Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
Two types of fig trees are mentioned in the Bible, the Common Fig Ficus carica (Hebrew te’enah) and the Sycomore Fig Ficus sycomorus (Hebrew shiqmah; see “Sycomore fig”). They are closely related. The common fig tree grows not only in Israel, but throughout the world in warm climates. In the Holy Land it was a common source of food; the fruit was eaten both fresh and dried. Sometimes the dried ones were pressed together to form flat “cakes” or blocks (Hebrew develah). But, just as important, the large leaves of the fig make it an excellent shade tree. However, the first use of the fig mentioned in the Bible (Genesis 3:7) was not for food or shade but for clothing; Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves for themselves to cover their nakedness.
The fig was probably domesticated in northwestern Turkey from a wild variety that grew there around 5000 years ago. Greek, Roman, and Egyptian records indicate that the fruits were popular. Figs are now grown especially in Israel, Turkey, Greece, Italy, and Portugal, as well as in the warm parts of the United States.
The fig is believed to be indigenous to western Asia and to have been distributed by humans and birds throughout the Mediterranean area. Remnants of figs have been found in excavations of sites traced to at least 5000 B.C.
The domesticated fig grows to about 5-8 meters (17-26 feet) and has a round crown and very deep and round roots. The trunk may grow to be more than 70 centimeters (2 feet) thick. Fig trees may grow to be several decades old, if they are well cared for. Figs are usually propagated by planting cuttings. The pollination of the flowers is an amazingly intricate process closely linked to the life cycle of a tiny wasp, and the fact that fig trees, like papayas and date palms, are male or female. (There are now some kinds of figs that produce fruit without pollination.) The fruits are about the size of a hen’s egg and can be green, yellow, purple, or brown depending on the type. They are sweet and soft and difficult to transport. For that reason most farmers dry the fruits before shipping them. The “fruit” of the fig is technically a strangely shaped flower. Noting the absence of a “real” flower, the ancient people of India called it a flowerless tree.
The common fig tree, along with the vine and the olive, is one of the three “top trees” for the Jews. The Bible refers to the fig over 270 times. The image of peace and happiness in Israel was “every man under his vine and under his fig tree” (1 Kings 4:25).
Wild figs are common throughout the tropical world; there are at least eight hundred species of Ficus, thirty-two in southern Africa alone. The banyan, peepul, and bo are all types of fig. The fruits of wild fig trees are not nearly as juicy or sweet as those of the domesticated ones. In many places people eat the fruit when they find it in the wild, but do not market it or cultivate the trees. Translators are urged to use the local word, and, if necessary, use a footnote to indicate the difference between the local one and the biblical one. Where it is not known at all, transliterations from a major language may be used in nonfigurative contexts.
The olive family has over four hundred species in the world. Many of them grow in Africa, India, and Australia, but it is the one in the Bible, the European Olive Olea europaea, that has become famous. It is likely that the olive was domesticated in Egypt or the eastern Mediterranean basin in the third millennium B.C. The botanist Newberry argued that Egypt was its original home. We know from the Bible that olives grew in the hills of Samaria and in the foothills. There is a wild variety, called Olea europaea sylvestris, that is smaller than the domestic one; it produces a smaller fruit with less oil. The Apostle Paul refers to this wild variety in Romans 11:17 and 11:24. Olives are easily propagated by cuttings and by grafting fruitful species into less fruitful ones. They grow best on hillsides where the rain drains off quickly. The fruit forms by August but does not ripen until December or January.
The olive is not a big tree, reaching up to perhaps 10 meters (33 feet), but with pruning it is usually kept to around 5 meters (17 feet) tall. The leaves are grayish green above, and whitish underneath. The bark of young trees is silvery gray but gets darker and rougher as the tree ages. The trunk also gets twisted and hollow and may reach over a meter in thickness. Olives grow for hundreds of years, and some in Israel have possibly reached two thousand years.
The fruit of the olive is about 2 centimeters (1 inch) long and a bit more than a centimeter (1/2 inch) thick. It has a hard stone inside and a soft skin that covers the oily flesh. Today a mature tree may yield 10-20 kilograms (22-44 pounds) of fruit, which, when processed, will yield 1.3-2.6 kilograms (3.6 pounds) of oil.
