14Solomon gathered together chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.
The Hebrew, Latin 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. )
In Eastern Highland Otomi it’s translated as “cart pulled by horses” (source: Larson 1998, p. 98) and in Chichicapan Zapotec as “ox cart” (in Acts 8). Ox carts are common vehicles for travel. (Source: Loren Bliese)
In 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.) and in the HausaCommon Language Bible as keken-doki or “cart of donkey” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
It 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.
The name that is transliterated as “Jerusalem” in English is signed in French Sign Language with a sign that depicts worshiping at the Western Wall in Jerusalem:
While a similar sign is also used in British Sign Language, another, more neutral sign that combines the sign “J” and the signs for “place” is used as well. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Jerusalem” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
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)
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 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.”
Many languages use a “body part tally system” where body parts function as numerals (see body part tally systems with a description). One such language is Angguruk Yali which uses a system that ends at the number 27. To circumvent this limitation, the Angguruk Yali translators adopted a strategy where a large number is first indicated with an approximation via the traditional system, followed by the exact number according to Arabic numerals. For example, where in 2 Samuel 6:1 it says “thirty thousand” in the English translation, the Angguruk Yali says teng-teng angge 30.000 or “so many rounds [following the body part tally system] 30,000,” likewise, in Acts 27:37 where the number “two hundred seventy-six” is used, the Angguruk Yali translation says teng-teng angge 276 or “so many rounds 276,” or in John 6:10 teng-teng angge 5.000 for “five thousand.”
This strategy is used in all the verses referenced here.
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 usage of an honorific construction where the morphemes rare (られ) or are (され) are affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
As noted in the introductory comments on this chapter [2 Chr 1.1-17], some versions begin a new section here instead of at verse 13.
Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen: Since the name Solomon has been used in the previous verse, it may be more natural to substitute it with a pronoun (so Good News Translation). However, if a new section begins here, it is better to keep the name Solomon. In this context the verb gathered together does not refer to the assembling of the chariots and horsemen at a specific time or place. Rather, it was over a period of time that Solomon “amassed” (Revised English Bible) or “built up” (Good News Translation, God’s Word) these forces in different places. Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente begins this verse with “Solomon put together an army of….” Chariots were two-wheeled carts that were pulled by horses (see the comments on 1 Chr 18.4). The body of the chariot had a front and two sides that were came to about mid-thigh level and had an open back. Iron was used to strengthen the wood of a chariot, especially the rims of its wheels. Chariots were used for ordinary transportation, but they are best known for their use in warfare. They carried two or three riders armed with weapons. The earliest chariots were pulled by two horses, but later chariots were pulled by teams of three or four horses. The Hebrew word translated horsemen is difficult to translate because sometimes it refers to horses and sometimes to charioteers (see the comments on 1 Chr 18.4). Here some versions say horsemen (also New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “drivers” (New American Bible), “crew members” (La Bible du Semeur), or “chariot fighters” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), but others use “horses” (New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant). In fact, in New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh and El libro del Pueblo de Dios the first occurrence of this noun in the verse is translated as “horsemen,” and the second occurrence as “horses.” When it does refer to horsemen, it probably always refers to men who rode in chariots and not to men who rode on horses. Translators may say “horses” or “chariot fighters” here.
He had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen: Compare 1 Kgs 4.26.
Whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem: Stationed translates the causative form of a Hebrew verb meaning “to settle down” or “to rest.” Here it may be rendered “placed” (Jewish Publication Version) or “kept” (New Jerusalem Bible, Anchor Bible, Dillard). The chariot cities were probably located in the Valley of Esdraelon (also called the Plain of Megiddo), which extended from the port of Jaffa to the city of Beth Shan. Much of the territory of Israel was mountainous and not suited to the use of chariots. Some may have to translate “the cities where chariots could be used.” New Century Version has “special cities for the chariots.” And with the king in Jerusalem means that some of these horses and chariots were kept on the grounds of the royal palace. Since King Solomon is already mentioned by name at the beginning of this verse, it may be better to replace the king with a pronoun in some languages (so New Living Translation, Bible en français courant, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). Obviously, Solomon stationed some of the chariots and horses in the chariot cities and some in Jerusalem. In some languages it will be natural and clear to add “some” and “others” as in Revised English Bible, which renders this whole clause as “he stationed some in the chariot-towns, while others he kept at hand in Jerusalem” (similarly Good News Translation, God’s Word, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). In some languages it may be more natural to reverse the order of the chariot cities and Jerusalem, as Good News Translation has done.
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 .
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