The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “tabernacle” in English is translated in San Blas Kuna as “house of prayer that can be carried.” (Source: Ronald Ross)
In Bandi it is translated as “holy sitting place.” The “sitting place for the Bandi is where you live.” Therefore the tabernacle is the place where God lived. (Source: Becky Grossmann in this newsletter )
In Vidunda it is translated as “God’s tent” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext) and in Tibetan as gur mchog (གུར་མཆོག) or “perfect tent” (source: gSungrab website )
In American Sign Language it is translated with with a sign for “tent” combined with a sign referring to the outer court surrounding the tent (see Exodus 27:9 and following). (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Tabernacle” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Chronicles 17:5:
Kupsabiny: “I have not lived in a house from when I rescued the people of Israel to get up/away from Egypt until today. But, I was living in (the/a) tent which was being moved from one place to another.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “From the day that I brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt until today, I have never lived in a temple. I have always lived in a tent. And I have been coming and going from one place to another.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I have- not -dwelt in a temple from the time I caused- the Israelinhon -to-come-out of Egipto until now. I just transfer-from-place-to-place wherein my place-of-dwelling is a tent.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “I have not lived in any building, from the day that I brought the people of Israel up out of Egypt until now. Instead, I have lived in a tent, moving from one place to another with the Israelis when they moved to other places.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
For I have not dwelt in a house …: The Hebrew particle rendered For most likely introduces the reason why there was no urgency to build a permanent structure for Yahweh. But since this particle is sometimes emphatic, it may function that way here; for example, Knoppers begins this verse with “Indeed, I have not resided in a house….”
Since the day I led up Israel to this day: It may be helpful to make explicit that God led Israel “from Egypt” (Good News Translation), since this is implied here (see the parallel text in 2 Sam 7.6). Many other modern versions make this explicit here (so Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Century Version, Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant, La Bible du Semeur).
But I have gone from tent to tent and from dwelling to dwelling: The contrast between house and tent in this verse is significant. The idea is that the God of Israel had never lived in a permanent, fixed place such as David was proposing to build, but rather in a movable dwelling so that he could move from one location to another. In some languages it may be necessary to add qualifying terms such as “permanent” and “temporary” when the same word is used for house and tent.
From tent to tent and from dwelling to dwelling is literally “from tent to tent and from dwelling.” These words refer to the wandering in the wilderness (Num 33), and they may allude also to the fact that the Covenant Box was kept at various times in shrines at Gibeon, Shiloh, and Nob; that is, God did not stay in one place, but rather he moved with the Tabernacle as it moved from place to place. The wording in Hebrew here is strange and is interpreted in various ways: (a) Revised Standard Version understands “from dwelling” to mean from dwelling to dwelling (similarly Good News Translation, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). It is also possible that a scribe accidentally omitted the second occurrence of the word dwelling. (b) Moffatt takes these final words as in apposition, saying “from tent to tent, with that as my Dwelling.” (c) New Revised Standard Version follows the Septuagint and 2 Sam 7.6 in reading “but I have lived in a tent and a tabernacle.” The intended sense is probably expressed in the NET Bible rendering: “I have lived in a tent that has been in various places.”
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
17:5a For I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought Israel up out of Egypt until this day,
I have not stayed in a ⌊permanent⌋ house from the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt to this day. -or-
I, ⌊Yahweh, am the one who⌋ brought the people of Israel out of Egypt. From that day until now, I have not lived in any ⌊permanent⌋ building.
17:5b but I have moved from tent to tent
I have gone from one tent site to another tent site. -or-
I have always lived in a tent
17:5c and dwelling to dwelling.
⌊I have gone⌋ from one dwelling place to another dwelling place. -or-
moving from one place to another.
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