The Hebrew in Esther 1:12 that is translated as “anger burned in him” or similar in English is translated in Elhomwe with the idiomatic “his heart burned within him.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
See also anger.
angry
The Hebrew, Greek and Latin that is translated as “(was or became) angry” in English is translated in Kwere as “saw anger.” In Kwere, emotions are always paired with sensory verbs (seeing or smelling or hearing). (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
In Bariai it is “to have grumbling interiors” (source: Bariai Back Translation).
See also anger and feel (terror, pain, suffering, anxiety).
eunuch
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “eunuch” in English is translated in Low German as “man (or: person) who does not have male strength” (Minsch, de ehr Mannskraft nicht hebt) (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006). Similarly, in the German Luther Bible it is translated as Entmannter or “de-masculated.” (Source: Jost Zetzsche)
In Bislama it is “a person who has been castrated.” (Source: Bill Camden in The Bible Translator 1995, p. 240ff. )
When the mentioning of “eunuch” does not play an important part of the story, such as in Esther 2:3 or Esther 1:15, the Elhomwe translation uses “servant or “someone working at the palace” “because otherwise element of being castrated too much emphasis.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
anger
The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “anger” or similar in English in this verse is translated with a variety of solutions (Bratcher / Nida says: “Since anger has so many manifestations and seems to affect so many aspects of personality, it is not strange that expressions used to describe this emotional response are so varied”).
- Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “be warm inside”
- Mende: “have a cut heart”
- Mískito: “have a split heart”
- Tzotzil: “have a hot heart”
- Mossi: “a swollen heart”
- Western Kanjobal: “fire of the viscera”
- San Blas Kuna: “pain in the heart”
- Chimborazo Highland Quichua: “not with good eye”
- Chichewa: “have a burning heart” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation) (see also anger burned in him)
- Citak: two different terms, one meaning “angry” and one meaning “offended,” both are actually descriptions of facial expressions. The former can be represented by an angry stretching of the eyes or by an angry frown. The latter is similarly expressed by an offended type of frown with one’s head lowered. (Source: Graham Ogden)
In Akan, a number of metaphors are used, most importantly abufuo, lit. “weedy chest” (the chest is seen as a container that contains the heart but can also metaphorically be filled with other fluids etc.), but also abufuhyeε lit. “hot/burning weedy chest” and anibereε, lit. “reddened eyes.” (Source: Gladys Nyarko Ansah in Kövecses / Benczes / Szelid 2024, p. 21ff.)
See also God’s anger and angry.
complete verse (Esther 1:12)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Esther 1:12:
- Kupsabiny: “But when they wanted to go and bring Vashti to come before the ruler, she refused. That word/issue pained/disturbed the ruler/king very much that his head nearly burst.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
- Newari: “They went and proclaimed the great king’s order to Queen Vashti. But the queen did not agree to come. So the king became very angry, He burned with anger.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
- Hiligaynon: “But when the servants of the king told Queen Basti about what he had-commanded, she refused to go there. Therefore the king was very angry.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
- Eastern Bru: “When the assistants came to tell the queen what the king had said, the queen did not obey and did not come to meet the king. So because of this thing the king felt very angry at the queen.” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
- English: “But when those servants told Vashti what the king wanted, she refused to go to the king because she did not want to display her beauty in front of a group of half-drunk men.
So that caused the king to become very angry.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
king
Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:
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- Piro: “a great one”
- Highland Totonac: “the big boss”
- Huichol: “the one who commanded” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
- Ekari: “the one who holds the country” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
- Una: weik sienyi: “big headman” (source: Kroneman 2004, p. 407)
- Pass Valley Yali: “Big Man” (source: Daud Soesilo)
- 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.”
(Source: Faye Edgerton in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 25ff. )
See also king (Japanese honorifics).
Translation commentary on Esther 1:12
The author informs the reader that Queen Vashti refused to come at the davar “word” of the king “that was by the hand of the eunuchs.” This is the second term used in the book to refer to a command or an order. What form the “word” took or how it was conveyed is not clear, unless “by the hand of” may be taken to imply the delivery of a written message. In the Hebrew text there is ellipsis, that is, there is no verb to indicate how the message was conveyed. The translator may prefer to follow Revised Standard Version (also Bible en français courant) in using a verb that does not specify how it was transmitted (conveyed), rather than Good News Translation, which makes the command oral (“told”).
No motive is given for the queen’s refusal, but her refusal was necessary for the development of the story of how Esther saved her people.
At this is simply the Hebrew conjunction waw “and”; translators should use a normal transition term for continuing the narration from the queen’s refusal to the king’s anger.
The writer of Esther frequently uses repetition of words and phrases. Sometimes the repetition is in the form of words that are near synonyms. In other cases the repetition takes the form of phrases or sentences with nearly identical meaning. In this verse the king’s reaction to the queen’s refusal to obey his word is described twice: the king was enraged, and his anger burned within him. Though most translations keep this repetition (Revised Standard Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New International Version), some versions omit the second part as being redundant (Good News Translation, Bible en français courant). In keeping with the literary style of the book, the translator may wish to express the king’s anger first in normal prose fashion, “the king became very angry,” and then by a parallel idiomatic expression; for example, “his heart rose up,” “his heart burned,” or “his liver blackened.”
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Noss, Philip A. A Handbook on Esther (The Hebrew Text). (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
SIL Translator’s Notes on Esther 1:12
1:12b
became furious, and his anger burned within him: The Hebrew uses two expressions to show how very angry the king was. You need to decide whether you should use two expressions in your language or just one very strong expression to show the same thing.
Paragraph 1:13–15
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