Translation commentary on Bel and the Dragon 1:34

If integrated into the book of Daniel: 14.34.

But the angel of the Lord said to Habakkuk: The prophet is on his way to the field, carrying food, when an angel speaks to him. Good News Translation‘s structure is good for verses 33-34: “ … He was carrying … when an angel of the Lord spoke to him….” This same structure is followed by Contemporary English Version, New American Bible, New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and Moore. The angel of the Lord may also be rendered “a messenger from the Lord” or even “one of God’s messengers” (see the comments on TYM 26).

Take the dinner: The Greek word for dinner refers to the midday meal; see the comments on “mealtime” at Sus 13. All that matters here is that it is “food,” as in Good News Translation‘s translation.

To Babylon, to Daniel, in the lions’ den: Good News Translation rearranges these phrases with “to Daniel, who is in Babylon in a pit of lions.” The most important detail here is that Daniel get the food, so he is mentioned first; then Habakkuk is told where Daniel is, “in Babylon in a pit of lions.” The pit of lions is new information to Habakkuk; “the pit of lions” would sound like it was something he already knew about. Translators should study Good News Translation‘s model. For Babylon see the comments on Bar 1.1.

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 Psalm 151:2

There is strictly synonymous parallelism between the two lines of this verse: hands/ fingers, made/ fashioned, harp/ lyre. It can easily be combined into one line, but it is hard to keep it from sounding trite: “I made a harp.” There is a problem with the words harp and lyre. The Greek noun for harp is a general term for a musical instrument; the Greek noun for lyre refers specifically to a stringed instrument, presumably something like a hand-held harp. The question is whether they refer to the same instrument. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible translates the first noun “flute.” There is some small justification for this; the word is used to refer to musical pipes. But more likely it is simply a case of parallel terms.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

With the fingers of my own hands,
I made a harp to play music on.

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

Translation commentary on Baruch 2:6

This verse substantially repeats Bar 1.15 (see the comments there), signaling the ending of the prayer of confession. Bar 2.6-10 repeats the opening of the prayer (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 3:3

Thou art enthroned for ever is literally “you are seated forever,” but this obviously means seated as king, so an easy and effective equivalent is “You reign as king forever” (Good News Translation; similarly Contemporary English Version). In some languages, though, the equivalent will be simply “You reign [or, rule] forever,” since “reign” includes the idea of “king.” In other languages it is necessary to show the object of “reign”; for example, “You rule over everything forever.”

And we are perishing for ever: This clause, which is in contrast to the previous one, is more difficult to understand. For a group of people to be dying for ever can apparently mean one of two things. Is it talking about the death of individuals or the death of the whole Jewish nation? Is the writer grieving that human beings die (as Good News Translation seems to be saying), or that the Jewish nation is in danger of extinction? He could indeed mean just that—that just as God sits eternally enthroned, the Jews, his people, are dying out and once gone, they are gone forever. In this context the second of these interpretations is to be favored. This whole prayer is spoken by the Jewish community about themselves and on their own behalf. Nowhere else in the prayer is the human situation spoken of in the abstract. If we accept this, we could take it to mean “but we are dying out, and will vanish forever.” The reader would take the pronoun “we” to refer to the Jews, as elsewhere in the prayer. This solution will also fit in beautifully with the solution suggested for a larger problem in the next verse (see the comments there). However, if translators disagree with this interpretation, the Good News Translation wording could be expressed more clearly as “but we human beings die and are gone 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 Baruch 3:35

No other can be compared to him: The Greek does not make a comparison between God and other gods. This may or may not have been in the author’s mind, but a translation such as Good News Translation (“there is none like him”) is good here since it does not compare God to any other god in particular. Compare Isa 43.11; 44.6-7; 45.18.

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 4:30

This subsection (verses 30-35) presents a special problem of discourse structure. We have here a prophetic oracle, spoken for God. In verses 30 and 35 God is spoken of in the third person, but in verse 34 God is the speaker. It would be possible to interpret verses 31-35, or at least verses 31-34, as the words spoken by God in comforting Jerusalem, introduced in verse 30. Good News Translation is not perfectly clear. It uses no quotation marks, but seems to slide into first person discourse for God at verse 34; it then changes verse 35 from third to first person. This problem is most easily solved by wording verse 34 as third person. Then there is no further problem as to who speaks when. The voice of the writer is then speaking without interruption from 4.30 to the end of the book. This is what we will suggest below.

