complete verse (2 Chronicles 2:18)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Chronicles 2:18:

  • Kupsabiny: “He took eighty thousand (80,000) of those people and forced them to cut stones from the mountains and another seventy thousand (70,000) he forced to carry/transport those stone (one by one). He placed another three thousand and six hundred (3,600) to be in charge of the others in the work.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Then from among them Solomon chose 70,000 to carry loads, 80,000 to cut rocks from the mountain, and 3,600 to supervise the work.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “He assigned/[lit. made] the 70,000 of them to be carriers, 80,000 to be hewers of stone in the hills, and the 3,600 foremen to supervise the workers.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Solomon assigned 70,000 of them to carry materials, and 80,000 to cut stone from quarries in the hills, and 3,600 of them to supervise the others and be sure that they worked steadily.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

large numbers in Angguruk Yali

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.

Source: Lourens de Vries in The Bible Translator 1998, p. 409ff.

See also numbers in Ngalum and numbers in Kombai.

Translation commentary on 2 Chronicles 2:18

Seventy thousand of them he assigned to bear burdens: See the comments on 2Chr 2.2. To bear burdens may be rendered “to carry loads” (New Century Version, NASB).

Eighty thousand to quarry in the hill country: See the comments on 2Chr 2.2. Languages that have no special terminology for quarrying stones will have to express the meaning by saying “80,000 to cut stones out of the mountains” or “… to detach rocks for building out of the mountains.”

And three thousand six hundred as overseers to make the people work: See the comments on 2Chr 2.2. To make the people work may be rendered “to keep the people working” (New American Bible) or “to make sure the people worked” (New Jerusalem Bible).

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on 2 Chronicles 2:18

2:18a Solomon made 70,000 of them porters,

He chose seventy thousand of them to be bearers,
-or-
He took seventy thousand (70,000) of them to carry loads.

2:18b 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains,

eighty thousand as stonemasons in the mountains
-or-
He took eighty thousand (80,000) to cut stone in the mountains.

2:18c and 3,600 supervisors.

and three thousand six hundred to supervise these workers.
-or-
And he took three thousand six hundred (3,600) to direct the workers and to keep them working.

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