Gomorrah

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 14:8)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 14:8:

  • Newari: “The kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Bela (later [known as] Zoar) having come to the Siddim Valley,” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Now, the kings of Sodom, Gomora, Adma, Zeboyim, and Bela gathered their soldiers there at the Valley of Sidim” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Then the armies of the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Bela marched out to fight the armies of the other four kings in Siddim Valley. That valley is close to the Salt/Dead Sea.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

king

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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 14:8 - 14:9

Verses 8-12 report the defeat of the five kings in the Valley of Siddim and the capture of Lot. Verse 8 picks up again the story line from verse 3, where the five kings had gone to assemble for battle. The information given in verses 2 and 3 is now repeated in verse 8, except for the names of the five kings. In verse 9 the order of the four kings is Chedorlaomer, Tidal, Amraphel, and Arioch: see Gen 14.1. The narrator calls attention again to the place of the battle, because it plays a role in the defeat of the five kings.

Translators may find that a transition to verse 8 is necessary to show that the action has now returned to the earlier story line. For example, it may be necessary to say:

• After the four kings had defeated all those peoples, they were ready to battle the five kings who had joined forces in the Valley of Siddim. So the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah … fought with Chedorlaomer king of Elam… And so there were four kings fighting against five kings.

One translation begins verse 8 by saying “After winning all these fights, Chedorlaomer and his friends went to fight against the five kings of….”

Went out suggests that the five kings and their armies went from their cities to the Valley of Siddim some distance away to fight the four kings and their armies. Joined battle is literally “they set the battle with them” and means they arranged their armies for battle, prepared to fight, got ready for war.

Four kings against five: this expression is the narrator’s way of calling attention to a major battle. This may be expressed differently in other languages; for example, one translation says “… five kings on one side, four kings on the other side.”

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 .