complete verse (1 Samuel 25:11)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 25:11:

  • Kupsabiny: “You think I can take my bread, water and meat which I have prepared for the people who are helping me to cut wool of my sheep and give to people whom I don’t know where they are coming from?’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Why should I give the food I eat, the wine I drink, the food that I prepare for sheep-shearing for people I do not know?” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Why should- I -give you (plur.) my bread and water and the meat of an animal which I have-slaughtered for those (who are) the-(ones-who)-shear of my sheep? I do- not even -know where you (plur.) have-come-from.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “I give bread and water to the men who are cutting the wool from my sheep, and I give them meat from animals that I have slaughtered. Why should I take some of those things and give them to a group of outlaws ? Who knows where they have come from?/I do not even know where they have come from.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on 1 Samuel 25:11

The form of this verse is a complex question, but it is purely rhetorical, and there is no thought of the speaker seeking information. Nabal uses this form to make a rather strong statement that he has absolutely no intention of giving up his supplies to feed David’s men. In many languages a strong declarative statement will translate the meaning more clearly.

My water: it has seemed strange to many interpreters that water would be in short supply in mountainous regions where sheep are being raised. For this reason many translations follow the Septuagint, which says “my wine” (for example, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and Osty-Trinquet). Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, however, gives a {B} evaluation to the Masoretic Text. According to Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, “my bread and my water” is an idiom in biblical Hebrew, meaning “my food and my drink,” without necessarily referring specifically to bread and to water. If the reference is indeed specifically to water, perhaps the sense is that Nabal is unwilling to share water from his private wells with David’s men.

My meat that I have killed for my shearers: literally “the slaughtering that I have slaughtered for my shearers.” In languages that use the same word for “meat” and “animal,” this will present no problem, but in certain languages it is not possible to speak of killing meat, and the word for “animal” will have to be substituted. Others may change the verb, saying something like “meat I have butchered.” The Hebrew noun means “slaughtering” and refers here to the animal that has been slaughtered.

Men who come from I do not know where: this wording may be considered awkward in some languages. Some other ways of saying this are “people from unknown parts,” “men whose origin I do not know,” or “strangers who have come here from some place I know nothing about.” New Century Version simply says “men I don’t know.”

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 .