6Saul said to the Kenites, “Go! Leave! Withdraw from among the Amalekites, or I will destroy you with them, for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites withdrew from the Amalekites.
The Hebrew that is translated as “steadfast love,” “lovingkindness” (Goldingay 2018: “commitment”) or similar in English is translated in a number of ways:
Vidunda: “love of enduring” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Bura-Pabir: “love which cannot be-changed” (hyirkur na a palidzi wa)
HausaCommon Language Bible “his love without changing” (kaunarsa marar canjawa) (source for this and above: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
Elhomwe: “love that does not finish” (echikondi yoohisintheya) (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Nyamwezi: chelu, combining “love,” “faithfulness,” “loyalty,” and “kindness” (source: James Lundeen)
Newari: dayāmāyā (दयामाया), a compound word made from two Sanskrit-derived terms: dayā (दया) or “compassion, mercy, kindness” and māyā (माया) or “love, affection” (source: Newari Back Translation)
In Pijintinghevi long or “think heavy about” is used. “The Pijin expression ‘think heavy about’ is very much within the domain of committed relationships. The relationship between father and child, husband and wife, God and His people. There is a very strong element of ‘loyalty’ in this expression.” (Source: Bob Carter)
In Latvian the term žēlastība is used both for “steadfast love” and grace.
In a number of languages, the terms for for “steadfast love” and mercy are used interchangeably.
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Ge’ez, and Latin terms that are typically translated as “mercy” (or “compassion” or “kindness”) in English are translated in various ways. Bratcher / Nida classify them in (1) those based on the quality of heart, or other psychological center, (2) those which introduce the concept of weeping or extreme sorrow, (3) those which involve willingness to look upon and recognize the condition of others, or (4) those which involve a variety of intense feelings.
While the Englishmercy originates from the Latinmerces, originally “price paid,” Romance languages (Italian, Spanish, Corsican, Catalan, Friulian) and other Germanic languages (German, Swedish, Danish — Barmherzigkeit, barmhärtighet and barmhjertighed, respectively) tend to follow the Latin misericordia, lit. “misery-heart.”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 15:6:
Kupsabiny: “Saul sent a message to the Kenites that, ‘Move away from those Amalekites so that I don’t destroy you with them because you did good to the Israelites when they came from Egypt.’ So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Saul said to the Kenites, "You leave the place of the Amalekites, otherwise you will also be destroyed with them, for when the Israelites went out of the land of Egypt, you kindness [with them]." So the Kenites went, leaving the Amalekites.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Saul said to the Kenhanon, ‘[You (plur.)] go! [You (plur.)] leave the Amaleknon so-that I will- not -destroy you (plur.) together-with them, for you (plur.) (were) good to the Israelinhon when they came-out of Egipto.’ So the Kenhanon moved-away from the Amaleknon.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Then Saul sent this message to the Ken people-group who lived in that area: ‘You acted kindly toward all our Israeli ancestors when they left Egypt. But we are going to kill all of the Amalek people-group, because they opposed/attacked our ancestors. So move away from where the Amalek people-group live. If you do not move away, you will be killed when they are killed.’ So when the Ken people-group heard that, they immediately left that area.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
The verb said is a good literal translation of the Hebrew, but the context seems to suggest something more specific: “sent word to” (Revised English Bible) or “warned” (New American Bible). It is doubtful whether Saul spoke directly to the Kenites, so it may be better to transform the direct quotation into indirect discourse. Good News Translation does this partially, but the remaining words may be translated “warned them to get away from the Amalekites in order to avoid being killed along with them.”
In the Hebrew text, the words for you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt are part of the words spoken by Saul to the Kenites. Good News Translation restructures to make these words part of the information that the author supplies to the reader about the Kenites, but it is better to keep these words as part of the message spoken to the Kenites.
The Kenites apparently lived in the southeast part of Palestine, near the border with Moab (see also comments on 30.29). These nomadic tribes had showed kindness to … Israel by serving as guides in the desert when the Israelites had fled Egypt at the time of Moses (Num 10.29-32; Judges 1.16).
The first three verbs in this verse, go, depart, and go down, are plural. The pronouns you and the verb showed kindness are singular. The plural is used as the people are addressed collectively as a single unit, and then the singular is used to address each Kenite individually.
With them: literally “with him” (see the comments on verse 3).
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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