15And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, “O Lord the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, tsuku-rare-ru (造られる) or “create” is used.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, zashiteo-rare-ru (座しておられる) or “sitting” is used.
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.”
Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said: The parallel text in Isa 37.15 has simply “Hezekiah prayed to the LORD.” The text here is redundant and perhaps awkward by saying prayed … and said. In this case it will probably be more important to be natural than to try to reflect the difference between the parallel texts if doing so will result in unnatural language. That Hezekiah prayed before the LORD seems to mean that he was in the Most Holy Place in front of the Covenant Box (see 1 Kgs 6.16).
Throughout Hezekiah’s prayer in verses 15-19, Revised Standard Version has archaic pronouns (thou, “thy,” “thee”) and verb forms (art, hast). This kind of language is typical of Revised Standard Version when God is addressed in prayer, but it does not reflect a difference in the underlying Hebrew text (see the comments on 1 Kgs 3.6). It is worth noting that New Revised Standard Version, as well as most other modern English versions, discards this old-fashioned convention. Translators should certainly not look for special forms to use in prayers since there are no special forms in the Hebrew.
Who art enthroned above the cherubim: In Hebrew the wording here is the same as in 1 Sam 4.4 and 2 Sam 6.2, where Revised Standard Version translates “who is/sits enthroned on the cherubim.” The image is that of a throne supported by the winged creatures that function as protectors of divine things throughout Scripture. God is depicted as sitting on this throne. This follows the description given in Exo 25.10-22.
For cherubim see the comments on 1 Kgs 6.23.
Thou art the God, thou alone: The words thou alone serve to reinforce the already strong statement thou art the God. This emphasis should be retained if it is natural in the language of translation.
Of all the kingdoms of the earth: The meaning of the preposition of may need to be spelled out more clearly in many languages. This does not necessarily mean that God is worshiped by all the kingdoms in the world, but rather that he is the ultimate ruler of every kingdom on earth. So some may prefer to translate “who rules over all the kingdoms in the world.”
Thou hast made heaven and earth: This is really a way of saying that God made all things. It would probably have reminded the first readers and hearers of Exo 20.11, where a longer statement is given. In many languages the two terms heaven and earth together will also convey an all-inclusive notion.
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 .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.