untranslatable verses

The Swedish Bibel 2000 declared the 69 Old Testament verses referenced herein as “untranslatable.” Typically, other Bible translations translate those verses and mention in footnotes that the translation is uncertain or give alternate readings. Christer Åsberg, the Translation Secretary with the Swedish Bible Society at that time, explains why the Swedish Bible Society decided to not translate these verses at all (in The Bible Translator 2007, p. 1ff. ):

“In the new Swedish translation (SB) of 2000, [some verses are] not translated at all; [they are] indicated with three hyphens inside square brackets [- - -] [with a] reference to the appendix, where in the article ‘Text’ one will find a paragraph with roughly the following content:

In some cases the text is unintelligible and the variant readings differing to such an extent, that it is quite impossible to attain a reasonable certainty of what is meant, although some isolated word may occur, whose meaning it is possible to understand.

“If Bible translators find the Hebrew text untranslatable, what kind of text is it that they have produced in the translation into their own language? When a footnote says ‘The Hebrew is not understandable,’ what then is the printed text a translation of? And if the translators prefer to do without footnotes, are they then really released from the responsibility of informing their readers that the text they read is just mere guesswork?

“To leave a blank space in a Bible text seems to be an offensive act for many. (. . . ) To admit that a piece of Holy Scripture makes no sense at all may have been unimaginable in times past. In our enlightened era, an overprotective concern for the readers’ trust in the word of God is apparently a decisive factor when a translator tries to translate against all odds. The verdict ‘untranslatable’ is much more frequent in scholarly commentaries on different Bible books written by and for experts than in the translations or footnotes of the same books designed for common readers.

“Another reason (. . .) is a professional, and very human, reluctance to admit a failure. Also, many Bible translators lack translational experience of other literary genres and other classical texts where this kind of capitulation is a part of the daily run of things. They may have an innate or subconscious feeling that the Bible has unique qualities not only as a religious document but also as a linguistic and literary artifact. Completeness is felt to be proof of perfection. Some translators, and not so few of their clients, are unfamiliar with a scholarly approach to philological and exegetical matters. In some cases their background have made them immune to a kind of interpretative approximation common in older translations, confessional commentaries, and sermons. Therefore, their tolerance towards lexical, grammatical, and syntactical anomalies tends to be comparatively great.

“It is very hard to discern and to define the boundary between something that is extremely difficult and something that is quite impossible. I am convinced that all Bible translators in their heart of hearts will admit that there actually are some definitely untranslatable passages in the Bible, but are there a dozen of them or a score? Are there fifty or a hundred? Not even a group of recognized experts would probably pick out the same ten most obvious cases. (. . .)

“Conclusions:

  1. There are untranslatable passages in the Bible.
  2. How many they are is impossible to say—except for the translation team that decides which passages are untranslatable.
  3. An untranslatable passage cannot and should therefore not be translated.
  4. The lacuna should be marked in a consistent way.
  5. The translating team should stipulate their criteria for untranslatability as early as possible.
  6. It is an ethical imperative that the readers be comprehensively informed.
  7. Untranslatability has been and can be displayed in many different ways.
  8. An explanatory note should not confuse linguistic untranslatability with other kinds of textual or translational difficulties.
  9. The information given should make it clear that the translators’ recognition of untranslatability is a token of respect for the Bible, not a proof of depreciation.
  10. You shall not fear the void, but the fear of the void.”

With thanks to Mikael Winninge, Director of Translation, Swedish Bible Society

cubit

The Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek that is translated as “cubit” or into a metric or imperial measurement in English is translated in Kutu, Kwere, and Nyamwezi as makono or “armlength.” Since a cubit is the measurement from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, one armlength (measured from the center of the chest to the fingertips) equals two cubits or roughly 1 meter. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

Similarly, in Akoose, the translation is “arm distance.” (Source: Joseph Nkwelle Ngome and Marlie van Rooyen & Jacobus A. Naudé in Communicatio 2009, p. 251ff.)

In Klao it is converted into “hand spans” (app. 6 inches or 12 cm) and “finger spans” (app. 1 inch or 2 cm) (source: Don Slager) and in Bariai into leoa or “fathom,” which comprises the distance from a person’s fingertip to fingertip with arms outstretched, app. 6 feet (source: Bariai Back Translation).

distance (long / wide / high)

The concepts of distance that are translated in English with “long,” “wide,” and “high/tall” are translated in Kwere with one word: utali. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

complete verse (1 Kings 7:19)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Kings 7:19:

  • Kupsabiny: “The upper part of those caps/tops sat/stayed like a flower and would reach six feet.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “The capitals [lit.: caps] of the pillars of the vestibule were shaped [like] lilies, 1.8 meters high.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The form/shape of the seem-like-heads of the pillars at the porch was seemed-like lily flowers, and their height was six feet.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The top part over each pillar was shaped like a lily. Each lily leaf was six feet tall.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on 1 Kings 7:19

This verse may be a later addition to the text; but as it stands now, it appears to refer to the two pillars named Jachin and Boaz in verse 21.

The capitals … were of lily-work: A lily is a rather large flower that may be red or white. Cogan (2000) argues that the Hebrew word rendered lily refers to the white lily, not to the lotus plant (that is, the water lily). But Hepper argues for “the open lotus water-lily flower with four … sepals corresponding to the four sides of the capital” (page 184). It is not clear from the Hebrew in this context whether (a) the capitals curved outward at the top as lily leaves do or (b) whether long, narrow lily-shaped leaves were carved onto the capitals. Good News Translation, New Living Translation, and Revised English Bible, which read “… shaped like lilies,” seem to be based on the first interpretation. New American Bible may reflect the second interpretation by saying “… finished wholly in a lotus pattern.” If the lily is unknown, translators may simply say “flower.”

Good News Translation leaves implicit the fact that the pillars were in the vestibule. For vestibule see the comments at 1 Kgs 6.3.

Four cubits is “almost two meters” (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy) or six feet. The Hebrew does not actually state that the four cubits refers to the height, but that is most likely. Good News Translation makes explicit that the reference is to height with its rendering “6 feet tall.” Since verse 16 says the capitals were five cubits tall, the four cubits may refer to the length of the lily-shaped leaves carved on the capitals. Another way to understand the relationship between verses 16 and 19 is that the verses refer to two separate capitals, the one on top of the other. For this verse Bible en français courant says “On each column, there was a second capital, two meters high, in the form of a lily” (similarly Parole de Vie).

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on 1 Kings 7:19

7:19a And the capitals atop the pillars in the portico were shaped like lilies,

The tops of the columns in the entryway/porch had the shape of a lily flower
-or-

⌊Huram formed/made⌋ the heads/crowns on top of each pillar in the shape of lily flowers. These pillars were in the entrance ⌊to the temple⌋.

7:19b four cubits high.

and were four cubits tall.
-or-

⌊The heads/crowns⌋ were about two meters high.

© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.