Solomon

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is transliterated as “Solomon” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “wise” referring to 1 Kings 3:12. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


“Solomon” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

Click or tap here to see a short video clip about King Solomon (source: Bible Lands 2012)

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Solomon .

complete verse (2 Chronicles 10:2)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Chronicles 10:2:

  • Kupsabiny: “Jeroboam son of Nebat had at that time returned from Egypt because he had heard that Solomon was dead.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Hearing this, Jeroboam son of Nebat returned from the land of Egypt. (He had been living in the land of Egypt, having seen that Solomon was king, [he] was afraid, [and] had escaped there.)” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “When Jeroboam the child of Nebat heard this, he returned to Israel. (For that time he was-living there in Egipto, where he had-fled from King Solomon.)” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, had fled to Egypt to escape from King Solomon. But when he heard about the people wanting to appoint Rehoboam to be their king, he returned to Israel from Egypt” (Source: Translation for Translators)

king

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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:

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  • Piro: “a great one”
  • Highland Totonac: “the big boss”
  • Huichol: “the one who commanded” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Ekari: “the one who holds the country” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Una: weik sienyi: “big headman” (source: Kroneman 2004, p. 407)
  • Pass Valley Yali: “Big Man” (source: Daud Soesilo)
  • 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.”

(Source: Faye Edgerton in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 25ff. )

See also king (Japanese honorifics).

Translation commentary on 2 Chronicles 10:2

And when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it: And renders the Hebrew verbal transition that is sometimes translated “And it came to pass” (King James Version). But most modern English versions ignore it. For Jeroboam the son of Nebat, see the comments on 2 Chr 9.29. The writer assumes the readers are familiar with the background account about Jeroboam in 1 Kgs 11.26-40. Heard of it is literally “heard” without an object, but Revised Standard Version supplies the direct object it as English usage requires. Similarly, Good News Translation adds “this news.” The news was not primarily that Rehoboam had gone to Shechem but rather that King Solomon had died. New Living Translation makes this explicit by rendering the whole clause as “When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard of Solomon’s death.”

For he was in Egypt, whither he had fled from King Solomon: These words are parenthetical, and for this reason versions set them off from the rest of the verse with parentheses (so Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, An American Translation, Moffatt). Other translations use long dashes for the same reason here (so New Jerusalem Bible, Peregrino. Another way of handling this parenthetical statement is to place it at the beginning of the verse by saying “Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had escaped from King Solomon and run away to Egypt. While he was still there, he heard about Solomon’s death…” (similarly Parole de Vie). Fled from may be rendered “taken refuge from” (New Jerusalem Bible; similarly Revised English Bible). In some languages two verbs may be required to express the meaning here; for example, some may say “run away and hid himself.”

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 .