20Menahem exacted the silver from Israel, that is, from all the wealthy, fifty shekels of silver from each one, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back and did not stay there in the land.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Kings 15:20:
Kupsabiny: “Menahem forced every rich person to give (him) that money. Those people were removing/paying fifty pieces of silver each for the king of Syria to be paid off. When that king had received that money he returned home in peace.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “In order to give this silver to the King of Assyria Menahem collected the sum of fifty shekels from each of the rich men of Israel. So the King of Assyria went back to his own land without carrying out the attack upon Israel.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “The silver was-taken by Menahem from the wealthy-ones in Israel by forcing each one of them to give 50 pieces of silver. So the king of Asiria stopped attacking and he went-home to his nation.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Menahem obtained that money from the rich men in Israel. He compelled each of them to contribute 50 pieces of silver. So Tiglath-Pileser took that money and went back home.” (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.”
Menahem exacted the money from …: The Hebrew verb translated exacted is literally “caused to come out.” Revised English Bible says “Menahem laid a levy on…,” while New Century Version has simply “Menahem taxed….” Some languages may say something like “Menahem pulled this money from…” or “… made … pay this money.”
The money refers back to the massive amount of silver, mentioned in the previous verse, that Menahem was forced to give to the Assyrian ruler. New Jerusalem Bible clearly refers back to it by saying “this sum.” The Hebrew word translated money here is the same as “silver” in verse 19. So it may be translated by the word for “silver” in this case if it is natural to do so in the receptor language.
From Israel, that is, from all the wealthy men … from every man: In Hebrew the words from all the wealthy men are in apposition to from Israel, so Revised Standard Version correctly adds that is. All the wealthy men is literally “all the mighty ones of power/wealth.” Translations of the Hebrew include “the rich men” (Good News Translation), “every important person” (Bible en français courant), and “every man of means” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). There is little reason to believe that the king limited himself to collecting funds from only the male population. Similarly, every man may be understood to mean all the adult members of the community. It may therefore be translated “every person.” New Revised Standard Version has “all the wealthy” and “each one.”
Fifty shekels of silver: See the comments on 1 Kgs 10.16 and 2 Kgs 6.25. The amount of silver here is equivalent to about 570 grams or 20 ounces. Contemporary English Version says “at least one pound of silver,” while some versions have “fifty pieces of silver” (Good News Translation, Bible en français courant).
So translates the common Hebrew conjunction. Here the conjunction introduces the result of Menahem’s payment to the Assyrian king.
The king of Assyria turned back, and did not stay there in the land: These two clauses are virtually synonymous expressions since the second clause says the same thing as the first one by using a negative statement. In some languages it will sound unnecessarily redundant to translate the two expressions literally. In such cases it will be sufficient to give the meaning clearly one time (so Good News Translation). The Hebrew says that the king did not stay there, which suggests that the writer was outside of the land. Good News Translation has reworded this part of the verse and has lost this aspect of meaning.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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