Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Kings 10:15:
Kupsabiny: “But also the business people/traders would pay him gold. All the rulers of Arabia and the leaders of Israel too would pay him gold.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Not only that much [but] also tax from the merchants would come to him. The taxes paid by the Arabian kings and by the District Officers of the provinces of Israel would also be his.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “not including the taxes from the business-men/merchants, from all the kings of Arabia, and from the governors of Israel.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “That was in addition to the taxes paid to him by the merchants and traders, and the annual taxes paid by the kings of Arabia and by the governors of the regions in Israel.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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 If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior.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.”
Besides that which came from the traders is literally “besides from the men of the traveling merchants.” Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {C} rating to this reading in the Masoretic Text and acknowledges that the Masoretic Text may not contain the original reading. But Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament also suggests that the different readings in the Septuagint for this verse and in the parallel text in 2 Chr 9.14 are both attempts to make sense of this difficult Hebrew text. The variety of translations for the first half of this verse reflect the difficulty in knowing what the correct text is as well as the difficulty in knowing what the text means.
Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament states that “the men” refers to the agents of the traveling merchants, that is, “the middlemen” of the merchants. It is also possible to understand the Hebrew word for “traveling merchants” to be in apposition to the word for “men.” The meaning will then be “besides that which came from the men traveling for commerce.” These men must have paid taxes as they passed through Solomon’s kingdom.
The Septuagint and the ancient Syriac read “apart from the tolls of the merchants” and this is the basis for the Good News Translation translation “in addition to the taxes paid by merchants” (similarly New Jerusalem Bible). In Hebrew the words for “men” and “taxes/tolls” are similar in spelling.
Revised English Bible follows the Septuagint in reading “tolls” and then corrects the Hebrew words “and all” (and from all in Revised Standard Version) to read “and the tribute of.” The resulting Revised English Bible translation for the whole verse reads “in addition to the tolls levied by the customs officers, the profits on foreign trade, and the tribute of the kings of Arabia and the regional governors.”
The traffic of the merchants seems to refer to the trade profits of retail traders. The distinction between traders and merchants is not clear in the Hebrew.
Kings of Arabia is literally “kings of the evening [ʿereb in Hebrew].” Most understand this to mean kings of Arabia (ʿarab in Hebrew), in agreement with the parallel text in 2 Chronicles. This interpretation is supported also by the ancient Syriac and the Latin Vulgate translations of this verse. The Hebrew noun translated Arabia is taken by some interpreters to be the word meaning “mixed race” (ʿēreb in Hebrew). Nouvelle Bible Segond, following this interpretation, reads “kings of the mixed populations.” Bible en français courant and Parole de Vie translate it similarly but less specifically as “foreign kings” and “kings of other peoples” respectively.
The governors of the land: Governors translates a Hebrew noun that refers to different types of officials. The land here probably refers to the land of Israel. These were the “governors of the Israelite districts” (Good News Translation, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente) listed in chapter 4, although the Hebrew word translated “governor” by Good News Translation in chapter 4 is different from the word used here.
Moffatt takes the last two groups together as referring to “Arabian emirs and … [their] vassal-princes” but “vassal-princes” is not a widely accepted interpretation.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
10:15a not including the revenue from the merchants, traders,
Besides this he collected/received money from the merchantmen and traders, -or-
The traveling merchants and traders also gave/paid him money,
10:15b and all the Arabian kings and governors of the land.
and from all the kings/rulers of Arabia and the governors of the regions. -or-
as did all the Arabian chiefs/sultans and the governors of the districts ⌊of Israel⌋.
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