The Hebrew, Greek and Latin that is transliterated as “Gomorrah” in English is transliterated in Mandarin Chinese as émólā (蛾摩拉) in the Protestant tradition. This is an interesting transliteration because the first character é (蛾) has a negative connotation with the meaning of “moth.” This character is only used here in the Protestant Chinese Bible. For many other transliterations the more neutral character 俄 with the same pronunciation is used. (Source: Zetzsche)
complete verse (Genesis 14:10)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 14:10:
- Newari: “Because there were tar pits from place to place there in the Siddim Valley, when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah ran away, some of their people fell down into the tar pits, [and] the rest just ran off toward the hills.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
- Hiligaynon: “Now, the Valley of Sidim had many holes where asphalt was-being-taken-out. And when the king of Sodom and Gomora together with their men fled, some fell-down into the holes, and others were-able-to-flee to the mountains.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
- English: “The Siddim Valley was full of tar pits. So when the armies of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah tried to run away, many of the men fell into the tar pits. The others escaped and ran away to the hills.” (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 Genesis 14:10
Verse 10 is background information on the setting, to assist the reader.
Full of bitumen pits translates the Hebrew “with pits with pits,” meaning there were very many pits. A pit is a large open hole on the surface of the ground. Bitumen translates the same word used in 11.3. See 11.3 and 6.14 for comments.
As the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled: kings in Hebrew is singular, but the reference is to the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah, or kings as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. The narrator expects us to know that the five kings were being defeated, losing the battle, and that is why these kings were attempting to escape. Accordingly it may be necessary to make this clear; for example, “When the five kings saw they were losing the battle…,” or in the words of one translation, “Those five kings had to run away, because King Chedorlaomer was starting to beat them.”
Interpreters and translators differ in their understanding of the second part of this verse. Revised Standard Version has as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them. Some could mean some kings or some soldiers. Good News Translation makes it clear that it is the kings who fall into the pits, and goes on to say “the other three kings escaped to the mountains.” New English Bible has the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fall into the pits, but “the rest escaped to the hill country,” meaning that the rest of the kings escaped. Revised English Bible, on the other hand, has “When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some of their men fell into them, but the rest….” It is also possible to take the reference as meaning the kings and their soldiers; one translation says, for example, “the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and their soldiers fell into the pits, but the other three kings and their soldiers escaped and hid in the hills.” For translators who require more information, “falling into the pits” means that they died there.
Speiser argues that the verb translated fell often carries a reflexive meaning, as in the phrase “to fall on one’s neck,” which describes a voluntary act, and so translates “The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah flung themselves into these [pits] in their flight; the others escaped….” New Jerusalem Bible follows this rendering. If the translator follows Speiser’s suggestion, it may be clearer to say, for example, “the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah flung themselves into the tar pits to die” or “the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah killed themselves by jumping into the tar pits.”
Speiser’s point of view is consistent with the narrator’s way of telling the story. He never mentions the soldiers; all events are told as if the kings alone perform every act. Translators may follow Speiser or adapt Good News Translation to say, for example, “When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah were losing the battle, they tried to escape, but they fell into the tar pits.”
The rest fled to the mountain may be rendered “the other kings ran away to the mountains” or “the other three kings left the battle and hid in the mountains.” The contrast between the fate of the two kings and the fate of the other three is well brought out by the translation that says “… those two fell into the pits, but the other three got away….” Mountain is singular in the Hebrew but refers to a range of mountains, Moab. Therefore Good News Translation says “to the mountains.”
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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