The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “love” in English is typically translated in Hakka Chinese as thung-siak / 痛惜 or “pain-love” when it refers to God’s love.
The same term is used for a variety of Hebrew terms that cover a range of English translations that refer to God as the agent, including “love,” “compassion,” and “mercy.”
Paul McLean explains: “[Thung-siak / 痛惜] has been used for many years in a popular Hakka-Christian mountain song based on John 3:16. The translation team decided that for this and other reasons it would be a good rendering here. It helps point to the fact that God’s ‘love’ is a compassionate (cum passio, with suffering) love.”
The Greek and Hebrew that is translated in English as “hate” or a form thereof is translated in Tabasco Chontal as “don’t want to see [the person who is hated].” (Source: John Beekman & Harwood Hess in Notes on Translation, March 1963, p. 1ff.)
Image taken from the Wiedmann Bible. For more information about the images and ways to adopt them, see here .
For other images of Willy Wiedmann paintings in TIPs, see here.
In French, the phrase un temps pour tout is used as an idiom, comparable in meaning to “Everything comes to those who wait.” (Source: Muller 1991, p. 16)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ecclesiastes 3:8:
Kupsabiny: “There is a day for loving and one for refusing. there is a day for fighting and one for being at peace.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “There is a time to make love, there is a time to express hatred. There is a time to wage war, there is a time for peace.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “there is a time to love and there is also a time to hate/take-grudge, there is a time to fight and there is also a time to be-friends.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
A time to love does not necessarily have sexual nuances and can be broader in meaning, speaking also of the love between a father and son, or between God and people. It denotes a caring attitude toward another person. Also in Scripture the word speaks more of loving action than of simple emotion: “A time to act lovingly [or, caringly].”
A time to hate should not be thought of as encouraging a person to hate someone else. When Good News Translation says “He sets the time for … hate,” it seems inappropriate, for Qoheleth never suggests that God agrees with that kind of activity. It is also not clear whether love and hate are to be used with human objects in mind. Quite possibly Qoheleth is thinking of the right time for these activities in a figurative sense. For example, we should “love good” and “hate evil.” Once again the translator should guard against making the translation more precise than the original.
Two models for translation are:
• There are times when people are loving, and there are times when they are hateful.
• There are right times for loving and right times for hating.
A time for war indicates that people go to war only at certain times and in response to certain situations. For example, battles in the ancient world were not usually fought when there were crops to be harvested (see 2 Sam 11.1).
A time for peace balances the saying and indicates that there are times when wholeness, security, and well-being are best attained. The Hebrew term rendered as peace (shalom) refers not just to the absence of war, but describes a situation of total well-being. However, in the present context a word like “peace” or “not fighting” can be used.
As noted earlier the last line of the poem differs from the rest of the poem in that it uses noun forms, “war” and “peace,” in place of verb forms. This is a stylistic way of marking the end of the poem. Indeed the question that follows in verse 9 clearly indicates a change in direction and thought and thus marks a new paragraph. If the translator’s language has a special way of noting the close of a poem, then that is what should be considered for use here.
What Qoheleth sets forth in these twenty-eight contrasting actions is a selection of general activities, all of which are undertaken at given moments in time. For those involved in these activities there are moments when one action is appropriate and others when it is not. Time and action are coordinated, says Qoheleth.
Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Zogbo, Lynell. A Handbook on the Book of Ecclesiates. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Il s’agit de la fin du poème, et sa conclusion est, comme son introduction (Ecc 3.1), marquée par une structure chiastique :
CH1 un temps pour aimer
CH2 et un temps pour haïr
CH2 un temps de guerre
CH1 et un temps de paix
En effet, bien que les formes grammaticales différent, le verbe aimer dans le premier vers correspond au nom paix dans le deuxième, et le verbe haïr au nom guerre. On remarque aussi qu’au lieu de formes verbales (aimer, haïr) qui caractérisent la plupart du poème, il y a, comme au début en Ecc 8.1 des formes nominales : guerre, paix.
un temps pour aimer et un temps pour haïr : les traducteurs devraient trouver des expressions qui rendent ces deux émotions fortes. Dans certaines langues, il faudrait ajouter le complément : « aimer quelqu’un », « haïr quelqu’un ».
un temps de guerre et un temps de paix : pour cette conclusion du poème, l’auteur introduit un changement important. On ne trouve plus des verbes, mais deux noms, guerre et paix. Il semble significatif que le nom paix soit le dernier mot du poème, et soit ainsi accentué.
Dans la majorité des langues, il sera facile de trouver un mot pour guerre, mais sinon, on pourra utiliser des expressions verbales : « il y a un temps pour faire la guerre », « aller en bataille », « attaquer les gens ».
paix : le mot שָׁלוֹם šâlôm, est un mot clé polysémique, désignant le bien-être, la prospérité, et la paix, en opposition à la guerre. C’est le dernier sens qui semble évoqué ici, c’est-à-dire, la cessation de tout conflit. Mais il est aussi possible qu’à la fin du discours, le poète vise un sens plus large ou ambigu. Dans certaines langues, une expression idiomatique comme « cœur froid » ou « frais » exprimera bien l’idée. S’il faut opter pour des expressions verbales, la traduction sera plus longue : « un temps pour aller à la guerre, un temps pour faire la paix ».
En hébreu, ce poème se termine d’une manière très frappante. Les traducteurs devraient faire un effort pour bien conclure ce poème dans leur langue.
3.9-11
Le poème en Ecc 3.1 s’achève et le traducteur devrait commencer une nouvelle strophe ou un nouveau paragraphe. Dans cette section Qohéleth revient à une réflexion sur le rôle de Dieu dans la vie des êtres humains, sur les « charges » qu’il leur donne et les limites qu’il leur impose. Cette section débute sur une question rhétorique qui ressemble beaucoup à la question thématique du Ecc 1.3. Pour maintenir ce lien littéraire, si possible, le même vocabulaire et style devraient être utilisés ici.
Source: Zogbo, Lynell. L’Ecclésiaste – Manuel de traduction – Commentaire linguistique et exégétique de la Bible. Alliance biblique universelle, 2021.
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