2There was a man in Maon whose property was in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
“Sheep are known throughout most of the world, even though, as in Central Africa, they are a far cry from the fleecy wool-producing animals of colder climates. Where such animals are known, even by seemingly strange names, e.g. ‘cotton deer’ (Yucateco) or ‘woolly goat’ (Inupiaq), such names should be used. In some instances, one may wish to borrow a name and use a classifier, e.g. ‘an animal called sheep.’ In still other instances translators have used ‘animal which produces wool’, for though people are not acquainted with the animals they are familiar with wool.” (Source: Bratcher / Nida)
In Dëne Súline, it is usually translated as “an evil little caribou.” To avoid the negative connotation, a loan word from the neighboring South Slavey was used. (Source: NCEM, p. 70)
Note that the often-alleged Inuktitut translation of “sheep” with “seal” is an urban myth (source Nida 1947, p. 136).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 25:2:
Kupsabiny: “There was someone called Nabal who belonged to the house of Caleb and was living in Maon. He had his wife who was called Abigail. That woman was beautiful and wise/thoughtful, but her husband was rude/cruel and selfish. That man had a lot of wealth. That man’s sheep was almost three thousand and one thousand goats and those goats and sheep were looked after in the village/area of Carmel. That man used to prepare a festival for his people every season of cutting wool of sheep.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “There was a man in Maon. He had much property in Carmel city. He was very wealthy. He had 3000 sheep and 1000 female goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “There at Maon there-was a man who (was) very wealthy, who (had) land at Carmel. He had 1,000 goats and 3,000 sheep which he was-shearing at Carmel.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “In Maon town there was a man who owned land in Carmel, a nearby village. He was very rich; he owned 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “goat” in English is translated in Cherokee as ahwi dinihanulvhi or “bearded deer.” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 18)
Many languages use a “body part tally system” where body parts function as numerals (see body part tally systems with a description). One such language is Angguruk Yali which uses a system that ends at the number 27. To circumvent this limitation, the Angguruk Yali translators adopted a strategy where a large number is first indicated with an approximation via the traditional system, followed by the exact number according to Arabic numerals. For example, where in 2 Samuel 6:1 it says “thirty thousand” in the English translation, the Angguruk Yali says teng-teng angge 30.000 or “so many rounds [following the body part tally system] 30,000,” likewise, in Acts 27:37 where the number “two hundred seventy-six” is used, the Angguruk Yali translation says teng-teng angge 276 or “so many rounds 276,” or in John 6:10 teng-teng angge 5.000 for “five thousand.”
This strategy is used in all the verses referenced here.
Revised Standard Version follows the order of the Hebrew in verses 2-3 in introducing Nabal to the reader. Good News Translation has restructured these verses in a manner that is more natural in English style. Translators in other languages should examine their own traditional stories to determine at what point the name and family affiliation of the main character is introduced. It is often found that such information comes much earlier than in the Hebrew account here. If this is the case, it will be necessary to restructure and combine verses 2 and 3 as Good News Translation has done. Regarding the meaning of the name Nabal, see verse 25.
The location of Maon is mentioned in 23.24; it was the town in which Nabal lived. Carmel, which was mentioned in 15.12, was the name of a nearby town in which Nabal owned property.
The word translated business is found earlier in 1 Samuel, where it is rendered “deeds” (8.8; 19.4) and “matter” (20.19). It comes from a verb having a very general meaning, “to do” or “to make.” This noun has a wide range of meanings depending on the context. Here the basic meaning is “business” or “occupation.” Nabal’s occupation was raising sheep, and it seems correct to assume that, since he raised so many sheep in Carmel, he probably owned land there. For this reason some translations render this Hebrew noun as “property” (New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New American Bible) or “land” (Good News Translation, New Century Version).
The original readers would have recognized that Nabal’s name in Hebrew means “foolish,” and indeed the significance of the name becomes clear as the story develops (see especially verse 25). That Nabal was churlish and ill-behaved fits well with his name. The Hebrew adjective translated churlish comes from a root meaning “to be hard,” “to be severe.” Ill-behaved is more literally “bad [or, evil] of deeds.” Other renderings of these two adjectives include “surly and mean” (New Revised Standard Version and Revised English Bible), “harsh and ungenerous” (New American Bible), and “a hard man and an evildoer” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Nabal was also very rich, literally “very great.”
Shearing his sheep: in languages that have no special, technical term for shearing, Contemporary English Version provides a possible model, since it speaks of him having his servants “cut the wool from his sheep” throughout this passage.
Abigail will become one of David’s wives, after Nabal’s death (verses 38-42). She is described in terms that contrast sharply with Nabal. The reversal of the characteristics good understanding and beautiful in Good News Translation and Revised English Bible may reflect the priorities of some elements in the culture for which these translations were produced, but few other English versions change the order of the Hebrew text.
A Calebite: that is, a descendent of Caleb, one of the twelve Israelite men whom Moses sent to spy out the Promised Land (see Num 13.6). The Calebites lived in the region south of Hebron. The Masoretic Text reads “as his heart” (Calibu), but a note in the margin says that the text should read “a Calebite.” The difference in Hebrew between “Calebite” and “as his heart” consists of one small change in the last consonant of the one Hebrew word.
The Hebrew word for dog is very similar to the name Calebite, and Hertzberg suggests that Nabal is being described in a negative manner as “like a dog.” So Hertzberg translates as follows: “but the man was churlish and ill-behaved—a real Calebbite dog.” The Hebrew readers may well have understood the name Calebite as a play on words with the noun “dog,” but translators should not try to reproduce this.
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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