18All his officials passed by him, and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the six hundred Gittites who had followed him from Gath passed on before the king.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Samuel 15:18:
Kupsabiny: “David went with his guards and six hundred men who had come from the town of Gath. After he passed/exited the town, David stood and told his people to go ahead.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Six hundred Gittites who has come from Gath and the Kerthites, Pelethites with the king march past along king’s all men in front of the king.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “and David caused- all his men -to-go-ahead-of-him, including all his bodyguards who were the Keretnon and Peletnon. The 600 Gitanhon who accompanied him from Gat also followed.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “The king and his officials stood there while his bodyguards went by in front of him. 600 soldiers from Gath city also walked by in front of him.” (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.”
His servants: that is, his court officials. Some interpreters, however, understand the words which follow to be in apposition to his servants. According to this alternate understanding of the Hebrew, the conjunction translated and in Revised Standard Version will be understood to mean “even” or “that is.” Fox, for example, says “Now all his servants were crossing over next to him, that is, all the Kerethites…” (similarly Bible en français courant, Segond, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible).
Passed by him: Good News Translation (“stood next to him”) is based on a proposed modification of the Hebrew text, which consists of changing two letters in the participle “passing.” New Jerusalem Bible, Revised English Bible, and Osty-Trinquet do essentially the same thing with the text. But the majority of versions stick with the traditional Hebrew text, which is also given an {A} rating by Hebrew Old Testament Text Project. This will imply a kind of “passing in review before the king” (New American Bible) of those who were still loyal to David.
All the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites: as in 8.18, these two groups were the bodyguards of King David recruited while he was in Ziklag (1 Sam 27–31). Contemporary English Version proposes to translate simply “his bodyguards,” giving the more literal rendering only in a footnote. As in 8.18 and 1 Sam 30.14, Bible en français courant speaks of “Cretans” here rather than of Cherethites.
Six hundred Gittites: these were Philistine soldiers who had come to Jerusalem with David and remained loyal to him. In some languages it will be unnecessarily repetitious to use the term Gittites and the expression from Gath, since they have the same meaning. Good News Translation and New Century Version, for example, have only “from Gath.”
Some modern versions follow a suggested correction of the Hebrew text to include the name of Ittai in this verse. New Jerusalem Bible, for example, has “with Ittai and all six hundred Gittites.” Revised English Bible is similar to New Jerusalem Bible. But few other versions accept this addition, and it is not recommended by Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, since there is no manuscript evidence for the change. If the Hebrew text is followed, then the pronoun him in the phrase who had followed him refers to David. Ittai is introduced in the following verse.
The text does not state explicitly why the troops passed by David, but the sense seems to be that they passed by to march in front of David as the advance guard.
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 .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.