22Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him; here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood.
The Hebrew olah (עֹלָה) originally means “that which goes up (in smoke).” English Bibles often translates it as “burnt-offering” or “whole burnt-offering,” focusing on the aspect of the complete burning of the offering.
The GreekSeptuagint and the LatinVulgate Bibles translate it as holokautōma / holocautōsis (ὁλοκαύτωμα / ὁλοκαύτωσις) and holocaustum, respectively, meaning “wholly burnt.” While a form of this term is widely used in many Romance languages (Spanish: holocaustos, French: holocaustes, Italian: olocausti, Portuguese: holocaustos) and originally also in the Catholic tradition of English Bible translations, it is largely not used in English anymore today (the preface of the revised edition of the Catholic New American Bible of 2011: “There have been changes in vocabulary; for example, the term ‘holocaust’ is now normally reserved for the sacrilegious attempt to destroy the Jewish people by the Third Reich.”)
Since translation into Georgian was traditionally done on the basis of the Greek Septuagint, a transliteration of holokautōma was used as well, which was changed to a translation with the meaning of “burnt offering” when the Old Testament was retranslated in the 1980’s on the basis of the Hebrew text.
In the Koongo (Ki-manianga) translation by the Alliance Biblique de la R.D. Congo (publ. in 2015) olah is translated as “kill and offer sacrifice” (source: Anicet Bassilua) and in Elhomwe as “fire offering.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
The English translation of Everett Fox uses offering-up (similarly, the German translation by Buber-Rosenzweig has Darhöhung and the French translation by Chouraqui montée).
The Hebrew that is translated as “threshing sledge” in English is translated in Bura-Pabir as sur dəga or “threshing thing.” “It is good to use this quite general term here, since it is a hyperonym (more general term) for both the Hebrew and Bura cultural variants (a sledge and a stick respectively).” (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Samuel 24:22:
Kupsabiny: “Then Araunah said that, ‘Lord/Sir, you can take this place for nothing and do with it as you like. See, I am even giving you oxen for sacrifice that can be burned completely and you can burn the yokes of these oxen and the things which are used for threshing to become firewood.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Araunah said to David, "Please take it, Great King! Whatever you want to do, please do it! I will give you bulls for burnt offering and threshing sledges and yokes for the wood."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Arauna said, ‘Take and offer to God whatever you want, Beloved King. Here are the cattles for you to offer as burnt offering, and here are also their yokes including the woods that are used for threshing in-order to-be-used-as-firewood.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Araunah replied to David, ‘Your Majesty, offer to Yahweh whatever you wish/want. Here, take my oxen to use for the offering that will be completely burned on the altar. And here, take their yokes and the boards that I use for the threshing, and use them for the wood that you will burn.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God or a person or persons to be greatly honored, the honorific prefix go- (御 or ご) can be used, as in go-ran (ご覧), a combination of “behold / see” (ran) and the honorific prefix go-.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The concept of “offering” is translated in the Shinkaiyaku Bible as kansha o-kami ni o-sasage (お献げ), using “offer” (sasage) with the respectful prefix o-. Also in this verse, the Shinkaiyaku Bible uses as o-kini mesu (お気に召す), combining “please” or “do me a favor” (kini mesu) with the respectful prefix o-.
Other uses of honorifics in this verse include:
The choice of an imperative construction. Here, the honorific form kudasai (ください) reflects that the action is called for as a favor for the sake of the beneficiary. This polite kudasai imperative form is often translated as “please” in English. While English employs pure imperatives in most imperative constructions (“Do this!”), Japanese chooses the polite kudasai (“Do this, please.”).
The choice of a benefactive construction as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. Here, goran (ご覧) or “see/behold/look” and osasage (お献げ) or “offer” are used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).”
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.”
As in the previous verse, the words my lord the king and to him (rather than the more direct “to you”) are a way of addressing David with respect. But translators should show respect in a way that is natural, as in verse 21.
Take: in the context of verse 23, this indicates that the threshing floor is offered to David as a gift, for no payment. What follows shows that Araunah is also willing to provide everything else that was needed to make the sacrifice.
Offer up what seems good to him: literally “offer up the good in his eyes.” What is implied here is offering to Yahweh anything David might consider suitable. But the fact that the offering would be to Yahweh is not explicitly stated. The ancient Greek version, however, adds “to the LORD.” This addition may be made in the receptor language if needed for translation reasons, even though the textual evidence for these words is not very strong.
Burnt offering: see the comments on 1 Sam 6.14.
Threshing sledges were heavy boards that were used in the process of separating the husks from grain. They were normally dragged across the stone floor on which the grain had been spread out. A yoke was a wooden bar or collar used to bind one or two animals to something heavy they had to pull, such as a wagon or a plow. Since the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen were made of wood, they were offered to David to provide fuel for burning the sacrifices. Since these items will not be known to many readers, the translation may have to fill in a certain amount of detail. Contemporary English Version has “You can use the threshing-boards and the wooden yokes for the fire.” Some translators may even have to resort to a rather general statement like “here are some things made of wood that you can use for the fire.”
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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