10Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it on a rock for herself, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell on them from the heavens; she did not allow the birds of the air to come on the bodies by day or the wild animals by night.
The Greek and Hebrew phrases that are often translated as “birds of the air” in English “refer to the undomesticated song birds or wild birds, to be distinguished in a number of languages from domesticated fowl. In Tzeltal these former are ‘field birds’.” (source: Bratcher / Nida)
Q’anjob’al also uses an established term for non-domesticated birds. Newberry and Kittie Cox (in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. ) explain: “Qʼanjobʼal has two distinct terms, one to identify domesticated birds and the other non-domesticated birds. The additional descriptive phrase ‘of the air’ seemed entirely misleading, for Qʼanjobʼal speakers had never heard of such creatures. Actually, of course, all that was necessary was the term for non-domesticated birds, for that is precisely the meaning of the Biblical expression.”
In Elhomwe they are just translated as “birds” or “birds of the bush” (i.e., wild birds) to “not give the impression that these are special type of birds.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
The Hebrew or Greek which are translated into English as “sackcloth” are rendered into Chamula Tzotzil as “sad-heart clothes.” (Source: Robert Bascom)
Pohnpeian and Chuukese translate it as “clothing-of sadness,” Eastern Highland Otomi uses “clothing that hurts,” Central Mazahua “that which is scratchy,” Tae’ and Zarma “rags” (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel), and Tangale as “torn clothes that show contrition on the body” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin). In the English translation by Goldingay (2018), “put on sackcloth” is translated as wrap on sack.
“In Turkana, a woman removes her normal everyday skin clothes and ornaments and wears rather poor skins during the time of mourning. The whole custom is known as ngiboro. It is very difficult to translate putting on sackcloth because even material like sacking is unfamiliar. The Haya, on the other hand, have a mourning cloth made out of the bark of a tree; and the use of this cloth is similar to the Jewish use of sackcloth. It was found that in both the Turkana and Ruhaya common language translations, their traditional mourning ceremonies were used.” (Source: Rachel Konyoro in The Bible Translator1985, p. 221ff. )
Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing what a sackcloth looked like in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated in English as “wild animal” or similar is translated in Newari as “animal that lives in the jungle.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Samuel 21:10:
Kupsabiny: “Rispah took a sack and spread (it) on a flat rock and sat on (it). She did like that until rain fell. She did not allow the birds to descend on to those dead bodies during the day, or any animal of the bush during the night.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Rizpah, daughter of Aija stayed there to guard their bodies. She took sackcloth, and spread it out for herself on a rock, from the beginning of barley harvest until the time the rain started coming on the bodies from the heavens. She did not let the birds eat them by day or the wild animals by night.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “The child of Aya who was Rizpa took a sack and spread it on the rock so-that she can-lie-down. She watched-over the corpses so-that the birds will- not -eat-(them) at day-time and the fierce animals will- also not -eat-(them) at night. She stayed there since the beginning of the time-of-harvest until it rained.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Then Rizpah took coarse cloth made from goats’ hair, and spread it on the rock where the corpses lay. She stayed there from the time that people started to harvest the barley until the rains started. She did not allow any birds to come near the corpses during the day, and she did not allow any animals to come near during the night.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Note that Good News Translation reminds the reader that Rizpah had been the concubine of Saul. This information is given indirectly in verse 8 and earlier in 3.7. It is also provided in verse 11, but it is vitally important to the story, and for this reason it should probably be brought to the attention of the reader at this point by shifting it forward from the following verse. Bible en français courant identifies Rizpah by saying “Rizpah, widow of Saul.”
Sackcloth: this was a coarse kind of cloth made from the hair of goats or camels and was normally used to make sacks for wheat and barley. But people who were experiencing grief (usually over the death of a loved one) often wore this rough cloth like clothing to show their sadness. New Century Version translates “the rough cloth that was worn to show sadness.” In this case Rizpah used this uncomfortable cloth to make a covering for herself as she watched over the bodies of her loved ones. However, the very mention of sackcloth in the context of the death of relatives made people think of mourning. Compare 3.31 and Gen 37.34.
Spread it for herself: this may mean either that she spread it out underneath her so that she used it as something to lie down on top of, or that she spread it above her head to form a kind of covering. Given the strong sun during the period from May to September, it is very likely that a covering over her head was needed (so Good News Translation, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). Although the Hebrew says only the rock, Good News Translation and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente add the implicit information “where the corpses were,” and this addition may be helpful in other languages also.
Until rain fell: this provides a time reference for the end of the period of Rizpah’s vigil. Following the harvest there was usually dry weather in Israel until September or October, when the rainy season started anew. This meant to the original readers that Rizpah kept her watch over the bodies of her loved ones for perhaps nearly six months. This information should probably be provided for modern readers either through a footnote or possibly by adding “for about six months” in the translation itself. Some common language translations refer to this as the “autumn rains” (Good News Translation, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje). However, some scholars find it more likely that this refers to an unusual late spring or summer rain that ended the drought and famine mentioned in verse 1 (McCarter and Hertzberg).
The pronoun used twice in the expression upon them refers to the dead bodies of Rizpah’s sons who had been killed. Some translators may prefer the more meaningful model of New Century Version, “on her sons’ bodies,” or at least “the bodies” (Contemporary English Version).
The expressions birds of the air and beasts of the field are literal renderings of common Hebrew expressions that may sound redundant in many languages. It will be much more natural in many cases to say simply “birds” and “wild animals,” as several modern versions do.
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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