The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated into English as “chariot” is translated into Anuak as “canoe pulled by horse.” “Canoe” is the general term for “vehicle” (source: Loren Bliese). Similarly it is translated in Lokạạ as ukwaa wạ nyanyang ntuuli or “canoe that is driven by horses.” (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )
Other translations include:
Chichicapan Zapotec: “ox cart” (in Acts 8) (ox carts are common vehicles for travel) (source: Loren Bliese)
Chichimeca-Jonaz, it is translated as “little house with two feet pulled by two horses” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
HausaCommon Language Bible as keken-doki or “cart of donkey” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
In many, if not most of the languages in the Philippines, proper nouns, such as personal names, are tagged with a marker that signals their grammatical role within a sentence. For Tagalog and the Visayan languages , this typically includes si to mark the proper noun as the actor or subject (nominative case), ni to mark the proper noun as an owner (genitive case), and kay to mark the proper noun as as an indirect object, i.e. the one to or toward whom an action is directed (dative case). All of these also have plural forms — sina, nina and kina respectively — and unlike in the biblical languages or in English, the plural form has to be used when only a single proper name is mentioned but implicitly that proper name includes more than just one.
In this verse, where English translates “The king of Israel (went out),” the Tagalog translation translates “nina Haring Ahab ng Israel” or “King Ahab of Israel” because the context of the text makes clear that king Ahab went out together with his army. (Source: Kermit Titrud and Steve Quakenbush)
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.”
The king of Israel: Hebrew does not identify the king by name, but Good News Translation reintroduces the name “Ahab.” Contemporary English Version and New Century Version do the same.
Went out: As in verse 19 where the plural of this verb in Hebrew is used of the young officers, this very general term has a military meaning in this context and may be translated “attacked” (Bible en français courant) or “advanced” (Revised English Bible, New International Version).
Captured the horses and chariots: The Masoretic Text says that the king “struck the horses and chariots,” just as he “struck” the Syrians. But since the Hebrew verb for “struck” in this context seems to mean “killed,” it makes no sense to say that Ahab killed the Syrian horses and chariots. For this reason Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation both follow the Septuagint here, which says that the king “took all the horses and chariots” (also New Jerusalem Bible, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, La Bible Pléiade, Osty-Trinquet). Bible en français courant and Parole de Vie solve the difficulty by saying “he killed the horses, destroyed the chariots.”
However, the Masoretic Text makes sense when one realizes that horses and chariots here are used in a collective sense to mean “the mounted horsemen and the mounted charioteers with their horses.” The words horses and chariots have this same usage in verse 25. As in Josh 15.16 (where Revised Standard Version has “smites”), the Hebrew verb for “struck” in this context means that the Israelite army defeated the Syrian army and not necessarily “killed” or “destroyed.” Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {C} rating to the Masoretic Text, which is translated “attacked” by New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, and Anchor Bible. New International Version says “overpowered.”
The first edition of Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch combines the information in verses 19-21 and restructures it by placing the events in a logical order as follows:
• It came to a hand-to-hand fight, and the men of the regional government cut down everyone who placed himself in the way.
• Behind them the entire Israelite army marched out of the city. Then it set about into combat under the command of King Ahab and finished the defeat of the Syrians. King Ben-Hadad escaped on a horse, and also a multitude of war chariots were able to be saved. All of the remaining war chariots were destroyed.
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 .
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