vision

Click here to view graphically

The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin and Greek that is translated as “vision” in English is translated in a variety in the following languages:

  • Chol: “as if in a dream” (source: Robert Bascom)
  • Obolo: ilaak ọkpọchieen̄ or “dreaming awake” (source: Enene Enene)
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “a showing like dreams”
  • Desano: “see in a dream what God will send”
  • Rincón Zapotec: “see what God shows”
  • Mayo: “see things from God as in a dream”
  • Lalana Chinantec: “dream how it is going to be”
  • Chuj: “like dreaming they see”
  • San Mateo del Mar Huave: “understand what they see as if in a dream”
  • Ayutla Mixtec: “see that which will happen” (source for this and seven above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Tagbanwa: “being caused to dream by God” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Chichewa: azidzaona zinthu m’masomphenya: “they will see things as if face-to-face” (interconfessional translation, publ. 1999) (Source: Wendland 1998, p. 69)
  • Mandarin Chinese: yì xiàng (异象 / 異象), lit. “different (or: strange) appearance.” (Source: Zetzsche)

The Greek in the books of Revelation and Acts is translated as obq-rmwible: “look-dream” in Natügu. Brenda Boerger (in Beerle-Moor / Voinov, p. 162ff.) tells the story of that translation: “In the book of Revelation, the author, John, talks about having visions. Mr. Simon [the native language translator] and I discussed what this meant and he invented the compound verb obq-rmwible ‘look-dream’ to express it. Interestingly, during village testing no one ever had to ask what this neologism meant.”

See also see a vision.

God's Promise to David

Artwork by Sister Marie Claire , SMMI (1937–2018) from Bengaluru, India.

For more information about images by Sister Marie Claire and ways to purchase them as lithographs, see here .

For other images of Sister Marie Claire paintings in TIPs, see here.

complete verse (2 Samuel 7:17)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Samuel 7:17:

  • Kupsabiny: “So, Nathan went and told David all those words the way God told him in the vision.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Nathan told to David everything whatever God had told to him in vision.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Natan told David all what- God -had-revealed to him.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “So Nathan told David everything that Yahweh had told him.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

David

The name that is transliterated as “David” in English means “beloved.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )

In Spanish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying king and a sling (referring to 1 Samuel 17:49 and 2 Samuel 5:4). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )


“Elizabeth” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

In German Sign Language it is only the sling. (See here ).


“David” in German Sign Language (source )

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

The (Protestant) Mandarin Chinese transliteration of “David” is 大卫 (衛) / Dàwèi which carries an additional meaning of “Great Protector.”

Click or tap here to see a short video clip about David (source: Bible Lands 2012)

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: David .

Translation commentary on 2 Samuel 7:17

The structure of this verse is radically changed by Good News Translation, New International Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Revised English Bible, and New Century Version in keeping with what is more natural in the English language. This same order may prove to be more natural in many other languages.

In accordance with: this translates a single Hebrew preposition that has a wide variety of meanings. Here the meaning “like” or “as” is well expressed in Revised Standard Version, but a number of other possibilities exist, including “in terms of” (Moffatt) and “exactly what he had heard” (Contemporary English Version).

The expressions all these words and all this vision are parallel but focus on different aspects of the revelation, so they should probably not be collapsed into a single statement if this can be avoided. The first of these focuses on what was said, and the second more specifically on what was supernaturally seen. The noun in the second case is based on a verbal root meaning “to see.” Revised English Bible uses verbal expressions to render both of these nouns, translating “all that had been said to him and all that had been revealed” (Revised English Bible). In languages where the passive is not natural here, the same idea can be conveyed by saying “everything that God had said and all the he had revealed to him” or “all that God had said to him by means of revelation [or, vision].”

Good News Translation translates “everything that God had revealed,” since all these words refers to the words that Yahweh had spoken. But this implicit information is not a part of the Hebrew text. Since “LORD” is used somewhat more frequently in the immediate context than “God,” some translators may prefer to use LORD here rather than God in such a dynamic rendering.

Spoke: while the word used here is the usual one for speaking, the context permits a translation like “related” (New Jerusalem Bible), “reported” (New International Version, Anchor Bible), or “gave a true account of” (Anderson).

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 .