17In every province and in every city, wherever the king’s command and his edict came, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a festival and a holiday. Furthermore, many of the peoples of the country professed to be Jews because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.
The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated in English as “joy” or “happiness” is translated in the HausaCommon Language Bible idiomatically as farin ciki or “white stomach.” In some cases, such as in Genesis 29:11, it is also added for emphatic purposes.
Other languages that use the same expression include Southern Birifor (pʋpɛl), Dera (popolok awo), Reshe (ɾipo ɾipuhã). (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
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:
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 If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior.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 first sentence of this verse contains four pairs of near synonyms: province–city; command–edict; gladness–joy; feast–holiday. The author surely intended to use this stylistic pattern of repetition, but the translator will need to decide how it can be represented in the receptor language. Good News Translation has restated to express the meaning of the words, while changing the form to have only two pairs of near synonyms.
A holiday is literally “a good day.” Here, as in later Hebrew, these words indicate a religious festival. Many languages will say “festival day,” although this must not be so culturally restricted as to make the reader or the listener associate this Jewish holiday with a specific holiday in one’s own culture.
The phrase many from the peoples of the country refers to “the peoples of the world” (Revised English Bible), “people of other nationalities” (New International Version). These were non-Jews who lived throughout the Persian Empire. Moffatt says “many pagans.” These people declared themselves Jews, that is, they “became Jews” (Good News Translation, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible), for the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them. The fear of the Jews is not fear of what the Jews feared; rather these peoples of the world were afraid of the Jews. Some interpreters, however, understand the fear in this verse to be “religious awe.” That is, the people became Jews, not because they were afraid of the Jewish people, but because they had seen the power of the God of the Jews. Against this latter interpretation is the use of “fear” in 9.2 in the sense of “to be afraid of.”
The Hebrew masculine plural participle “the ones becoming Jews” is variously interpreted in the versions. The participle is in the hithpael form; and as Waltke and O’Connor state, “the Hithpael may denote esteeming or presenting oneself in a state, sometimes without regard to the question of truthfulness” (pages 430-431). Revised Standard Version leaves a certain ambiguity as to whether they merely declared themselves Jews or actually became Jews. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible expresses the same ambiguity in a footnote, stating that the Hebrew may mean either “pretending to become Jews” or “converting to Judaism.” New Jerusalem Bible says that they “professed to be Jews,” implying that it was in name only. Even stronger than New Jerusalem Bible is Gordis, “pretended to be Jews.” Many versions, however, understand that they “made themselves Jews” indeed (so Segond and Bible en français courant; compare New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible). This interpretation is supported by 9.27. The translator should follow this latter interpretation.
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 .
became Jews: That is, they adopted the customs and beliefs of the Jews.
8:17c
the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them: That is, because they were afraid of the Jews and what they might do, now that Mordecai had such a high position in the kingdom.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.