complete verse (1 Samuel 20:40)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 20:40:

  • Kupsabiny: “Jonathan gave that servant his weapons to take home.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Jonathan gave his weapons to him and told him to take them to the city.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Then Jonatan gave the arrows to the child/(boy) and said, ‘Bring this back to the town/city.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Then Jonathan gave his bow and arrows to the boy and told him, ‘Go back to the town.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

please (adverb / Japanese honorifics)

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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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.

The concept of “please” is translated in the Shinkaiyaku Bible as o-kure (おくれ) with the respectful prefix o-. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on 1 Samuel 20:40

His weapons presumably refers to “his bow and his arrows” (La Bible du Semeur) that Jonathan had been using in order to convey the warning to David.

To the city: from the countryside (verse 35) back to the city. The city is not named, but it may have been Saul’s hometown of Gibeah (10.26).

If the receptor language favors indirect discourse, the Good News Translation model may prove helpful to translators.

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 .