4Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho.
The Hebrew and Greek that is often translated as “As the Lord lives, (I swear)” in English is translated in Dan as “I swear before the true living God” to “not to imply that God could die, contrasting with the dead false gods.” (Source: Don Slager)
Similarly, In Elhomwe it is translated as “before the Lord.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
In the NepaliRevised Version (1977, 1997) it is translated as “taking an oath by the Lord” and in the Simple Nepali Holy Bible (2008) as “I swear by the living Lord.”
Chitra B. Chhetri (in The Bible Translator 2007, p. 64ff. ) comments on this translation: “[In the Nepali context,] theologically, one cannot swear by the life of the deity, because divine beings are not subject to the doctrine of saṃsāra, the binding cycle of life and death, in Hinduism practiced in Nepal. In other words, one cannot speak of life and death of a god. Therefore, one can only swear in the name of the deity. One can, however, swear by the life of a superior human being, because humans are subject to life and death. Syntactically, adjectival usage is natural to the Nepali language in the context in which it is used. It would be natural and meaningful to say adjectivally, ‘I swear by the living Lord.’ However, it would be quite awkward and meaningless to say in a nominal form, ‘I swear by the life of the Lord‘ or a verbal form, ‘I swear that the Lord lives.'”
The name that is transliterated as “Elisha” in English means “God the Savior,” “to whom God is salvation,” “God of salvation,” “God is Savior.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )
In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “help + prophet.” (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
The name that is transliterated as “Elijah” in English means “God-LORD,” “strength of the LORD,” “my God is YHWH.” “the LORD God.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )
Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Kings 2:4:
Kupsabiny: “Then Elijah said to Elisha, ‘You stay here, since God has sent me to go to Jericho.’ But Elisha said, ‘Truly, as sure as God exists and you also exist/are here, I will not abandon you.’ Then, both went towards Jericho.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Then Elijah said to Elisha, "You stay here, the LORD has sent me to Jericho." But Elisha said, "As surely as the Lord lives and you, I will never leave you." So both of them went together to Jericho.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Then Elias said to Elisha, ‘You stay here, for the LORD is-sending me to Jerico.’ Elisha said, ‘I swear to the living LORD and to you that I will- never -separate (myself) from you.’ So they went to Jerico.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Then Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Stay here, because Yahweh has told only me to go to Jericho.’ But Elisha replied again, ‘Just as certainly as Yahweh lives and you live, I will not leave you!’ So they went together to Jericho city.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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, ikite-rare-ru (生きておられる) or “living” 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 are (され) 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, tsukawas-are-ru (遣わされる) or “send” is used.
This verse is very similar to verse 2. See the comments there.
Instead of taking the proper name Elisha as a part of the direct quotation as in the Hebrew, Good News Translation makes it a part of the setting of the quotation. While the form of the Hebrew is indeed different here from verse 2, translators should feel free to take either of these as a model depending on which one sounds more natural in their language.
The primary difference between verse 2 and this verse is the place name Jericho, a city about 9.5 kilometers (6 miles) north of the Dead Sea and 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) southeast of Bethel. For more information on Jericho, see the comments on 1 Kgs 16.34.
They came to Jericho: While verse 2 has the verb “went down” at the end, this verse has came. There is, however, very little difference in meaning in the context. The idea here is that Elijah and Elisha continued to travel until they arrived at Jericho.
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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