23When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and went off home to his own city. He set his house in order and hanged himself; he died and was buried in the tomb of his father.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Samuel 17:23:
Kupsabiny: “When Ahithophel realized his words/advise had been despised, he climbed his donkey and went to the city he lived in. When he had finished preparing his home/family (he) went to hang himself. Then, that person was buried in the tomb/cave of his father.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Since Ahithophel realized that the advice he had given had not been followed, he tied his things to his own donkey and went back towards the city, [to] his own house. He put his own house in order, hung himself and died. In this way he died and was buried in his father’s tomb.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “When Ahitofel knew that his advice had- not -been-followed, he rode on his donkey and went-home to his town. He put his household in-order/[lit. give last instructions] and then committed-suicide by hanging himself. He was also buried in the place-of-burial of his father.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “When Ahithophel realized that Absalom was not going to do what he suggested, he put a saddle on his donkey and returned to his own town. He gave to his family instructions about his possessions, and then he hanged himself because he knew that Absalom would be defeated and that he would be considered a traitor and be killed. His body was buried in the tomb where his ancestors had been buried.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “donkey” in English was translated in the 1900 Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) translation (a newer version was published in 2000) as siutitôĸ or “‘something with big ears.” “[This] is based on the word siut ‘ear’ combined with the same suffix –tôĸ (-tooq).” (Source: Lily Kahn & Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi in The Bible Translator 2019, p. 125ff.)
These Hebrew and Greek words (with the exception of pōlos and hupozugion — see discussion below) all definitely refer to the Domestic Donkey equus asinus. However the different words do have slight semantic differences among them.
Chamor and onos are the generic words for donkey while ’athon (feminine gender) refers specifically to a saddle donkey or a donkey used for riding. A saddle donkey is usually a large strong female donkey the males are too difficult to control when they are near a female in heat. The Hebrew word is derived from a root that means “strong”.
‘Ayir refers to the young male or jack donkey (probably with an emphasis on its liveliness and the difficulty in controlling it since the Hebrew root means something like “frisky”).
Onarion means a young donkey of either sex. Some languages will have a special word for a young donkey. This will be appropriate for translating onarion.
The word hupozugion often translated “donkey,” actually indicates any beast of burden. Walter Bauer, the famous German New Testament scholar, has argued very convincingly that the animal referred to in Matthew 21:5 in the expression epi pōlon huion hupozugiou is the foal of a horse not a donkey (1953:220-229). In some languages it will be possible to express this in a way that does not designate a specific species of animal`, as in “beast of burden.”
Pōlos usually refers to a foal, that is a young horse, unless a word for donkey follows.
Donkeys are domestic animals belonging to the same family as the horse, but they are smaller and have longer ears. The donkey bred and used in the Middle East is the domesticated Nubian or Somali Wild Ass Equus Asinus africanus. In its original wild state this was a gray ass with pale, whitish belly and dark rings on the lower part of the legs. It was domesticated in Egypt as early as 2500 B.C. In its domesticated version, as a result of interbreeding with donkeys from Europe and Persia, the donkey came to be a variety of colors from dark brown, through light brown to the original gray and occasionally white. The Hebrew chamor comes from a root meaning “reddish brown.”
Donkeys are good pack animals being able to carry as much as the larger mule without the latter’s unpredictable moods. They also have great stamina and are easy to feed since they eat almost any available vegetation. Larger individual animals (usually females) are also often used for riding.
Donkeys were highly prized in biblical times especially females since they were suitable for packing and riding and had the potential for producing offspring. Donkeys were seen as man’s best friend in the animal kingdom. They were the common man’s means of transport and many ordinary families owned a donkey. They were used for plowing and for turning large millstones as well as a means of transport.
Today domestic donkeys are found all over savannah Africa the Middle East South and Central Asia Europe Latin America and Australia. They do not seem to be reared in rain forest or monsoon areas but they are nevertheless often known in these areas.
A donkey was considered to be a basic domestic requirement and thus the number of donkeys available was a means of measuring the relative prosperity of a society at any given time. While only powerful political or military people rode horses (which were usually owned by the state) the common people rode donkeys. This is the significance of the passage in Zechariah 9:9: the victorious king would return to the city riding a donkey thus identifying himself as a common Israelite rather than a victorious warlord.
In the majority of languages there is a local or a borrowed word for donkey. This is the obvious choice. In areas of Southeast Asia, Papua New Guinea, West Africa, and other places, where donkeys are rare or unknown, the word from the dominant major language or trade language (for example, English, Spanish, French, Chinese, or Arabic) is often transliterated.
In most contexts ’athon should be translated by the equivalent of “female” donkey, but in some contexts riding donkey is better.
‘Ayir should be translated according to the specific context. In Genesis 32:15 the translation should definitely be the equivalent of “male donkey”, and probably also in Judges 10:4 and Judges 12:14. The significance of these latter passages is that female donkeys were the more normal choice of mount.
In Job 11:12 the emphasis is probably on the friskiness of the donkey, and the translation should be the equivalent of “He ties his young donkey to a grapevine, his frisky young ass to the best of the vines” (indicating a certain amount of irresponsibility, and perhaps extravagance).
In Job 11:12 and Zechariah 9:9 the obvious emphasis is on the youth of the donkey, so the equivalent of “colt”, “foal”, “young donkey”, and so on should be used.
At this point the scene shifts back from David and his men to Ahithophel, whose advice had been rejected. So the beginning of a new paragraph will be essential in most languages. The whole verse is almost parenthetic to the main flow of the story, which goes back to the conflict between Absalom and David in the next verse.
His counsel was not followed: this passive expression may be translated actively by saying something like “Absalom did not follow his advice” or “Absalom rejected his advice.”
Saddled his ass: in some languages there will be no special term for saddled. What is involved is the placing of material on the donkey’s back in order to make the journey more comfortable for the rider. See 16.1 and Gen 22.3.
His own city: readers learned in 15.12 that the home town of Ahithophel was called Giloh. If there is any danger that this expression will be understood to mean that Ahithophel somehow owned the city, it will be better to translate “the town where he had been born” or “the place where he had come from.”
Set his house in order: this same expression is used by the prophet Isaiah speaking to the dying King Hezekiah (2 Kgs 20.1; Isa 38.1). It probably refers to a solemn act in which a person gives directions about what is to happen to his property and his family members after his death (compare Deut 21.16). It is a kind of advance preparation for death. Some possible translations are “he set his affairs in order” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “left orders concerning his family” (New American Bible), “gave orders for his family and property” (New Century Version), “told his family and servants what to do,” or “he arranged all his affairs.”
Hanged himself: this is the only case in all the Old Testament of suicide, apart from military men taking their lives rather than being killed by the enemy. Some languages that lack specific terminology for this kind of action may require a more graphic description of what happened. Some possibilities are “he tied a rope around his neck and jumped so that he died” or “he killed himself by using a rope around his neck.”
Was buried: this will have to be translated “they [indefinite] buried him” or “his relatives buried him” in languages where the passive is not possible or is unnatural.
In the tomb of his father: this expression most likely refers to a family burial place in general rather than a grave belonging to Ahithophel’s father, or to the specific grave where his father had been buried. At this time in Israelite culture, tombs were cut into rocky hillsides. There were stone shelves on which the body was placed until it decomposed, leaving only the bones. Then the bones were placed into a pit beneath the shelves and the tomb was reused. Such family tombs are intended by the expression the tomb of his father. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh translates “in his ancestral tomb.”
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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