Judah, Judea

The name that is transliterated as “Judah” or “Judea” in English (referring to the son of Jacob, the tribe, and the territory) is translated in Spanish Sign Language as “lion” (referring to Genesis 49:9 and Revelation 5:5). This sign for lion is reserved for regions and kingdoms. (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. and Steve Parkhurst)


“Judah” and “Judea” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

See also Judah, Judah (son of Jacob) , and Tribe of Judah .

complete verse (2 Kings 25:21)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Kings 25:21:

  • Kupsabiny: “Nebuchadnezzar said that those people should be beaten and killed there in Riblah in the area/land of Hamath.
    So, the people of Judah were driven to a country that was far from their own country.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “The King of Babylon had them killed in the city of Riblah in the land of Hamath.
    In this way the people of Judah were deported away from their land.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “which is-part-of Hamat. And there the king had- them -killed.
    So the people of Juda were-brought away from their land as captives.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “There at Riblah, in Hamath province, the king of Babylon commanded that they all be executed.
    That is what happened when the people of Judah were taken forcefully/exiled from their land to Babylon.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

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 Kings 25:21

The king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death: The two verbs used here seem to refer to punishment by beating which was then followed by execution. It is virtually certain that King Nebuchadnezzar did not actually perform all this activity by himself. For this reason it may be advisable to use causative verb forms in some languages, saying something like Good News Translation.

Good News Translation takes the words at Riblah in the land of Hamath as a part of the sentence that begins in the previous verse. Since the previous verse ends with “at Riblah,” this is somewhat redundant as presented in Revised Standard Version. Regarding the “territory” (Good News Translation) or “province” (Peregrino) of Hamath, see the comments on 1 Kgs 8.65 and 2 Kgs 23.33.

So Judah was taken into exile out of its land: This last sentence in the verse constitutes a separate paragraph in Good News Translation (also Bible en français courant, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Peregrino) because it is a summary statement. Many versions, however, make it the final sentence of the paragraph that begins at verse 18.

The passive form of this final sentence in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation may be made active by making King Nebuchadnezzar or the Babylonian army the subject of the sentence. Judah refers, of course, to “the people of Judah” (Good News Translation). Translators may therefore say something like “So King Nebuchadnezzar took the people of Judah away from their own land to live in exile” or “The army of Babylonia forced the people of Judah to leave their land and live in a foreign place.” Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente and Bible en français courant make it explicit that the exile was to a faraway land by saying “So the people of Judah were deported far away from their land” (similarly Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, La Bible Pléiade, em>Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). Contemporary English Version provides another possible model with “The people of Judah no longer lived in their own country.”

The Hebrew word for land in this sentence is literally “soil.” See the comments on this same expression at 2 Kgs 21.8.

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 .