8The king took the two sons of Rizpah daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite;
The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Saul” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign that depicts “sword in chest” (referring to 1 Samuel 31:4 and 1 Chronicles 10:4) and also “self-centered.” (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Samuel 21:8:
Kupsabiny: “The king gave out two sons of Saul who were called Armoni and Mephibosheth who were born by Rizpah that one who was daughter of Aiah. He also gave out other five sons who were born by the daughter of Saul who was called Merab. The father of those boys was Adriel son of Barzillai from the house of Meholah.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Rizpah, daughter of Aija born to Saul, and the five sons of Saul’s daughter, Merab whom she bore to Adriel, son of Barzillai the Meholathite.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Whom David handed-over were the two children of Saul who were Armoni and Mefibosheth, whose mother was Rizpa the child of Aya. David also handed-over the five male children of Merab. Merab was the child of Saul and wife of Adriel the child of Barzilai who comes-from-Mehola.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Instead, he took Armoni and another man named Mephibosheth, the two sons that Saul’s slave wife Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, had given birth to, and the five sons that Saul’s daughter Merab had given birth to. Merab’s husband was Adriel, the son of a man named Barzillai from Meholah town.” (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.”
There is no transition word in Revised Standard Version reflecting the Hebrew conjunction in this case. But in most languages a rather strong transition word will be required here. Several translations have “but” (New International Version, New Century Version, New American Bible, Revised English Bible, Anchor Bible, and Goldman), and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh translates “instead.”
According to 3.7 Rizpah was a concubine of Saul. But this is the only mention of her two sons. Saul had both a son and a grandson named Mephibosheth. In addition to Jonathan’s son, mentioned in the previous verse, there was another person named Mephibosheth, one of Saul’s sons by his concubine Rizpah. In order to avoid confusing the reader, some translators may wish to make this implied information clear by saying something like “another man named Mephibosheth” in this case.
In some languages it will be much more natural to put the names before the description of their lineage, rather than afterward as in Revised Standard Version and the Hebrew original. Naturalness in the receptor language should be the determining factor in deciding what order to follow here.
Merab: the traditional Hebrew text, which has “Michal” at this point, is followed by a number of versions, including King James Version, New King James Version , Bible en français courant, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible. “Michal” is almost certainly a mistake, since 6.23 says that Saul’s daughter Michal had no children, although it is recommended by Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, which gives it only a {D} rating. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament suggests that the name “Michal” here is another name for the woman named Merab in 1 Sam 18.19, and that those manuscripts that read Merab here reflect attempts to avoid a contradiction with 6.23 and do not give evidence that Merab was the original reading of the Hebrew. If translators follow the recommendation of Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, they may wish to state this explanation in a footnote.
Two Hebrew manuscripts as well as several ancient versions have the name “Merab” at this point. And both New American Standard Bible and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, which are normally very close to the traditional Hebrew text, actually translate “Merab” in this case. Other versions adopting the same reading as Revised Standard Version are New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and New Century Version as well as Good News Translation.
In an apparent attempt to combine the two readings and solve the problems of the text, Living Bible speaks of “the five adopted sons of Michal that she brought up for Saul’s daughter Merab.” While this follows the traditional explanation of the textual difficulty here, it is definitely not recommended that translators put this in the actual text of the receptor language translation. Such speculation should appear, if at all, only in a footnote.
Barzillai: this person should not be confused with “Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim” mentioned in 17.27 and 19.31-39.
The Meholathite: see 1 Sam 18.19.
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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