The Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated into English as “chariot” is translated into Anuak as “canoe pulled by horse.” “Canoe” is the general term for “vehicle” (source: Loren Bliese). Similarly it is translated in Lokạạ as ukwaa wạ nyanyang ntuuli or “canoe that is driven by horses.” (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )
Other translations include:
Chichicapan Zapotec: “ox cart” (in Acts 8) (ox carts are common vehicles for travel) (source: Loren Bliese)
Chichimeca-Jonaz, it is translated as “little house with two feet pulled by two horses” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
HausaCommon Language Bible as keken-doki or “cart of donkey” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
The Hebrew that is transliterated as “Absalom” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the signs depicting “hair + caught” referring to 2 Samuel 18:9. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Samuel 15:1:
Kupsabiny: “Afterwards, Absalom got a chariot with horses and selected fifty people who moved/went ahead/in front keeping/guarding him.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “After that Absalom brought together for himself a chariot, horses and fifty men to go before him.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Sometime later, Absalom was-able-to-own a chariot and horses, and his bodyguards were 50 men.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Some time later, Absalom acquired a chariot and horses to pull it. He hired 50 men to run in front of him to honor him while he was riding around Jerusalem in the chariot.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
After this: this reflects the Hebrew verb of transition sometimes translated “and it came to pass.” Here it serves both to indicate the passage of time since the events related in the previous chapter, and to introduce a new episode. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “Sometime afterward,” Moffatt says “Later on…,” and New International Version translates “In the course of time….”
Got himself a chariot and horses: the translation should not give the impression that Absalom had not previously owned or used chariots or horses. But in this passage he is depicted as beginning to act like a person who will soon become king. The verb is rendered “prepared” by Goldman. The Hebrew verb in the Dead Sea Scrolls at this point may be translated “began to make use of…” (Anchor Bible). Riding around in a chariot with fifty men to run before him was behavior typical of royalty (see 1 Sam 8.11). The runners who accompanied him served as a kind of bodyguard to protect their master and see to his every need. The number of these servants is the same as in the story of David’s other rebellious son, Adonijah (1 Kgs 1.5).
On the word for chariot, see 1.6; 8.4; and 10.18 as well as 1 Sam 8.11.
One suggested translation of this verse is:
• Later on Absalom began to move about the city in a chariot drawn by horses, and he had fifty men to run before him [to prepare the way].
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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