Saul

The name that is transliterated as “Saul” in English means “asked for,” “demanded,” “required.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )

It 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)


“Saul” 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 .

Click or tap here to see a short video clip about King Saul (source: Bible Lands 2012)

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Saul .

messenger

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “messenger” in English is translated in Noongar as moort yana-waangki or “person walk-talk” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

save

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The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as a form of “save” in English is translated in Shipibo-Conibo with a phrase that means literally “make to live,” which combines the meaning of “to rescue” and “to deliver from danger,” but also the concept of “to heal” or “restore to health.”

Other translations include:

  • San Blas Kuna: “help the heart”
  • Laka: “take by the hand” in the meaning of “rescue” or “deliver”
  • Huautla Mazatec: “lift out on behalf of”
  • Anuak: “have life because of”
  • Central Mazahua: “be healed in the heart”
  • Baoulé: “save one’s head”
  • Guerrero Amuzgo: “come out well”
  • Northwestern Dinka: “be helped as to his breath” (or “life”) (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida),
  • Matumbi: “rescue (from danger)” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Noongar: barrang-ngandabat or “hold life” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • South Bolivian Quechua: “make to escape”
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl: “cause people to come out with the aid of the hand” (source for this and one above: Nida 1947, p. 222)
  • Bariai: “retrieve one back” (source: Bariai Back Translation)

See also salvation and save (Japanese honorifics).

complete verse (1 Samuel 19:11)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 19:11:

  • Kupsabiny: “Saul sent people to go and guard/watch David’s home so they could kill him at sunrise. But his wife told him that, ‘If you don’t flee tonight, possibly by tomorrow morning you could have died.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Thinking to kill him in the morning, Saul put his messengers out to spy on David’s house. But David’s wife Michal warned him, saying, "If you do not escape tonight, tomorrow you will be killed."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Then Saul sent men to-watch the house of David and to-kill him in the morning. But David was-warned by Mical his wife, ‘If you (sing.) do- not -flee later-tonight, tomorrow you (sing.) will-be-killed.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Then Saul sent messengers to David’s house. He told them to watch the house and to kill David while he was leaving the house the following morning. But David’s wife Michal saw them and warned him, ‘To survive, you must run away tonight, because if you do not do that, you will be killed tomorrow!’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on 1 Samuel 19:11

The title of Psalm 59 links that psalm with this incident.

Regarding the placement of the words That night, see the comments on verse 10.

The word translated messengers usually means either “messengers” or “angels.” But here these men do not have a message for David or anyone else. Rather they go to the home of David for the purpose of spying on him. It is therefore reasonable to translate “spies” in this context. Contemporary English Version refers to them as “guards,” while New Jerusalem Bible calls them “agents.”

That he might kill him: literally “to kill him.” The verb form is an infinitive in Hebrew with no explicit agent. It is not likely that Saul himself intended to kill David, as Revised Standard Version seems to suggest.

Michal … told him: literally “Michal told David, saying.” As in verse 2, the two verbs may be better translated “warned” in this context.

Your life: literally “your nefesh” (traditionally rendered “soul”). Compare verse 5. The manner in which David can save his life is by escaping. Nouvelle version Segond révisée says “If you don’t escape tonight.”

You will be killed: the verb form is a participle in Hebrew, with no expressed agent. But in languages that do not have passive forms, it will be possible to say “they [indefinite] will kill you” or “someone will kill you.”

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 .