yoke

The Greek and Hebrew term that is translated into English as “yoke,” the Afar translation uses koyta (poles of camel pack) which refers to two poles in front of the hump and two behind; elsewhere in agricultural Ethiopia the yoke is only in front of the hump.

In Chol it is translated with tajbal, a term for “headband” (for carrying) (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.). Likewise, in Kele, it is translated with njɛmbɛ, “a carrying strap worn around the head and across the chest or shoulders to support a burden of firewood, garden produce or even a child carried by this on the back or hip” (source: William Ford in The Bible Translator 1957, p. 203ff. ).

In Kwasio it is translated with a term that refers to a “bulky piece of wood attached to the neck of a goat, preventing it from roaming freely in the brushy undergrowth.”

Joshua Ham explains: “When checking this verse in Kwasio, I was surprised to find that the Kwasio had a word for yoke. You see, none of the language groups we have worked with have a tradition of using animals to pull carts or plows. Since yokes don’t exist in the culture, there’s no need for a word for that concept in these languages.

“When I asked the Kwasio team about their word for yoke, they said that they don’t use yokes to help animals pull plows; rather, their word for yoke refers to a bulky piece of wood attached to the neck of a goat, preventing it from roaming freely in the brushy undergrowth. So while the exact use of a Kwasio yoke is not the same as a biblical yoke, there are a lot of similarities: in both cases, it’s a piece of wood around an animal’s neck that serves to keep the animal under control. While the overlap isn’t perfect, it’s pretty good — and almost certainly better than trying to squeeze in a distracting explanation of how yokes function in the biblical cultures.”

Adam Boyd (in The PNG Experience) tells this story about finding the right term in Enga: “Jesus’s words in Matthew 11:29-30 are some of the most difficult to translate into the Enga language. From the time that I became a Christian, I was taught that a yoke is a wooden crosspiece that is fastened over the neck of two animals and attached to a plough or cart that they are to pull. This is an easy enough concept to understand for people who come from societies that make use of beasts of burden, but in Papua New Guinea, there are no beasts of burden. Consequently the concept of a yoke placed on animals is completely foreign. Thus, we have struggled greatly in our attempt to translate Matthew 11:29-30.

“Recently, however, I came to learn that a yoke can also refer to a wooden frame that a person places on his neck or shoulders to make it easier to carry a heavy load. Indeed, the Bible often makes figurative use of the word ‘yoke’ as it refers to people and not to beasts of burden (see 1 Kings 12:4-14). As I was pondering that idea, I began to notice that when Engan men carry heavy logs on one shoulder, they often balance the load by supporting it with a small stick placed across the other shoulder. A few weeks ago, it clicked in my mind that the small stick they use to make it easier to carry a heavy log is like a yoke.

“Excited by this realization, I quickly asked my friend Benjamin if the stick that men use to make it easier to carry a heavy log has a name in Enga. Sure enough it does. It is called a pyakende. With great anticipation, I asked the translation team if we could use the word pyakende to translate the word ‘yoke’. After wrestling with the phrasing for a little while, we came up with the following translation: ‘In order to remove the heaviness from your shoulders, take my pyakende. When you have taken it, you will receive rest. As my pyakende helps you, what I give you to carry is not heavy and you will carry it without struggling.’”

“Yoke” is illustrated for use in Bible translations in East Africa by Pioneer Bible Translators like this:

Image owned by PBT and Jonathan McDaniel and licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing how yokes were used in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)

scorpion

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “scorpion” in English is translated in North Tanna as “centipedes” (Luke 10:19) or “millipede” (Luke 11:12) (source: Ross McKerras).

The literal translation in Noongar is nirnt-daalang or “tail-tongue” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang) and in Uma it is translated as “stinging-caterpillar” (Source: Uma Back Translation).

second person pronoun with low register

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 show different degree of politeness is through the choice of a second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.

In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples.

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

See also first person pronoun with low register and third person pronoun with low register.

Translation commentary on 2 Chronicles 10:11

This verse is a continuation of what the young men advised Rehoboam to respond to the people who had requested him to make their lives easier. Some interpreters think that the form of the Hebrew text here is poetical and may reflect its use in oral tradition. For this reason Peregrino places these words in poetic format when they are repeated in verse 14.

And now, whereas my father laid upon you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: The word whereas introduces the contrast that Rehoboam is making between Solomon’s actions and his own. In the Hebrew text the pronoun for I is emphatic as an independent pronoun. It is emphatic again in the clause but I will chastise you with scorpions. These pronouns give a stronger contrast in Hebrew than in Revised Standard Version between what Solomon did and what Rehoboam says that he will do. I will add to your yoke means “I shall make it heavier still” (New Jerusalem Bible). The figurative language based on the image of the yoke may be quite difficult in languages where the yoke is unknown. In languages where this is the case, Good News Translation‘s translation of this whole sentence may be helpful. Compare also Contemporary English Version, which says “He made you work hard, but I’ll make you work even harder.”

My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions: The verb chastise is used twice. The basic meaning of the Hebrew verb here is “admonish” or “discipline” (New Revised Standard Version), and it is sometimes used in the sense of “punish.” However, in the present context its meaning is clearly “beat” or “whip” with the intent to teach a lesson to the people being whipped. Whips may have to be translated by a descriptive expression in some languages. A “whip” is an instrument of punishment with a handle and a flexible lash. For a good description of a whip, see WTH, pages 7-8|fig:WTH.Whip, scourge.7-8.html.

In several Old Testament passages the Hebrew word rendered scorpions refers to insects that have a poisonous sting. It is possible that the word is used here in a figurative way to say that Rehoboam’s treatment of the Israelite people will be far worse than his father’s treatment. But the parallelism with whips leads most interpreters to think that scorpions is a reference to leather whips that had metal spikes on them. In the New Testament period the term “scorpion” referred to whips weighted with sand-filled leather bags fitted with spikes. However, there is no clear evidence that such whips existed in the Old Testament period. Translations include “spiked lash” (New Jerusalem Bible), “whips that have sharp points” (New Century Version), “bullwhips” (Good News Translation), and “whips with pieces of sharp metal” (Contemporary English Version).

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .