5then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David, saying, ‘You shall never lack a successor on the throne of Israel.’
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Kings 9:5:
Kupsabiny: “the kingship of your clan/family in Israel shall last always, as I promised your father that, ‘The rulership of your family line shall hold in Israel forever.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “then I will make your throne secure forever. I gave a promise like this to your father David, ‘there will always have a man on the throne of Israel in your family.’” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I will-have- your descendants -rule in Israel until whenever. I have-promised this to your father David when I said to him, ‘You will- not -lost descendant that will-rule/reign in Israel.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “I will do what I promised your father that I would do: I promised him that Israel would always be ruled by his descendants.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
I will establish your royal throne over Israel for ever: Regarding the verb rendered will establish, see the comments on 1 Kgs 2.4. Here royal throne is used, as in 1 Kgs 1.13, in the sense of “kingship” or “rule.” The whole clause means that God will cause Solomon’s descendants to rule over the people of Israel forever. Parole de Vie translates “I will establish for ever the royal power of your family in Israel.” See also 1 Kgs 2.4 regarding the possible ways to understand the sense of Israel here.
As I promised David your father: David had earlier reported this promise to Solomon (see 1 Kgs 2.4).
There shall not fail you a man upon the throne of Israel: See the discussion in 1 Kgs 2.4, where the identical clause occurs. Parole de Vie expresses this as “There will always be one of your sons who will be king of the people of Israel after you.”
Good News Translation has turned this embedded quotation into an indirect quotation. Another possible model using indirect discourse is “that he should always have an heir to sit on the throne of Israel” (Knox).
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 .
9:5a then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever,
then I will make firm/strong forever the royal power of your family line/dynasty over ⌊the nation of⌋ Israel, -or-
Then I will always allow/cause a man from your line/descendants to rule/reign over⌊the people of⌋ Israel.
9:5b as I promised your father David when I said,
as I promised David your (sing) father. I said ⌊to him⌋, -or-
This is what I said to your father David: -or-
I promised your father David that
9:5c ‘You will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’
‘You (sing) will certainly have a successor/descendant on the throne of Israel.’ -or-
‘One of your (sing) descendants/sons will rule over Israel forever.’ -or-
one of his sons will/would always be king of the people of Israel.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.