8He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me.
The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Saul” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign that depicts “sword in chest” (referring to 1 Samuel 31:4 and 1 Chronicles 10:4) and also “self-centered.” (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
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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 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.
In just a few cases (such as Goliath and the criminals on the cross next to Jesus referring to themselves), the rude pronoun ore (おれ) instead of the commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is used. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 17:8:
Kupsabiny: “Then, Goliath called/shouted to the Israelite soldiers that, ‘You, what are you (plur.) doing there? You say you have come for war? I am a Philistine, but you are Saul’s slaves. You can now choose one person among you to come and we fight together.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Standing up, Goliath spoke loudly to the Israelites, "Why have you come to prepare for battle? What! Am I not a Philistine? And what! Are you not servants of Saul? You choose one man to fight with me” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Goliat stopped and shouted to the Israelinhon, ‘Why do- you (plur.) all still -need to-fight? I am just a Philistine but you (plur.) servants of Saul (are) many. [You (plur.)] choose a man to-fight with me.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Goliath stood there and shouted to the Israeli army, ‘Why are you all lined up for battle? I am the great Philistine soldier, and I think you are merely Saul’s slaves. Choose one man to fight for all of you, and send him down here to me!” (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 second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.
In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Since the initial pronoun, He, may possibly be understood to refer to the shield-bearer mentioned in the previous verse, it may be wise to follow Good News Translation and Bible en français courant in substituting the name “Goliath” at this point. Revised English Bible accomplishes the same purpose by using the noun “champion” instead of the name.
The ranks of Israel: the word ranks translates a technical military term for “battle lines.” See the comments on 4.2. New Jerusalem Bible says “Taking a position in front of the Israelite lines.” Good News Translation does not translate the word ranks here, since the question “What are you doing there, lined up for battle?” indicates that the Israelite troops stood in orderly battle formation.
Draw up for battle: see the comments on this verb at 4.2 and verse 2 of this chapter.
The questions that Goliath asks are not requests for information. Goliath’s questions were intended to insult the Israelite soldiers. New Jerusalem Bible captures this tone with the question “Am I not a Philistine and are you not Saul’s lackeys?”
Am I not a Philistine…? Hebrew has the definite article, that is, “Am I not the Philistine?” Goliath is not merely contrasting the Philistine soldiers with the Israelite soldiers, as both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation seem to suggest. Perhaps the article here expresses that Goliath is the best representative of the Philistine people. Osty-Trinquet says “Am I not, I myself, the Philistine?” Revised English Bible also captures this force of the definite article: “I am the Philistine champion and you are Saul’s men” (so also New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). This last model is also helpful because it transforms the question into a categorical statement.
Let him come down to me: Goliath had already descended into the valley that separated the Philistines and the Israelites (see verse 3). This information may be stated explicitly as “let him come down here in the valley to fight me.” See also verse 25.
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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