The Aramaic, Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “fast” in English is translated in Isthmus Mixe as “going without food to worship God,” in Lacandon as “leaving eating in order to talk to God” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.), in Vidunda as “resting to eat” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext), and in Kankanaey as “endure hunger” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation).
In Hungarian Sign Language it is translated with a sign referring to abstinence from food and drink. (Source: Jenjelvi Biblia and HSL Bible Translation Group)
There are two main species of tamarisk referred to in the Bible, the Leafless Tamarisk Tamarix aphylla and the much more common Nile Tamarisk Tamarix nilotica. Both species are found throughout the plains and in the wadis (dry stream beds) of the Aravah and the Negev, where they tap water that has soaked into the ground after flash floods. Tamarisks can grow in salty soil, earning them the name “salt cedar” in some places. A third species grows only in the Jordan Valley. None of them has proper leaves but rather fleshy twigs, which are eaten by goats and sheep.
Description The leafless tamarisk grows to a height of 10 meters (33 feet) and can be 1 meter (3 feet) across at the base. The more common Nile tamarisk is smaller and is really a shrub, branching right from the ground. Tamarisks grow in very dry places due to the fact that their roots extend far into the ground. The trunk is often twist-ed. The cedar-like branches hang down like those of the weeping willow. Bedouin shepherds have planted many of them throughout the Negev for their flocks.
The fact that Abraham planted a tamarisk and worshiped Yahweh there (Genesis 21:33) indicates that these trees, like oaks, were associated with the spirit world. According to Zohary (Plants of the Bible. Cambridge University Press, 1982), the “cedar” branches mentioned in the cleansing rituals of Leviticus 14:4 and Numbers 19:6 may possibly have been from tamarisks, although Phoenician juniper trees (very similar to cedar) were also available in some places on the journey of the wandering Israelites. Imported into the western United States, tamarisks have multiplied so fast in stream beds that they are now considered a costly nuisance. In some places they are used in making dyes and in processing leather.
The options for translating “tamarisk” are:
1. Transliterate from a major language, for example, tamarisiki, tamaris, esheli (Hebrew), or eteli/atali (Arabic).
2. Consider the function of the tree, which in Genesis was almost certainly connected to Abraham’s worship of God, and translate as “holy tree” perhaps with a footnote giving the Hebrew and/or English, especially if you have used “holy tree” in Gen 12.6 for “oak.”
3. Simply use “tree” with a footnote stating that the Hebrew specifies ’eshel, that is, tamarisk.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 31:13:
Kupsabiny: “After that, they gathered the bones and buried them under a certain tree in Jabesh. Then they fasted for seven days.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Then, taking out the bones, they buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and they stayed in mourning for seven days.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Then they took the bones and buried (them) under a tamarisk/[tamarisko] tree there at Jabesh, and they fasted for seven days.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “They took the bones and buried them under a big tamarisk tree. Then they fasted/abstained from eating food for seven days.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The preposition under may have to be translated “near” or “in the shade of” in languages where a literal rendering may give the impression that the bones were under the very trunk of the tree.
The tamarisk tree: see the comment on 22.6. Since the Hebrew has a definite article, a specific tamarisk tree is being referred to. Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente says “under a big tree, the tamarisk of Jabesh.” Contemporary English Version, on the other hand, speaks of “a small tree.” While there are several species of this tree in Israel, at least one of the more common ones grows up to ten meters (about thirty feet) tall and is about a meter (a little more than three feet) in diameter (Zohary, page 115). A faithful translation should include the kind of tree and the fact that it was a particular tree that was apparently well known. To say simply “under a tree” (so Biblia Dios Habla Hoy) omits too much information that is present in the Hebrew. But in languages where this kind of tree is unknown, translators will be forced either to borrow the word or to settle for something like “a well-known tree in Jabesh.”
Fasted: see the comment on 7.6. In this case the fasting was to show their sadness over what had happened to Saul.
The break between the two books of Samuel is unfortunate and disrupts the continuity of what was originally a single book. However, because of the tradition that is now well established, there is probably no way to avoid this break in modern translations of the Bible. It may be wise, however, to add a footnote indicating to the reader that 2 Samuel is actually a continuation of the narrative in 1 Samuel.
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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