The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “brother” in English is translated in Kwere as sekulu, in Elhomwe as mbalaawo´, and in Mandarin Chinese as gēgē (哥哥), all “older brother.”
Note that Kwere also uses lumbu — “older sibling” in some cases. (Source for Kwere and Elhomwe: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext; Chinese: Jost Zetzsche)
In Lama it is translated as “older or younger brother.” (Source: Neal Brinneman)
Two kinds of wild wheat have grown in the open deciduous oak woodland in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent for several thousand years: Einkorn Wheat Triticum monococcum and Emmer Wheat Triticum dicoccum. Both came into cultivation together with barley. Just before the time of the Romans, the Naked Bread Wheat or Hard Wheat Triticum durum started replacing the hulled varieties. This then became the favorite type of wheat for bread and macaroni. Spelt is a sub-member of the Triticum aestivum species.
In New Revised Standard Version, updated edition and some other versions, the generic Hebrew word bar has been rendered “wheat” in Jeremiah 23:28 et al. This is legitimate, since the grain referred to by bar was probably wheat. However, it might be better to say “grain” in these passages.
The most important early wheat for the Israelites was emmer, probably the only wheat known in Egypt, and referred to in Hebrew as chittah. However, according to Hepper (Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants: Flowers and Trees, Fruits and Vegetables, Ecology. Baker Book House, 1992), the seven-headed wheat of the Egyptian king’s dream (Genesis 41:5ff.) suggests that there may also have been Triticum turgidum (rivet wheat) in the emmer group. The Hebrew word kusemeth probably refers to a type of emmer wheat that the Egyptians called swt.
Wheat is a type of grass like rice and barley, growing to around 75 centimeters (2.5 feet) in height and having a head with many small grains in rows.
Bread made from wheat was the staple food for the people of ancient Israel, so God punished them by breaking “the staff of bread” (see, for example, Ezekiel 4:16).
If wheat is unfamiliar, translators can transliterate from a major language in non-rhetorical contexts (for example, English witi, Portuguese trigo, French ble or froment, Swahili ngano, Arabic kama/alkama). The transliteration may add a generic tag such as “grain.” The New Testament passages are mostly rhetorical, opening the possibility for a metaphorical equivalent.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Samuel 4:6:
Kupsabiny: “(They) got/found a lady who was guarding the door having dozed off. (She) was picking wheat. Then those people sneaked inside the house and speared Ishbosheth in the stomach killing him.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “They entered into the midst of the house, coming to take wheat. After they went inside the house they went up to Ishbosheth’s room. There Ishbosheth was taking his afternoon rest and they struck him in the belly. So they killed him. Then they chopped off his head. Then taking his head they slipped away [from there] walked all night and through the Jordan Valley.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “They went-inside the house as-if to get (some) wheat. Then they went-inside the room of Ishboshet, where he was-lying-down on his bed, and they stabbed him in the belly/stomach. After-that they cut-off his head and brought it in their fleeing. They traveled the whole night in the Valley of Jordan.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “The woman who was the doorkeeper was sifting wheat. While doing that, she became sleepy, and fell asleep. So Rechab and his brother Baanah were able to creep in quietly.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
As the footnotes in both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation show, there are considerable textual problems in this verse. Like the above base and model, several modern versions follow the Septuagint and mention a woman doorkeeper who became so exhausted by her work of sifting wheat that she fell asleep, allowing the assassins to enter. The Septuagint is followed by Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Osty-Trinquet, Knox, An American Translation, and Moffatt in addition to Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. This reading seems to present events in a more logical order than the Masoretic Text, since verse 7 will repeat much of verse 6, if the Masoretic Text is followed in verse 6.
Others translations, following the Masoretic Text, have no reference to the doorkeeper at all and speak directly of the two men (using the pronoun “they”) going into the house pretending to look for wheat in order to kill Ishbosheth (so New International Version, New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). This rendering ignores some significant problems, including the fact that the third person plural pronoun, “they,” is feminine, and the lack of coherence of this rendering with the following verse. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives only a {D} rating to the Masoretic Text. New Revised Standard Version follows the Masoretic Text in verse 6 and translates the first verb in verse 7 with a pluperfect (past perfect) verb, “Now they had come into the house while he was lying on his couch…” (so also Fox). Such a translation avoids understanding verse 7 as a repetition of verse 6, and rather treats verse 7 as providing additional information about the events of verse 6. New Revised Standard Version is a possible rendering of the Masoretic Text, but translators are advised that there are fewer problems in following the lead of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation than in doing otherwise. The comments that follow are based on the assumption that this will be done.
Behold: see 1.2 and 1 Sam 2.31. The first word in the Masoretic Text in this verse may be understood differently, depending on what vowels are written with the consonants. It is possible to read this word as the Hebrew particle often rendered Behold in English translations, and that is how the Septuagint translated the Hebrew word. But the vowels in the Masoretic Text give a different meaning: the word may be an adverb of place, or it may be a third person feminine plural pronoun. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {C} rating to the word in the Masoretic Text, but it is nearly impossible to make sense of the text, if this is a feminine pronoun. It seems advisable here to correct the vowels of the Masoretic Text to read Behold (so Anderson).
The doorkeeper of the house: the word for doorkeeper in Greek is feminine, so it will be perfectly legitimate to speak of “the woman guarding the door.”
Cleaning wheat: in the Greek translation of Isa 28.27, the verb used here seems to refer to threshing. On the translation of the word “wheat,” see 1 Sam 6.13; 12.17; as well as Ruth 2.23. In some languages cleaning wheat may be translated “selecting wheat,” that is, choosing the good wheat and getting rid of the stones and other things that can not be eaten.
Rechab and Baanah his brother: both of these men were first mentioned in verse 2, where the focus was on the fact that they were both sons of Rimmon. Here the focus in on the fact that they were brothers. In many languages it will be necessary to say “his younger brother” or “his older brother.” The Hebrew does not indicate which is the older brother. Baanah is mentioned first in verse 2, so one may think that Baanah is the older; but Rechab is mentioned first in verses 5, 6, and 9. Since the relationship between Rechab and Baanah has been mentioned in verses 2 and 5, it is possible to leave the words his brother implicit in this verse.
Slipped in: the verb used here implies quietly and secretly sneaking past someone in the hope of not being noticed. While some languages may have a special verb to describe this kind of action, others will have to say something like “walked quietly into the house” or “crept in without making any noise.” It should be noted that, if translators follow the Masoretic Text of this verse, the final verb in Hebrew does not mean slipped in but rather “escaped” (New Revised Standard Version; New International Version has “slipped away”).
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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