28I will gather you to your ancestors and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring on this place and its inhabitants.’ ” They took the message back to the king.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Chronicles 34:28:
Kupsabiny: “It is not long before I send the suffering that I said would come to this land and its people. You (sing.) shall live in peace until you die.’ ’ Then, those people brought the words of that woman to the king.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “so I will unite you with your ancestors, you will rest in your graves.’ " "You will not live to see the disaster I will bring upon this place and the people who are living here."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “while you are still alive, the destruction that I will-send to this place and its residents will- not -arrive. You (sing.) will-die in peace.’ And they told the king the answer of Hulda.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “So I will allow you to die and be buried peacefully. I will cause a great disaster to strike this place and the people who live here, but you will not be alive to see it.’ ’ ’ So they reported her reply to the king.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
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.”
Behold: The Hebrew focusing particle here highlights the fact that although the people of Judah will be punished, this will not take place immediately.
The active expression I will gather you to your fathers and the passive expression you shall be gathered to your grave in peace are slightly different ways of referring to the same event: the death of King Josiah. In those languages where the passive form is unacceptable, the idea may be translated only once. A literal rendering is rarely satisfactory. The peacefulness of Josiah’s death is emphasized by the addition of the words in peace. (Actually Josiah died in battle according to 2 Chr 35.22-24.) Translators should look for a comparable euphemistic expression used to refer to death in their own language. If such a euphemism is not available, it will be possible to speak more directly of death. Bible en français courant translates “I will allow you to die in peace.”
Instead of your grave, the Masoretic Text has “your graves” (so La Bible Pléiade), which may be a reference to the royal tombs (see 2 Chr 35.24). Many interpreters suggest a slight change in the spelling of the plural Hebrew noun here in order to change it to the singular grave (see 2 Kgs 23.30, which says that Josiah was buried in his own tomb).
And your eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place and its inhabitants: See verse 24. The word evil refers to the “disaster” (Moffatt) that God will bring on the country of Judah and its people. In some languages it will be unnatural to make the eyes the subject of a clause such as this. It will be better to say “and you will not have to look on all the misfortune….” Two other models are “You won’t see all the trouble…” (New Century Version) and “you will not live to see the great disaster…” (New Jerusalem Bible).
And they brought back word to the king: The pronoun they refers to the five men (verse 22) who had gone to consult Yahweh for the king through the prophetess Huldah as an intermediary. If this is unclear, it will be possible to translate “the men whom Josiah had sent” or “the messengers.” Brought back word renders the same Hebrew expression translated “reported” in verse 16. Some may wish to translate it with the same verb here by rendering this clause as “Then they reported all this to the king.”
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 .
34:28a ‘Now I will indeed gather you to your fathers,
Therefore I will let you die -or-
So you will die
34:28b and you will be gathered to your grave in peace.
and be buried peacefully. -or-
and your people will bury you in peace.
34:28c Your eyes will not see all the calamity that I will bring
You will not experience the punishment that I will bring -or-
You will not be alive when I bring all these bad things
34:28d on this place and on its inhabitants.’”
on this place and its residents.’” -or-
on Jerusalem and the people who live here.’”
34:28a–d (reordered)
I will not send the disaster I am bringing on Jerusalem and its people until after you have died and they bury you in peace.
34:28e So they brought her answer back to the king.
The king’s messengers reported to the king what Huldah had said. -or-
⌊After Huldah said this⌋ the men went back to the king and told him what she had said.
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