serve

The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated in English as “serve,” “minister,” “walk with,” or “service” is translated in Igede as myị ẹrụ or “agree with message (of the one you’re serving).” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

In Quetzaltepec Mixe, “serve” is translated as “obey.” (Source: Robert Bascom)

complete verse (1 Samuel 25:41)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 25:41:

  • Kupsabiny: “When Abigail heard that message, she bowed with forehead to the ground and said that, ‘I have accepted to be his servant and I will be helping his servants.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “I am his maidservant I will even wash the feet of his servants if I need to.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Abigail knelt-down as a respect to them and said, ‘Yes, I agree. I (am) ready to-serve him even his servants.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Abigail bowed down with her face touching the ground. Then she told the messengers to tell David, ‘I am happy to become your wife. I will be your servant. And I am willing to wash the feet of your slaves.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

master (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 of appropriate suffix title referred to as keishō (敬称) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017 by using the formal title –sama. This is distinct from nominal titles such as “master.” This is evident from the forms such as go-shujin-sama (ご主人様) “master” or “lord” which is the combination of the nominal title shujin “master” with the honorific prefix go- and the suffix title –sama.

In some cases, it can also be used as go-shujin (ご主人), i.e. with the honorific prefix go- but without the suffix title –sama. You can find that in Genesis 23:6, 23:11, 23:15, 24:51, 39:8, 39:9, 44:8, 44:9; 1 Samuel 25:17; and 2 Kings 2:16 and 4:26.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also lords (Japanese honorifics).

Translation commentary on 1 Samuel 25:41

On the use of the verb rose in conjunction with other verbs, see the comments on page 20 as well as on verse 1 of this chapter.

Using the indirect reference your handmaid, Abigail again shows her respect for messengers sent by David. But since she is speaking about herself, in many cases the best translation will be the first person singular pronoun, “I.” The Hebrew pronoun translated as your in Revised Standard Version is singular. Apparently Abigail is talking to the servants as if she were addressing David himself. So some common language translations make this clear by saying “I am his servant” (Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), “I am David’s servant” (Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje), “I am ready to be David’s servant” (Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente), and “I will become the slave of his Majesty” (Bible en français courant).

The words handmaid, servant, and servants represent three different words in Hebrew. The distinction between the first two Hebrew nouns, rendered handmaid and servant, is not clear. Perhaps the first noun refers to a female slave in the service of another woman, while servant refers to a female slave who was a concubine or the wife of a slave. In any case, the third term, rendered servants, refers to people who are not slaves. The distinction is unfortunately not made in Good News Translation. Compare Revised English Bible (“I am his slave to command; I would wash the feet of my lord’s servants”) and New Jerusalem Bible (“Consider your servant a slave … to wash the feet of my lord’s servants”).

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 .