Take courage: This is the fourth occurrence of this imperative; see verses 5, 21, and 27.

He who named you will comfort you: Good News Translation interprets this as referring to God as the one who brought Jerusalem into being, and who, like a parent, was in a position to name it: “God, who gave you your name….” Other ways of expressing this are “God, who gave you your identity…” and “God, who made you who you are….” A slightly different approach is to interpret God’s action in naming Jerusalem as God’s claiming the city as his own. Contemporary English Version follows this interpretation with “Your God chose you long ago as his own….” See this idea in the last line of Isa 43.1: “I have called you by name and you are my own” (New English Bible). See also Bar 2.15, 26. According to this approach, the line here may be rendered “God, who claims you as his own, will bring you comfort.” Translators may follow either of the above interpretations. Comfort here is not far from the idea of “relief,” as in “God … will soon relieve [or, rescue] you from trouble.”

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 1:16

Since this verse begins a new section, the connector For at the beginning of the verse may be omitted (so Good News Translation).

Just as one’s dish is useless when it is broken: The Greek noun translated dish can refer to a vessel or a tool of any kind, although something of a ceramic nature is probably intended (compare Jer 22.28; Hos 8.8). One’s dish is literally “dish of a man.” This is a peculiar phrase, and could be an error in the text for “earthen pot/dish.” But as it stands, the expression “of a man” adds nothing; a dish obviously belongs to someone and if it is broken it is obviously useless.

The gods of the heathen is literally “their gods” (see Revised Standard Version footnote). See the discussion on heathen at verse 4.

When they have been set up in their temples: Both Good News Translation “Those gods sitting in their temples” and New English Bible “sitting there in their temples” are effective and correct, but a slight element of the meaning in Greek is lost. The verb form here indicates that the idols were set up, that is, someone put them there, and then they continued to sit there. The first half of the verse may be rendered “Once these gods have been set up in their temples, they sit there, just as useless as a broken pot.”

Their eyes are full of the dust …: We ordinarily think of a vessel as being full or empty. In English people might well describe their own eyes as full of dust, but would probably describe the eyes of a statue as “covered” or “covered over” with dust. It also intensifies the sense that these are eyes that are unable to see. Contemporary English Version follows this interpretation with “They can’t see, because their eyes are covered with the dust….”

Dust raised by the feet of those who enter is literally “dust from the feet of those who enter.” Most translations, like Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version, feel that how the dust gets from peoples’ feet to the eyes of idols has to be indicated somehow. Good News Translation says that people “kick up” this dust. This tells the reader the feet are involved without using the actual word “feet,” but it must not be misunderstood as meaning the worshipers are making any kind of kicking motions. They are simply walking about in the temple, stirring up the dust as they do so (so Contemporary English Version “dust that people stir up when they walk”). Good News Translation could perhaps be improved by saying “Their eyes are covered over with the dust that people stir up when they come in.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• Once people have set up these idols in their temples, the idols sit there just as useless as a broken pot. They can’t see because their eyes are covered with dust that people stir up when they come [or, walk] in.

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 1:48

How then can one fail to see that these are not gods…?: As in verse 40a (see the comments there), the question here is not asking for information. Good News Translation reverses the clauses in this verse, but it conveys the same sense as Revised Standard Version; the meaning of the verse is not affected. In fact, the reversal helps to lead into the next verse. In Good News Translation the question at the end of the verse sounds like a repetition of the refrain used at the end of each section. But the wording in Greek is really not that close, and a paragraph break is not really called for at the end of this verse. The break here in Good News Translation does no harm, but the connection with verse 50 would be clearer without it. Contemporary English Version reverses the clauses too, but makes the final clause a strong statement rather than a rhetorical question: “The idols cannot save themselves from war or trouble because they aren’t gods.”

The Greek nouns rendered war and calamity are the same nouns used in the previous verse.

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.