53But they had no food in storage, because it was the seventh year; those who had found safety in Judea from the nations had consumed the last of the stores.
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)
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).
Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).
In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
But they had no food in storage, because it was the seventh year: As the Revised Standard Version footnote indicates, some Greek manuscripts read “in the Temple” rather than in storage; the two Greek words involved resemble each other closely. Good News Bible combines both readings by saying “in the Temple storage bins,” but this is done on translational grounds rather than textual ones. We prefer to go with Revised Standard Version here, but there is really nothing wrong with following Good News Bible or even saying “in the Temple.” We believe any solution can be justified translationally, so no footnote is required. For the seventh year, see the comments on “a sabbatical year” at verse 49. Contemporary English Version reverses these two clauses at the beginning of this verse, saying “But it was the year when they had let the fields rest, and they ran out of supplies … in the temple.”
Those who found safety in Judea from the Gentiles had consumed the last of the stores: The people in view here are the refugees from Galilee (1Macc 5.23) and from Gilead (1Macc 5.45) who had come to Jerusalem. In preparing for the sabbatical year, the people in Jerusalem had not anticipated having these extra people to feed. The stores refers to food in storage. For the last half of this verse some translators may wish to follow Contemporary English Version with “because they had given what little food they had stored in the temple to those who had run away from the Gentiles and had come to Judea,” but we may also say “because the small amount of food they had stored in the Temple was given to those people who had run away from the Gentiles….”
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.
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