24Joab son of Zeruiah began to count them but did not finish, yet wrath came upon Israel for this, and the number was not entered into the account of the Annals of King David.
The Hebrew that is translated as “Joab (also: Abishai) the son of Zeruiah” in English presented a problem in Maan. “In a patriarchal society like Mano, Zeruiah is assumed to be the father of Joab. Since we know that she was his mother (see 2Sam 17:25), we expressed this phrase as ‘Joab whose mother was Zeruiah.'” (Source: Don Slager)
In Batak Karo, Zeruiah also has to be identified as a woman. M.K. Sembiring (in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 217ff. ) explains: “Unlike the Hebrew language, nouns in Batak Karo have no gender. The literal translation of the biblical names therefore does not indicate whether they are female or male names. Names are generally understood as male names when they occur in expressions like ‘the son of…’ or ‘the daughter of…,’ because in the Karo culture, if ever the names of the parents are mentioned, it is usually the name of the father that is used in identifying the children. For example, 1 Sam 26:6 says, ‘Then David said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Joab’s brother Abishai the son of Zeruiah,’Who will go down with me into the camp to Saul?” In Hebrew, Zeruiah will be recognized as a female name because of its ending, but in Karo the name will be considered as a male name for the reason given above. It is necessary then to identify Zeruiah as a female name by saying that Zeruiah was the mother of Joab and Abishai. The translation of the first part of that verse into Batak Karo is as follows,’Then David said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Joab’s brother Abishai (the mother of these two is Zeruiah)…'”
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated into English as “the wrath of God” or “God’s anger” has to be referred to in Bengali as judgment, punishment or whatever fits the context. In Bengali culture, anger is by definition bad and can never be predicated of God. (Source: David Clark)
Translations in other languages:
Quetzaltepec Mixe: “translated with a term that not only expresses anger, but also punishment” (source: Robert Bascom)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “the coming punishment of God on mankind” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “God’s fearful/terrible future punishing of people” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “the coming anger/hatred of God” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “the punishment which will come” (source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Bariai: “God’s action of anger comes forth in the open” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
Mairasi: “His anger keeps increasing (until it will definitely arrive)” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御) is used as in mi-ikari (御怒り) or “wrath (of God)” in the referenced verses. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:
Ninia Yali: “big brother with the uplifted name” (source: Daud Soesilio in Noss 2007, p. 175)
Nyamwezi: mutemi: generic word for ruler, by specifying the city or nation it becomes clear what kind of ruler (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Ghomála’: Fo (“The word Fo refers to the paramount ruler in the kingdoms of West Cameroon. He holds administrative, political, and religious power over his own people, who are divided into two categories: princes (descendants of royalty) and servants (everyone else).” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn))
Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo (Dinė) was determined:
“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”
Joab the son of Zeruiah began to number: 1 Chr 2.16 shows that Zeruiah was the mother of Joab. But since readers will probably assume that Zeruiah was the father of Joab, Good News Translation and Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje restate the son of Zeruiah as “whose mother was Zeruiah” here in verse 24. Since Joab has not been referred to as the son of Zeruiah earlier in this section, there is no reason to omit this phrase here as Biblia Dios Habla Hoy does. Many languages will require an explicit object for the verb number. In the context it is clear that Joab was taking a census of the men of Israel. For this reason New International Version says “count the men.” God’s Word says simply “count them.”
But did not finish; yet wrath came upon Israel for this: This rendering suggests that even though Joab did not complete the census, God punished Israel anyway. However, the Hebrew here may be understood in two other ways as follows:
• (1) It may mean that God punished Israel because Joab did not finish the census. New Jerusalem Bible, for example, begins this verse with “Joab … began the count but never finished. This is why retribution came upon Israel.”
• (2) It may mean that Joab never finished the census because God had already begun to punish Israel before Joab finished. This interpretation is found in the Targum, which says “but he was unable to complete the numbering before anger came upon Israel because of it.” Some modern versions also follow this interpretation. New American Bible, for example, says “Joab … began to take the census, but he did not complete it, for because of it wrath fell upon Israel.” Compare also “Joab began the census but never finished it because the anger of God broke out against Israel” (New Living Translation).
The agent of the wrath is left implicit in the Hebrew, but it may be wise to make it explicit as in Good News Translation by stating that the reference is to God’s wrath (also Moffatt, Bible en français courant, La Bible du Semeur, El libro del Pueblo de Dios, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, La Sainte Bible: La version Etablie par les moines de Maredsous, Peregrino. Nouvelle Bible Segond and La Bible de Jérusalem: Nouvelle édition revue et corrigée capitalize the French word for “wrath” in order to show that the reference is not simply to human wrath, but the use of capital letters is not recommended since those who only hear the text read will not see the printed words.
And the number was not entered in the chronicles of King David: The Masoretic Text literally reads “and the number was not entered in the number [bemispar in Hebrew] of the chronicles of King David.” The Hebrew should probably be corrected with the Septuagint to read “and the number was not entered in the book/writing [besefer in Hebrew]…” (similarly American Bible). This correction requires a very small change in the Hebrew text. The Hebrew here allows for a different interpretation from that in Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and most other translations. The Hebrew verb translated entered may also mean “to go up.” New Jerusalem Bible says “and the number did not come up to that recorded in the annals of King David.” This way of understanding and translating these words suggests that the census figures were smaller than the census figures that were actually recorded in King David’s annals.
The chronicles of King David probably refers to a specific writing. If so, then receptor language usage should be followed regarding how titles of books are written. La Bible Pléiade, for example, says “the Book of the Chronicles of King David.” Bible en français courant has “the book called Acts of King David,” and then states in a footnote that this book is lost. Good News Translation adds the further information that this writing was an “official” court document and not simply a private writing by King David (so also Contemporary English Version).
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 .
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