19Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why are you also coming with us? Go back, and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner and also an exile from your home.
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, the Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation both use the exclusive pronoun, excluding Ittai the Gittite.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Samuel 15:19:
Kupsabiny: “Then David said to Ittai who was in charge of the people of/from Gath that, ‘Why do you follow us? Go back and stay with Absalom because you are a foreigner who escaped from your land.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, "Why are you coming with us? Go back and stay with Absalom, for you are a foreigner, and have also been driven out of the place where you were living.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “David said to Itai, who was the leader/[lit. head] of the Gitanhon, ‘Why are you (plur.) come-along-with us (excl.)? You (plur.) go-back to Jerusalem, and go-along-with the new king who is Absalom, for you (plur.) are just strangers/foreigners in Israel who fled from your (plur.) place.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Then David said to Ittai, the leader of the soldiers from Gath, ‘Why are you going with us?/You should not be going with us. Go back and stay with Absalom the new king. You are not an Israeli; you are living away from your own land.” (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.”
It may not be necessary to repeat the Gittite if this will distract the reader or be considered unnatural in the receptor language. But to make clear the relationship between Ittai and the other soldiers from Gath, Good News Translation inserts the information “their leader.” This may be seen as being implied in the use of the definite article in the expression the Gittite. Ittai reappears in chapter 18, when David places one-third of his troops under his command.
The question Why do you also go with us? is not really intended to draw information from Ittai. It is rather a way of giving him permission to abandon David and his company. For this reason it may be better translated in some languages as a statement such as “You don’t have to come with us.” The Hebrew contains a play on words with the name Ittai (ʾitay) and the words with us (ʾitanu), but such a wordplay will not be possible in most receptor languages.
The king: since this refers to Absalom, who had been recently proclaimed king in Hebron, it may be wise to qualify the term in some way so that there is no confusion in the mind of the reader. Revised English Bible, Contemporary English Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Bible en français courant, and Good News Translation have “the new king.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh places the adjective “new” within brackets, but since this is implicit information, the model of Good News Translation may be followed. Another model for making implicit information explicit here is Anderson, “Go back and stay with King Absalom.” It may be helpful to add “to Jerusalem” in order to make clear that Ittai is not being told to return to Gath.
A foreigner: in some languages the term for “foreigner” may be misunderstood as referring to someone who is not a member of the receptor language culture. In this context it may be better to translate it “you are not an Israelite” or something similar. And the expression an exile from your home may be rendered “you are not able to live in your own country.” As the footnote in Revised Standard Version indicates, the Masoretic Text says “an exile to your home.” But this makes no sense, and even New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh follows a single Hebrew manuscript and the ancient versions in reading “from” instead of “to.”
In some languages it will be more natural to restructure this verse and place the reason (Ittai’s non-Israelite origin) ahead of the command to Ittai to go back and serve the new king.
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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