25David said to the messenger, “Thus you shall say to Joab, ‘Do not let this matter trouble you, for the sword devours now one and now another; press your attack on the city and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.”
The Hebrew that is translated as “the sword devours now one and now another” or similar in English is translated in Nigerian Fulfulde as “the sword has no in-laws” which is based on the common Fulfulde proverb “death has no in-laws.”
Rachelle Wenger (in Journal of Translation 17, 2021, p. 13ff. ) explains: “A literal rendition of this metaphor in Fulfulde would have communicated little or nothing to the hearer. Swords just do not eat in Fulfulde. However, by analogy to a common saying, Mayde walaa esiraawo ‘death has no in-law’, we put Kaafahi walaa esiraawo ‘the sword has no in-law’. The intent of this statement is of course not that a sword has no in-laws (that is certainly true, but hardly relevant). The personification of the sword as having no in-laws and therefore no-one that it must be careful to respect/avoid is interpreted accurately by Fulfulde-speakers because of a vast cloud of cultural knowledge and associations with the similar proverb that is often quoted when death is discussed. When the Fulfulde metaphor is substituted for the Hebrew metaphor, not only does the correct meaning come through, but it also sounds much better for King David to say it this way instead of in flat, plain language. A person of his status is expected to be creative and speak well, not just blurt out the unadorned and obvious.”
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “messenger” in English is translated in Noongar as moort yana-waangki or “person walk-talk” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Samuel 11:25:
Kupsabiny: “Then David replied to that person that, ‘Go and tell Joab that, ‘Let these words/things not eat you in the head, because death finds/meets any person who is at war. Eat/fight the war very much until you capture that city.’ ’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “David said to the man who brought the message, ‘Take this message to Joab, ‘Do not let this upset you. Just as the sword kills one, just like that [it] will also kill someone else [lit.: another]. Do not give up attacking the city and destroy it.’ Speak these words that Joab may be encouraged."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “David said to the messenger, ‘Tell Joab that his feelings should- not -go-bad with what-happened, for (it) can- not indeed -be-determined who will-die in battle. Tell him that he should-be-strong, and he should-strengthen more the attack-against the town until it will-be-destroyed.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “David said to the messenger, ‘Go back to Joab and say to him, ‘Do not be distressed about what happened, because no one ever knows who will be killed in a battle.’ Tell him that the next time his troops should attack the city more strongly, and capture it.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Thus shall you say to Joab: this introduces yet another quotation within a quotation. If this presents problems in the receptor language, it can be transformed into an indirect quote, as has been done in Good News Translation.
Do not let this matter trouble you: or “Do not be upset about the way the battle went” or “Don’t be distressed about what happened in that battle.”
For: this introduces the reason for the encouragement David wants to give to Joab. It is because people can never know who may die in battle that Joab is told not to worry. The fact that David and Joab actually arranged for Uriah to die does not change the fact that David pretends that they had nothing to do with it.
The sword devours: a literal translation of this expression will be extremely awkward if not impossible in many languages. What it means is that “people are killed by the sword” or “soldiers die by the sword.” But the word sword is used as an image to represent any military conflict. In some languages it will be more natural to speak of “dying in war” than to translate literally.
Now one and now another: this is a way of saying that things happen in a haphazard manner. There is no apparent reason why one person is killed and another is spared, and people cannot know in advance who may die in battle. In some languages it will be most natural to say “people never know who will die [in a war].”
Overthrow it: the verb so translated may mean either “destroy it [the city]” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, New International Version, New American Bible) or “break through its walls” (Contemporary English Version), implying the capture of the city but not necessarily its total destruction. The former seems more probable.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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