bronze bars

The Hebrew in 1 Kings 4:13 that is translated as “bronze bars” or similar in English is translated in Elhomwe with “doors locked with iron bars.” Bronze is not known in Malawi. (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

village

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “village” or “town” in English is translated in Noongar as karlamaya or “fire (used for “home“) + houses” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

In Elhomwe it is typically translated as “place.” “Here in Malawi, villages very small, so changed to ‘places,’ since not sure whether biblical reference just to small villages or also to bigger towns. (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

bronze

The Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “bronze” in English is translated in Newari as “bell-metal,” since bells are made of bronze in Nepal (source: Newari Back Translation).

See also bronze vessel.

complete verse (1 Kings 4:13)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Kings 4:13:

  • Kupsabiny: “The son of Geber who was in charge of Ramoth in Gilead together with other parts of Gilead who were under Jair the son of Manasseh. He was also in charge of the community of Argob in Bashan which had sixty cities/towns which had walls built around. The gates of these walls had bars made of bronze.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Ben-Geber in Ramoth-Gilead, (He also had responsibility for the villages of Jair, son of Manasseh that were in Gilead, for the district of Argob which was in Bashan and for the sixty large cities of Argob that were surrounded by walls having bronze bars in the main gates),” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Ben Geber, who was-in-charge in Ramot Gilead, including here the towns of Jair the child of Manase, and in the districts of Argob in Bashan, including its 60 big towns that are surrounded with stone-walls, which are the bars/[lit. locks] of the gates are bronze.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Ben-Geber, for Ramoth city in the Gilead region, and for the villages in Gilead that belonged to Jair, who was a descendant of Manasseh, and the Argob area in the Bashan region. There were 60 large towns in that region altogether, each town with a wall around it and bronze bars across the gates.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on 1 Kings 4:13

Ben-geber, or “The son of Geber” (Contemporary English Version), was in charge of the sixth administrative district, which corresponded roughly to the regions of Gilead and Bashan, east of the Jordan River.

Ramoth-gilead: This refers to the city of Ramoth, which was located in the territory of Gilead. It is sometimes simply called “Ramoth in Gilead” (Deut 4.43; Josh 20.8). As written in Revised Standard Version, the proper name Ramoth-gilead might be confusing to the reader. The two names should not be written as one word. And it will probably be wise to use classifier terms for both, such as “the town of Ramoth in the region of Gilead.”

Villages translates a Hebrew noun that is more accurately rendered “tent-villages” (Revised English Bible). New Jerusalem Bible translates “Encampments.”

Jair the son of Manasseh: Jair is mentioned in Num 32.41. According to 1 Chr 2.21-22, he was a descendant of Manasseh and not Manasseh’s own son. The name Jair in this context refers to an entire clan rather than to the individual from whom the clan descended. It is probably advisable to clarify this in translation as Good News Translation has done.

The exact location of Argob is uncertain, but it is clearly a region within the larger territory of Bashan. Bashan was a sloping, fertile plateau, whose elevation varied from 500 to 850 meters (1,650-2,800 feet) above sea level. Bible en français courant and Parole de Vie call this “the plateau of Bashan.”

With walls and bronze bars: Many ancient cities were surrounded by a wall for protection (see the comments at 3.1). Some languages have a technical term for a wall built for protection. The bronze bars were used to lock the city gates securely shut (see Deut 3.5; 1 Sam 23.7). Bronze is a metal compound consisting of copper and tin. Where bronze is unknown, translators may have to resort to a more general term meaning “metal.” The original readers would have understood the significance of walls and bronze bars. This implicit information may be made explicit for modern readers. Good News Translation and Bible en français courant, for example, add that these cities were “fortified,” and other translations add “well protected” (Parole de Vie).

The parentheses of Revised Standard Version again seem unnecessary. Contemporary English Version provides a good model that breaks the verse into two sentences:

• The son of Geber was in charge of the town of Ramoth in Gilead and the villages in Gilead belonging to the family of Jair, a descendant of Manasseh. He was also in charge of the region of Argob in Bashan, which had sixty walled towns with bronze bars on their gates.

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 .