complete verse (1 Chronicles 2:19)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Chronicles 2:19:

  • Kupsabiny: “And when Azubah had died, Caleb married a woman who was called Ephrath. Ephrath produced a son who was called Hur.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “After Azubah died, Caleb married Ephrath [and] she gave birth to Hur.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “When Azuba died Caleb married Efrat and they had a child Hur.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God ("tell")

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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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, tsuge-rare-ru (告げられる) or “tell” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on 1 Chronicles 2:19

When Azubah died is literally “And Azubah died.” This should not be understood to mean that Caleb’s new marriage took place immediately following the death of Azubah. Rather, it occurred at some point “After the death of Azubah” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). In some languages it may be more natural to translate “Azubah died. And later….”

Caleb married Ephrath: Married is literally “took for himself” (simply “took” in Nouvelle Bible Segond and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), but the meaning is clearly “took as his wife.” So married is considered by many translations to be the most natural equivalent (for example, New Century Version, English Standard Version, Holman Christian Standard Bible). If verse 24 is understood to mean that Caleb’s father Hezron was married to Ephrath, then Caleb married his father’s widow or another woman by the same name.

Who bore him Hur: Hur, who is mentioned in Exo 31.2, was a son, not a daughter, so this may be made explicit here (so Good News Translation, New Century Version). Adding the words “a son” also avoids the possible confusion to the hearer in English since the pronoun “her” and the proper name “Hur” are pronounced the same.

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on 1 Chronicles 2:19

2:19 When Azubah died, Caleb married Ephrath, who bore to him Hur.

After the death of Azubah, Caleb married ⌊a woman called⌋ Ephrath. She gave birth to Hur.
-or-
When ⌊Caleb’s wife⌋ Azubah died, he married Ephrath. ⌊Together they⌋ had ⌊a son named⌋ Hur.

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