The term that is transliterated as “Nebuchadnezzar” in English is translated in American Sign Language with the signs for “king” and one signifying a wavy beard, referring to the common way of wearing a beard in Mesopotamia (see here ). (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Nebuchadnezzar” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
In Spanish Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting “idol in my image,” referring to Daniel 3:1. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
The name that is transliterated as “Judah” or “Judea” in English (referring to the son of Jacob, the tribe, and the territory) is translated in Spanish Sign Language as “lion” (referring to Genesis 49:9 and Revelation 5:5). This sign for lion is reserved for regions and kingdoms. (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. and Steve Parkhurst)
The name that is transliterated as “Jerusalem” in English is signed in French Sign Language with a sign that depicts worshiping at the Western Wall in Jerusalem:
While a similar sign is also used in British Sign Language, another, more neutral sign that combines the sign “J” and the signs for “place” is used as well. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Jerusalem” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Ge’ez, 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.”
The name that is transliterated as “Jeconiah” (or: Jechoniah) in English is translated in Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) with a sign that combines “slave” and the people of Judah. King Jeconiah, the last king of Judah, was imprisoned and enslaved by Babylon (see Jeremiah 24:1). (Source: Missão Kophós )
[Today’s English Version A.1-3; Revised Standard Version 11.2-4]
Today’s English Version restructures the order of the information about Mordecai in verses 2-4 by placing the time (“During the second year of Xerxes’ reign, on the first day of the month of Nisan”) after the information that tells who Mordecai is and how he came to live in Susa. The effect of this restructuring is to place Mordecai the person in focus instead of the time frame as is done in the original Greek. Today’s English Version‘s restructuring significantly changes the emphasis of the verse. In the Greek insert, verse A.1 (11.2) informs the reader that “he had a dream” and that the person who dreamed was Mordecai. After the description of Mordecai, 11.4 introduces the dream with the words And this [was] his dream.
Other translations such as New Jerusalem Bible and Nueva Biblia Española restructure less radically than Today’s English Version by placing the genealogical information about Mordecai at the end of 11.2 instead of in the middle of the verse. New Jerusalem Bible says “In the second year of the reign of the Great King, Ahasuerus, on the first day of Nisan, a dream came to Mordecai, son of Jair….”
Though the story in the Hebrew text begins in the third year of King Xerxes’ reign, the Greek begins one year earlier, In the second year of the reign of Artaxerxes the Great. Throughout the Greek text, both in the Additions found only in the Greek and in the verses that also occur in the Hebrew text, King Xerxes is called Artaxerxes. The Greek mistakenly identified the Ahasuerus of the Hebrew text with Artaxerxes I (464–424 B.C.), the son and successor of Xerxes I. Today’s English Version harmonizes the translation of the Greek name with its translation of the Hebrew name Ahasuerus (see 1.1 of the Hebrew text), but this approach is not recommended.
Artaxerxes the Great is a proper noun and epithet, but in some versions the modifier the Great is translated as an appositional descriptive phrase (so Bible en français courant, La Sainte Bible: La version Etablie par les moines de Maredsous, and Today’s English Version, “Xerxes the great king”). Chouraqui translates it as an adjectival modifier, “the great king Ahasuerus.” In some cultures there may be praise names or titles that are the equivalent of the Great for example, “Artaxerxes Great Lord” or “Artaxerxes Father Great One.”
Nisan: the Greek is literally “in the month of Nisan.” Nisan was the first month in the Hebrew calendar (see comments on 3.7). Nueva Biblia Española translates “on the first day of April,” but since the lunar month began with the new moon of mid-March to mid-April, this is not a good model to follow. A Jewish reader understood the first day of Nisan to be New Year’s Day.
The words whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had brought from Jerusalem leave implicit the relationship of Nebuchadnezzar to the city of Jerusalem. Today’s English Version makes this relationship explicit: “when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia captured Jerusalem.”
On translating the name Jeconiah see the comments on 2.6.
The information concerning Mordecai’s ancestry and exile are paralleled in 2.5-6. The names Jair, Shimei, and Kish have been turned into Greek names in the Septuagint: Jairus, Semeius, and Kisaeus (see Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, which preserve the Greek forms). Most translations of the Greek text, however, transliterate these three names from the Septuagint in the same form as from the Hebrew text, to keep the identity clear. Unlike the ambiguity of the Hebrew text (2.6), the Greek is clear in stating that it was Mordecai who was taken into exile at the time of king Jeconiah.
The city of Susa is identified in Today’s English Version as “the Persian city of Susa.” See comments on 1.2.
A great man is a literal translation of the Greek. Today’s English Version makes the meaning clear in English: “an important official in the royal court.”
Had a dream is literally “he saw a dream.” In some languages one “sleeps a dream.” Mordecai’s dream is given in 11.5-11 (A.4-10), and the interpretation of the dream is given in 10.4-13 (Addition F.1-10), at the end of the Greek text of Esther.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Noss, Philip A. A Handbook on the Book of Esther — Deuterocanon: The Greek Text. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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