king

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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:

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  • Piro: “a great one”
  • Highland Totonac: “the big boss”
  • Huichol: “the one who commanded” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Ekari: “the one who holds the country” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Una: weik sienyi: “big headman” (source: Kroneman 2004, p. 407)
  • Pass Valley Yali: “Big Man” (source: Daud Soesilo)
  • 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 If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior.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.”

(Source: Faye Edgerton in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 25ff. )

See also king (Japanese honorifics).

Translation commentary on 2 Chronicles 9:16

And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold: See the comments on the previous verse. The Hebrew word for shields here is not the same one translated “large shields” in the previous verse. It refers to smaller shields. For a description of these shields, see the comments on 1 Chr 5.18. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh calls them “bucklers” (also Revised English Bible, New American Bible). New Jerusalem Bible is similar to Good News Translation with “small shields.”

Three hundred shekels of gold when into each shield: As in the previous verse, Revised Standard Version supplies the word shekels. The parallel text in 1 Kgs 10.17 says that the smaller shields had three minas of gold in each shield. A mina equaled fifty shekels. New International Version supplies the word “bekas” instead of shekels in order to harmonize the text here in 2 Chronicles with that in 1 Kgs 10. A beka was the equivalent of a half-shekel, so 300 bekas equaled 150 shekels, which was also the equivalent of three minas. The New International Version solution causes the amount of gold in the smaller shields to be the same in both 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles. But normal Hebrew usage does not support the New International Version translation with “bekas” in verses 15-16. Three hundred shekels is equivalent to about “7½ pounds” (God’s Word) or “a little more than three kilos” (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy).

And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon: It is not likely that Solomon himself put these larger and smaller shields in the building mentioned here. He probably had others place them there (so Good News Translation). These shields were made for display, to show the wealth of the king; they were not intended to be used in battle. They were probably taken out and carried in royal processions. Ancient Hittite, Egyptian, and Assyrian texts refer to heavy gold weapons that were used in ceremonial processions and display only, not in war. The House of the Forest of Lebanon is described in more detail in 1 Kgs 7.2-3. This building was a large ceremonial hall. It probably received this name because it was built with dozens of pillars and beams made of cedar wood and paneled with cedar wood from Lebanon. The text in 1 Kings does not clearly indicate the relationship of this building to the other buildings of the palace complex, but it seems that this was a separate building, not connected to the others. For this reason “the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon” (New International Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version) may be a better translation than “the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon” (Good News Translation). Weapons and precious objects were stored in this building (see verse 20 and 1 Kgs 10.21).

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 .