Antioch

The Greek that is transliterated as “Antioch” in English means “driven against.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997)

In Western Lawa it is given the prefix weīyng (เวียง) to denote it as a larger settlement.

David Clark (in The Bible Translator 2013, p. 54ff. ) explains: “Place names often present difficulties in minority languages in Thailand, where it is normal to prefix unfamiliar names with a ‘classifier’ to show whether the name refers to a town, village, river, mountain, island, and so on. The problem in many such languages is that whereas English has numerous terms for human settlements of different size and importance (metropolis, conurbation, city, town, village, hamlet, etc.), they have only two terms. Generally, one refers to a metropolis like Bangkok, and the other to virtually all other settlements. This kind of contrast does not transfer well into the historical and cultural setting of the Bible, where even quite large towns were relatively small by modern standards. Especially in the Old Testament, what the Hebrew text calls ‘cities’ (because they had a wall) would often be classed as no more than villages in Thai minority languages. What many translators have done is to apply the term for a larger settlement to places of importance in the narrative, even if they were not very large in absolute terms. Thus in Lawa, Antioch, which is of considerable significance in Acts, is given the label for the larger size of settlement (weīyng).”

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Antioch .

Judah, Judea

The name that is transliterated as “Judah” or “Judea” in English (referring to the son of Jacob, the tribe, and the territory) is translated in Spanish Sign Language as “lion” (referring to Genesis 49:9 and Revelation 5:5). This sign for lion is reserved for regions and kingdoms. (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. and Steve Parkhurst)


“Judah” and “Judea” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

See also Judah, Judah (son of Jacob) , and Tribe of Judah .

army

The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “army” in English is translated in Chichewa as “group of warriors.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 1 Maccabees 4:35

And when Lysias saw the rout of his troops may be rendered “When Lysias saw that his army was being defeated” (Good News Bible) or “… that Judas’ soldiers were defeating his army [or, his soldiers].”

And observed the boldness which inspired those of Judas: For boldness Good News Bible has “reckless courage,” which is an overstatement. Judas’ troops are not being reckless, but they appear to Lysias to be without fear. So we may translate this clause as “and when he saw that Judas and his men seemed to have no fear [or, were very brave fighters].”

And how ready they were either to live or to die nobly: The word nobly should probably be understood as going only with die, not with live. Living was one possibility, but if dying was the only other possibility, they were determined they would die with honor. This clause may be rendered “and how determined they were to live or to die with honor if they had to die.”

He departed to Antioch may be rendered “he returned to the city of Antioch.”

And enlisted mercenaries: Mercenaries are professional soldiers who hire themselves out for anyone willing to pay them to fight. These are “foreign” troops, but translators must take care here. Our author consistently refers to Gentiles (that is, non-Jews) as “foreigners.” These mercenaries are foreigners from Lysias’ point of view, not from the Jewish point of view. They apparently came from outside the Seleucid empire. Contemporary English Version renders this clause as “and hired some foreign soldiers.”

To invade Judea again with an even larger army: This final clause is not really clear in Greek, and there is a great deal of textual confusion involved, but there is little doubt that Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible convey the intended meaning. We suggest rendering the last two clauses as follows: “There [in Antioch] he hired some foreign soldiers. He intended to return to Judea later with an even larger army.”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 1-2 Maccabees. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.