30When the king heard the words of the woman he tore his clothes—now since he was walking on the city wall, the people could see that he had sackcloth on his body underneath—
The Hebrew or Greek which are translated into English as “sackcloth” are rendered into Chamula Tzotzil as “sad-heart clothes.” (Source: Robert Bascom)
Pohnpeian and Chuukese translate it as “clothing-of sadness,” Eastern Highland Otomi uses “clothing that hurts,” Central Mazahua “that which is scratchy,” Tae’ and Zarma “rags” (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel), and Tangale as “torn clothes that show contrition on the body” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin). In the English translation by Goldingay (2018), “put on sackcloth” is translated as wrap on sack.
“In Turkana, a woman removes her normal everyday skin clothes and ornaments and wears rather poor skins during the time of mourning. The whole custom is known as ngiboro. It is very difficult to translate putting on sackcloth because even material like sacking is unfamiliar. The Haya, on the other hand, have a mourning cloth made out of the bark of a tree; and the use of this cloth is similar to the Jewish use of sackcloth. It was found that in both the Turkana and Ruhaya common language translations, their traditional mourning ceremonies were used.” (Source: Rachel Konyoro in The Bible Translator1985, p. 221ff. )
Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing what a sackcloth looked like in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated with “clothes” or similar in English is translated in Enlhet as “crawling-in-stuff” (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1971, p. 169ff. ) and in Noongar as bwoka or “Kangaroo skin” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Kings 6:30:
Kupsabiny: “When the king heard the words of that woman, he tore his clothes in pain so that the sacks which he was wearing underneath being in distress could be seen.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Hearing that woman’s report the King’s heart felt sad and he tore his clothing. The people alongside the wall saw the King had put on sackcloth under his robe.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “When the king heard what the woman said, he tore his cloth in great despair. And as he was-walking above the wall, the people saw him wearing a sack at the lower/bottom portion of his body because of his mourning.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “When the king heard what the woman said, he tore his robe to show that he was very distressed. The people who were standing close to the wall were able to see that the king was wearing rough cloth underneath his robe because he was very distressed.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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:
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.”
In Hebrew this verse begins with the verbal transition that is sometimes rendered “And it happened.” Most modern versions do not render it here to avoid overtranslation. Good News Translation simply begins a new paragraph here.
He rent his clothes: For this way of showing extreme sorrow, see the comments at 1 Kgs 21.27 and 2 Kgs 2.12.
Now he was passing by upon the wall: This is a reminder to the reader of what has already been said in verse 26, but it interrupts the account in a way that will be unacceptable in certain languages. Some modern English translations, such as Good News Translation, omit the repetition. In those languages where it may be awkward to repeat this information here, it may possibly fit better at the end of the verse.
Once again the Hebrew particle rendered behold includes an element of surprise. But as in verse 17, it may interrupt the flow of the discourse if retained at the same point as in Revised Standard Version and in Hebrew.
He had sackcloth beneath upon his body; that is, the king was wearing coarse cloth under the outer garment that he had torn showing his grief. For a detailed discussion of the word sackcloth, see 1 Kgs 20.31.
The following is a possible model for the verse as a whole, including the repetition of the information about the king’s location:
• When the king heard this story, he ripped his clothes to show his distress, and the people could see that he was wearing sackcloth under his clothes because he was standing above them on the wall.
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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