark the beginning of a new stanza in the author’s thinking. If the translator wants to honor the author’s decision to repeat the expressions, there is usually a way to do it. For instance, verse 14 in Good News Translation could be reworded to read “… come and think about my sons and daughters taken into captivity, a captivity brought on them by the Eternal God.” This is at least a stronger statement than verse 14 actually is in Good News Translation, and it probably gains strength from its being a repetition. The reader or hearer senses the author’s insistence on the point by having it repeated. In fact, a small danger lurks in “consider how….” That could be misunderstood in English as an invitation to think about the way in which God sent the people into exile.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• Come, all my neighboring cities, and see how the Eternal God has caused my enemies to drag my sons and daughters away into foreign countries.

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 1:11

Which cannot save themselves from rust and corrosion: Which refers back to the idols, not to the materials of which they were made. Save themselves from means “keep [or, protect] themselves from.” Rust is not technically correct, since rust forms only on iron. “Tarnish” (so Good News Translation) is a better word; it can refer to discolored silver. The Greek word here also refers to the green coating that discolors copper. Some idols were cast in bronze and overlaid with gold or silver. Perhaps this is what the writer is referring to. The meaning of corrosion is discussed in the paragraph below.

When they have been dressed in purple robes is a clause ambiguously placed in Greek. It can be taken with the following sentence (Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version, New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible) or with what comes before it (Good News Translation, New American Bible, New English Bible, Moore). How we understand the Greek word that Revised Standard Version renders corrosion will determine which of these two connections is correct. Literally the word means “food.” A textual problem lurks behind this word, but basically the text is saying the idols cannot save themselves from being eaten. Revised Standard Version seems to take this term as referring to metal being eaten away by using corrosion (which is similar to the term it renders as rust), although how gold or silver can be described this way is not clear. Good News Translation “termites” assumes that the woodwork of the idols is being eaten away by termites. New English Bible and Moore translate “moth[s].” (This can partly be explained on the basis of the textual problem just mentioned; compare Matt 6.19-20.) But moths attack cloth, so both New English Bible and Moore, like Good News Translation, reorder the verse so that the purple robes clause comes before the rust and corrosion clause. This way the moths are seen as attacking the purple robes. New Jerusalem Bible says “woodworm” and New American Bible has “insects,” which may be the best solution of all.

The translator must understand that the Greek word used here does not literally mean “termite,” “insect,” “corrosion,” or “moth” (though it is possible the Hebrew original had “moth”). It means “food.” The various translations are interpreting it in somewhat different ways, but they all amount to saying that the idols cannot protect themselves from being eaten away by something or other. The translator will probably feel more comfortable and the readers less puzzled if the two clauses of this verse are reversed, as in Good News Translation, and the problematic noun is translated as “insects” or as some particular insect known to devour wood or cloth.

Purple goods were a sign of wealth or distinction. Compare Jdg 8.26; Est 8.15; 1 Macc 8.14. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark suggests ways for translating the color purple. In brief, translators are urged to take one of four possible approaches (in order of preference):
(1) select an indigenous term that is approximately the color of purple or red-blue;
(2) find an approximation of the color, employing other terms that identify colors that are quite close; for example, “dark red,” “burnt red,” and so on;
(3) identify the color purple through the color of some bird or flower; for example, “cloth dyed with the color of…”;
(4) use a phrase identifying the process of dyeing cloth, for example, “cloth like that dyed in…,” and then introduce the proper plant in the culture that is used for dyeing cloth or other materials with a purple color.

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 1:43

Whatever is done for them is false: The translation must make it clear that them refers to the idols, not the women referred to in verse 43. The Good News Translation rendering of this sentence, “Everything about these idols is false,” is an equally good translation of the Greek. New American Bible has an interesting approach: “All that takes place around these gods is a fraud.” This is not only a justifiable translation of the Greek text, but it also relates the verse to the verse just before it. Another way to say this is “Everything that happens around these idols is false.”

A more difficult problem for some translators may be finding an appropriate equivalent for the term false. The worship of these idols is useless, vain, without value. Contemporary English Version follows this interpretation with “Everything the Babylonians do to serve their idols is useless.” New English Bible attempts to round out the meaning with two descriptive nouns, “fraud and delusion,” where the fraud is on the part of the priests and the delusion is on the part of the worshipers.

Why then must any one think that they are gods, or call them gods?: This occurrence of the refrain is almost word for word the same as in verse 40. The difference in Greek is altogether too minor to be reflected in 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 1:3

If integrated into the book of Daniel: 3.26

For the archaic pronouns used in verses 3-22, refer to the comments on Bar 2.11 and LetJer 6.

Blessed art thou … worthy of praise: In Greek God is described by two adjectives here, both of which say that God is worthy of something: praise, adoration, honor, veneration. The point here is not to make distinctions between near synonyms, but to heap up praise. Good News Translation renders these adjectives as a prose statement: “we praise and adore you,” which is a shift of focus, though not a harmful one. Another possibility is “you deserve all the praise and honor we can give.”

God of our fathers: Our fathers, of course, refers to all the Jewish ancestors, not just the previous generation and not just the male line (see Bar 1.16). In languages where of our fathers will give the impression that God belongs to their ancestors, we may translate “God whom our ancestors worshiped.”

Thy name is glorified for ever may be rendered “your name is forever glorious.” Good News Translation (and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible) states this as a wish: “may your name be honored forever.” In languages that do not have the passive voice, we may say something like “May people give honor to your name forever” or “May people always tell you, ‘You have a wonderful [or, glorious] name.’ ” The Greek allows for this clause to be a statement or a wish, and the translator is free to use whatever is appropriate in the target language.

New English Bible differs a little from Revised Standard Version in its rendering of this verse. That version reads “Blessed art thou, O Lord, the God of our fathers, thy name is worthy of praise and glorious for ever.” It applies “worthy of praise” to “thy name” rather than to God. Our Greek text, the Theodotion text, does not say this; the Septuagint does. In our text, God is worthy of honor and praise, and his name is forever glorious.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• You, Master, the God whom our ancestors served,
deserve all the praise and honor we can give;
and we should honor your name 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 The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men 1:37

If integrated into the book of Daniel: 3.58

You angels of the Lord is rendered “all angels of the Lord” by Good News Translation. The Greek does not say “all angels,” but Good News Translation is trying to make this phrase poetic (compare Psa 148.2). For comments on “angel,” see verse 26.

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.