4Make preparations by your ancestral houses by your divisions, following the written directions of King David of Israel and the written directions of his son Solomon.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Chronicles 35:4:
Kupsabiny: “Prepare yourselves to do your work like it was assigned to you in your houses. Do your work following how king David and his son Solomon chose for you.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Be prepared by family and group according to the rules written by Solomon son of David king of Israel.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “[You (plur.)] now do your (plur.) duties/[lit. works] in the temple according to the responsibility of each of your (plur.) families. Follow the rules that was-written by King David of Israel, and his child Solomon.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Divide yourselves into clans, obeying the instructions that King David and his son Solomon wrote.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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.”
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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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
Prepare yourselves according to your fathers’ houses by your divisions: The imperative verb here in the Hebrew text is a passive form, which may be translated “Be ready” (La Bible Pléiade, Osty-Trinquet). Revised Standard Version and nearly all other versions follow the corrected reading in the margin of the Hebrew text, which reads “Prepare yourselves.” The Levites are instructed to get ready for the work that they had been assigned. According to the context, this required a certain amount of organization. Parole de Vie and La Bible du Semeur translate Prepare yourselves as “Organize yourselves,” and Bible en français courant has “Divide yourselves up.” The expressions according to your fathers’ houses (see the comments on 1 Chr 5.24) and by your divisions (see the comments on 1 Chr 24.1) indicate the basis of the organization. New Century Version renders these two phrases as “by your family groups for service.”
Following the directions of David … and the directions of Solomon …: The Levites were to organize themselves according to the directions of David and Solomon. New International Version makes it explicit that organization was to be done “according to the directions written by David….” The two related Hebrew words rendered directions come from a root that has the meaning of something written down. New Revised Standard Version says “written directions,” and Revised English Bible has “written instructions.” The idea of “written directions” is not made explicit in Good News Translation, but there is no reason to omit it in the receptor language. For further discussion on these directions, see 1 Chr 23–26 and 2 Chr 8.14. If necessary, the order of the information in this last half of the verse may be changed to make it more natural in the receptor language. The essential information is that both David and Solomon were kings of Israel and that Solomon was one of David’s sons. They both had given instructions to the Levites regarding their work.
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 .
35:4a Prepare yourselves by families in your divisions,
Get ready to do the work of each family and of each clan, -or-
Each family and each clan should get ready to do the work
35:4b according to the instructions written by David king of Israel
according to the instructions that David the king of Israel wrote. -or-
assigned to them. King David the king of Israel
35:4c and Solomon his son.
His son Solomon also gave the same instructions. -or-
and his son King Solomon made these assignments in writing.
35:4a–c (reordered)
King David, the king of Israel, gave instructions for you in writing. His son Solomon did the same thing. They divided you into families and clans ⌊to work in the temple⌋. Get ready to do that work.
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