The Hebrew that is translated as “Saul has killed his thousands; and David his tens of thousands” or similar in English is translated in Falam Chin as “Saul killed by the hundreds, David killed by the thousands.”
“While translating the book of 1 Samuel, we came across a number of verses (18:7; 21:11; 29:5) where people sang praises to David for his skill in killing the Philistines. The people sang: ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.’ I asked myself: Did the people of Israel actually count the bodies killed by Saul (thousands) and by David (ten thousands) at every place where battles had taken place? It was very doubtful to me that they did it. It seemed more likely that they sang this song with a figurative meaning: that is, David had killed ten times more than Saul had, without any thought for the exact numbers. Being figurative it was not necessary that we translate the verse literally; adjustment could be made if necessary without being unfaithful to the text. Compelling us in this direction was also the fact that in the Falam language it would be unnatural to translate the above song literally. It would be funny to sing it. So we changed it to read ‘hundreds’ and ‘thousands’:
“(English equivalent):
‘Saul killed by the hundreds,
David killed by the thousands.’
“Fortunately there is even an internal rhyme in this verse in Falam. And the figurative meaning of David killing ‘ten times’ more than Saul did is kept. This, in my view, is an acceptable translation in spite of the adjustment made. The principle of making an appropriate adjustment in figurative language without being unfaithful to the text seems to be true in this case also.”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 29:5:
Kupsabiny: “And again, isn’t this the very David whom women were singing saying that, ‘Saul has killed many people, but David, he has killed countless.’ ’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “What, isn’t this that same David, about whom they danced and sang a song like this, ‘Saul has destroyed thousands and thousands, and David has destroyed lakhs and lakhs.’"” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “(Is) not he the-one being-honored by the women in Israel while they dance and sing, ‘Saul has-killed/slain a thousand, but David on-the-other-hand ten thousand.’?’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Have you forgotten that David is the one about whom the Israelis dance and sing, saying, ‘Saul has killed 1000 of our enemies, but David has killed 10,000 of them!’?’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
This question is also a rhetorical question. If the meaning is not clear in this form, it may be reworded in the form of an affirmation, following the Good News Translation model.
They sing: the Hebrew verb is masculine plural, not feminine plural. But in light of the explicit statement in 18.7 that the women sang this song, several translations (Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje) state that “the women sang,” and this model may be followed in other languages. Translators are divided on whether the Hebrew verb translated they sing in Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, and New American Bible should be understood as a statement of what people regularly do or whether the verb refers to past action, as in Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, and Revised English Bible. Either interpretation is possible.
This song is found earlier in 18.7 and 21.11. Translators are reminded that the transition word (Revised Standard Version, and; Good News Translation, “but”) is crucial, as in the previous citations of this song. It is particularly significant that the Philistine commanders cite this song, since it was sung after David had killed Goliath, a Philistine!
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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