complete verse (1 Kings 3:20)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Kings 3:20:

  • Kupsabiny: “But when it was the middle of the night, she got up and removed my son from where I was sleeping and lay him where she was. Then, she carried the corpse of her child and laid it where I was sleeping.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “So In the night while I was sleeping this woman got up and, lifting my son from my place, took him away. Then she put him in her bed and put her dead child next to me.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Then at about midnight she got-up and she took my child from my side while I am-sleeping. She put my child by her side, and her child who is already dead is-the-one she put by my side.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “So she got up at midnight and took my baby boy who was lying beside me while I was sleeping. She carried him to her bed and brought her dead baby and put it in my bed.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

SIL Translator’s Notes on 1 Kings 3:20

3:20a So she got up in the middle of the night

So she rose from her bed in the middle of the night,
-or-
She got up in the dark of night.

3:20b and took my son from my side

and took away my son from beside me.
-or-
She removed my son from where he was ⌊sleeping⌋ next to me.

3:20c while I was asleep.

⌊At that time⌋ I your servant was sleeping.
-or-
Master/Sir, I was still asleep.

3:20d She laid him in her bosom and put her dead son at my bosom.

Then she laid him by her breast/side, and she laid her dead son by my breast/side.
-or-
She placed him in her arms and placed her own dead son in my arms.

3:20a-d (reordered)

During the night this woman rolled on top of her son and suffocated him. She got up in the dark and took away my son from my side and put him beside her. She put her own dead son beside me. All this time I your servant was sleeping.

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