11He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots,
The Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated into English as “chariot” is translated into Anuak as “canoe pulled by horse.” “Canoe” is the general term for “vehicle” (source: Loren Bliese). Similarly it is translated in Lokạạ as ukwaa wạ nyanyang ntuuli or “canoe that is driven by horses.” (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )
Other translations include:
Chichicapan Zapotec: “ox cart” (in Acts 8) (ox carts are common vehicles for travel) (source: Loren Bliese)
Chichimeca-Jonaz, it is translated as “little house with two feet pulled by two horses” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
HausaCommon Language Bible as keken-doki or “cart of donkey” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 8:11:
Kupsabiny: “Samuel told them that, ‘This is how the person you want to rule you will handle you. He will take your sons to become his soldiers. He will make others to serve as soldiers using chariots. Then others will become soldiers of war using horses and others will be running in front of his chariot.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “The king who rules over you will be like this, he will take your sons and cause them to do the work of riding horses and on chariots, and [he] will take them away to make them run before his chariot. ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Samuel said, ‘This is what the king who reigns-over you (plur.) will-do: he will-take your (plur.) male children and he will-make (them) soldiers. Some of them he will- make charioteers, others horse-riders, and others will-go-ahead his chariot.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “He said, ‘If a king rules over you, this is what he will do to you: He will force many of your sons to join the army. He will make some of them run in front of his chariots to clear people out of his way.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:
Ninia Yali: “big brother with the uplifted name” (source: Daud Soesilio in Noss 2007, p. 175)
Nyamwezi: mutemi: generic word for ruler, by specifying the city or nation it becomes clear what kind of ruler (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Ghomála’: Fo (“The word Fo refers to the paramount ruler in the kingdoms of West Cameroon. He holds administrative, political, and religious power over his own people, who are divided into two categories: princes (descendants of royalty) and servants (everyone else).” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn))
Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo (Dinė) was determined:
“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
The structure of the initial sentence of Samuel’s explanation may need to be reordered in some languages. The sentence serves as an introduction to the more detailed list of royal rights that continues through verse 17. Some other ways of translating it are “Here is a list of things that your king will do,” “If you have a king, this is how he will treat you” (Contemporary English Version), or “the rights of the king who will rule you will be as follows:…” (New American Bible).
The word translated ways is the same as in verses 3 and 9. It is elsewhere translated “custom” (2.13), “rights,” (10.25), and “ordinance” (30.25). In this context the idea of “habit” or “custom” probably fits best.
He will take: these are keywords in verses 11-18, occurring six times (verses 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17). If possible the receptor language should preserve the repetition of this verb, which expresses a negative attitude toward the future king’s actions. The sense in each of these six statements is that the king will act without regard for the desires of the people. Good News Translation‘s “He will make soldiers of your sons” does not adequately capture the negative force of the Hebrew. It may be better expressed “he will take your sons and make them serve as soldiers.”
In this context chariots and horsemen must be understood as military terms (as also in 1 Kgs 9.22 and 1 Sam 13.5). For this reason Good News Translation and Bible en français courant speak of “war chariots” and “cavalry.” See also Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, which also say “cavalry.” The law of Deuteronomy (17.16) prohibited kings from having chariots and cavalry forces.
To run before his chariots: in some languages this may be misunderstood to mean that the young men would eventually be run down by the chariots and killed. Since this is not the case, translators should seek to clarify the meaning by translating something like “to serve as bodyguards running ahead of his chariots” or “to clear the way for his chariots.” See the fulfillment of these words during the time of David’s sons Absalom (2 Sam 15.1) and Adonijah (1 Kgs 1.5). These “runners” were royal guards who protected the doors of the palace and the room where the king’s treasures were kept. In 1 Kgs 14.27-28, Revised Standard Version calls them “the guard” (literally “the runners”).
The word chariots itself may present problems for translators in cultures where such vehicles are unknown. A chariot of the type depicted in the Old Testament is a light, open, two-wheeled vehicle pulled by one or more horses and used in battle. It is distinguished from the “cart,” or “wagon,” used in the transportation of the Covenant Box (6.7-12), which was a heavier vehicle with four wheels.
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 .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.