11Is not Hezekiah misleading you, handing you over to die by famine and by thirst, when he tells you, ‘The Lord our God will save us from the hand of the king of Assyria’?
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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 benefactive construction as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. Here, sukuidashite (救い出して) or “save/rescue” is used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).”
Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Ge’ez, 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.”
Is not Hezekiah misleading you…?: This whole verse is a rhetorical question. Its purpose is to strongly affirm the belief of the Assyrian king that the faith of the people of Judah in Yahweh was of no value and would not be rewarded. The Hebrew verb translated Is … misleading sometimes occurs in contexts that indicate no moral judgment, where it means to urge someone to do something. But here, as elsewhere in 1-2 Chronicles, the verb has a negative connotation of misleading someone into doing something against that person’s will. It may be translated in a variety of ways here, such as “is leading you astray,” “is deceiving you” (Bible en français courant), “Is … deluding you” (Anchor Bible), and “is lying” (Contemporary English Version). Since the Hebrew verb here has the sense of urging someone to action, Dillard begins this verse with “Hasn’t Hezekiah reduced you to forced labor…?” The forced labor would refer to making the people work on water projects and repairing the walls of the city. But such a translation seems to be more specific than the Hebrew verb suggests here.
The LORD our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria: Sennacherib quotes Hezekiah here, so this is an embedded quotation. The pronoun our is inclusive in the mouth of Hezekiah, since he addressed his own people with these words. From the hand of the king of Assyria means “from the power of the Assyrian king.” Some other figurative ways of expressing this phrase are “from the grasp of the king of Assyria” (New American Bible) and “from the King of Assyria’s clutches” (New Jerusalem Bible). Good News Translation renders this embedded quotation as indirect discourse, so it says “from our power” since it is the king of Assyria who is speaking. Contemporary English Version has simply “from me.”
In order to avoid the embedded quotation in this verse, translators may say:
• Hezekiah is certainly tricking you when he says that the LORD your God will deliver you from my powerful attack. You will eventually die of hunger and thirst.
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 .
Hezekiah is lying to you, -or-
⌊Your king⌋ Hezekiah is a liar. He knows that
32:11b to give you over to death by famine and thirst when he says,
and he wants you to starve to death or to die of thirst. {He is lying} when he says, -or-
you will die from lack of food and water. {He misleads you} when he tells you that
32:11c ‘The LORD our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria?
‘Yahweh our God will come and rescue us from the Assyrian king’s power.’ -or-
Yahweh your God will rescue you from me.
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