Absalom (image)

Hand colored stencil print on momigami by Sadao Watanabe (1972).

Image taken with permission from the SadaoHanga Catalogue where you can find many more images and information about Sadao Watanabe.

For other images of Sadao Watanabe art works in TIPs, see here.

See also Absalom.

Absalom

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)


“Absalom” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

See also Absalom (image).

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Absalom .

complete verse (2 Samuel 15:3)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Samuel 15:3:

  • Kupsabiny: “Absalom would tell (him) that, ‘Your words are good and true, but there is no one whom the king has placed to solve your words/problem.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Absalom [would] say, "Yes, your case is correct, but the king has no one to hear it."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Then Absalom says to him, ‘Your case would-win, but the king has no representative to hear your case.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Absalom would say to him, ‘Listen, I am sure that what you are saying/claiming is right. But there is no one whom the king has appointed/authorized to listen to people like you.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

king

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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:

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  • Piro: “a great one”
  • Highland Totonac: “the big boss”
  • Huichol: “the one who commanded” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Ekari: “the one who holds the country” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Una: weik sienyi: “big headman” (source: Kroneman 2004, p. 407)
  • Pass Valley Yali: “Big Man” (source: Daud Soesilo)
  • 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.”

(Source: Faye Edgerton in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 25ff. )

See also king (Japanese honorifics).

Translation commentary on 2 Samuel 15:3

Would say: the verb form once again indicates a repeated or habitual action.

See: the verb of perception used here invites the hearer to consider the situation. The same verb is used in a similar way later in this chapter (verse 28). It is more natural in English to use the verb “look” as in New International Version, New Century Version, and Good News Translation. Revised English Bible, however, takes this verb as having Absalom as its subject: “I can see that….” And New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh seems to indicate that anyone could see that the claims being made were correct: “It is clear that….”

Your claims are good and right: the traditional Hebrew text has a very general term for “word” or “matter” instead of the plural claims or “arguments,” which is found in some manuscripts. But the point will be essentially the same. Absalom was trying to win the favor of each person who had a complaint by telling them that they were right and that he would certainly support their case.

There is no man deputed by the king to hear you: considerable information has been supplied even in Revised Standard Version, since the text says literally “no one hearing for you from the king.” Anchor Bible translates “you will get no hearing from the king.” The point of Absalom’s statement is, however, clear. He wanted to turn the people against their king by hinting that the king was not only unable or unwilling to hear their cases but also unwilling to appoint anyone else with this authority. Some possible renderings of this clause are “not one of the king’s deputies will listen to you” (New Jerusalem Bible), “there is no one assigned to you by the king to hear it” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “there is no one to hear you in the king’s name” (New American Bible), or “the king has not appointed anyone to listen to your case.”

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 .