Jerusalem

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:


“Jerusalem” in French Sign Language (source: La Bible en langue des signes française )

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)

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Jerusalem .

Translation commentary on Baruch 4:30

This subsection (verses 30-35) presents a special problem of discourse structure. We have here a prophetic oracle, spoken for God. In verses 30 and 35 God is spoken of in the third person, but in verse 34 God is the speaker. It would be possible to interpret verses 31-35, or at least verses 31-34, as the words spoken by God in comforting Jerusalem, introduced in verse 30. Good News Translation is not perfectly clear. It uses no quotation marks, but seems to slide into first person discourse for God at verse 34; it then changes verse 35 from third to first person. This problem is most easily solved by wording verse 34 as third person. Then there is no further problem as to who speaks when. The voice of the writer is then speaking without interruption from 4.30 to the end of the book. This is what we will suggest below.

Take courage: This is the fourth occurrence of this imperative; see verses 5, 21, and 27.

He who named you will comfort you: Good News Translation interprets this as referring to God as the one who brought Jerusalem into being, and who, like a parent, was in a position to name it: “God, who gave you your name….” Other ways of expressing this are “God, who gave you your identity…” and “God, who made you who you are….” A slightly different approach is to interpret God’s action in naming Jerusalem as God’s claiming the city as his own. Contemporary English Version follows this interpretation with “Your God chose you long ago as his own….” See this idea in the last line of Isa 43.1: “I have called you by name and you are my own” (New English Bible). See also Bar 2.15, 26. According to this approach, the line here may be rendered “God, who claims you as his own, will bring you comfort.” Translators may follow either of the above interpretations. Comfort here is not far from the idea of “relief,” as in “God … will soon relieve [or, rescue] you from trouble.”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.