For the Jews the “big three” trees were the vine, the fig, and the olive. People ate olive fruits, but more importantly, they squeezed the oil from the fruits, and used it for cooking, for lamps, for rubbing on the body, for medicine, and in religion. Jacob poured olive oil on the stone where he saw a vision of angels, declaring it a holy place (Genesis 28:18). Moses, similarly, anointed the Tabernacle and its equipment with olive oil mixed with sweet-smelling resins (Exodus 40:9). Aaron and the priests who served in the Tabernacle were also anointed (Exodus 29:21).
Some types of wild olive grow in Africa, India, and Australia, but are not well-known. The so-called “African olive” produces a black, oil-bearing fruit much like an olive. It is common as a snack in northern Nigeria. The “Chinese olive” is also a species of Canarium and may be a possible cultural substitute, if it produces edible fruit and oil. The “Russian olive” grown in dry regions of the world is a member of the Elaeagnus family and not a true olive. A variety of olive (Olea cuspidate) is used for building in India and Nepal, but it is probably not possible to use it in the Bible except perhaps in a study Bible where you could say that the biblical olive was related to this tree.
Since most of the kinds of olive trees in the world do not have edible fruit, it may not be possible to substitute a local variety. If it is done, however, a footnote would be required saying that the Palestinian kind produced edible fruit and oil. If a variety of Canarium is eaten in your area, you could use the local name for it. Otherwise transliterate from a major language.
I smote you with blight and mildew/I sent a scorching wind to dry up your crops. Blight and mildew (even if they are known) give the impression that some sort of diseases are intended, and smote you seems to refer to human diseases.
But in fact in this picture people are only indirectly the victims, and the diseases are diseases of the crops: “I caused blight and mildew to destroy your crops.” In some languages it may be possible to have such technical terms like blight and mildew in the translation and to give an explanation in a glossary. However, in most cases there will be no such terms, or they will be known only by crop specialists. The blight was caused by the hot desert wind. The cause of the mildew is not as certain, but there is a strong possibility that it was caused by worms. This makes it possible to translate: “I sent a hot wind and worms to destroy your crops.” Good News Translation has only a scorching wind (compare also The Translator’s Old Testament: “a burning wind” and New American Bible: “searing wind”).
I laid waste your gardens and your vineyards/all your gardens and vineyards. The majority of scholars change the Hebrew slightly to something which means “I dried up” or I have laid waste (see Smith-Goodspeed, Moffatt, New English Bible, The Translator’s Old Testament). With this change the text to be translated is: “I have dried up your gardens and vineyards.”
In some languages vineyards can be translated by such expressions as “field/garden with vines,” “grape garden,” “place-for-grapes,” “wine garden,” etc. In other places a word for vineyards may have to be introduced as a loan word from the dominant language in the area. Elsewhere it may be necessary to use a cultural equivalent such as “field/garden of palmwine-trees,” in which case the expression should correspond if at all possible with the word for “wine” used in 2.12 (see the commentary there). Sometimes the closest equivalent will simply be general terms such as “gardens and plantations” or “fields and gardens” or “vegetable gardens and fruit gardens.” Sometimes both expressions will have to be contained in one word “gardens.”
Likewise, fig trees and olive trees may be unknown, and it is often necessary to borrow the meaningless names for these trees from the dominant language in the area. An explanatory word such as “tree” should be included as well. Some languages may have a general term for all kinds of cultivated fruit trees, though no specific name for olive trees and fig trees, in which case such a term can be used: “the locusts ate up your fruit trees.” Sometimes a kind of wild fig tree or olive tree is known, but since they are never cultivated, the words for this kind of tree cannot be used.
Where locusts are unknown, one can use an explanatory word such as “insects called locusts” or simply a general term “a kind of insect.”
For the repeated parts of this paragraph, see 4.6-11.
Quoted with permission from de Waard, Jan & Smalley, William A. A Handbook on Amos. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1979. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
4:9a I struck you with blight and mildew in your growing gardens and vineyards;
“I punished you (plur.) by destroying the plants in your (plur.) farms/fields and vineyards with disease and mold. -or-
“I harmed you (plur.) by sending hot dry winds and damp decay/rot which killed the plants in your (plur.) fruit orchards and gardens of grapevines.
4:9b the locust devoured your fig and olive trees,
⌊I made⌋ locusts consume your (plur.) fig trees and olive trees. -or-
⌊I caused⌋ grasshoppers to eat all ⌊the leaves on⌋ your cultivated trees.
4:9c yet you did not return to Me,”
However, you (plur.) did not come back to me,” -or-
But still you (plur.) rejected me.”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.