30Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me odious to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites; my numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.”
The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Simeon” or “Simon” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign that signifies “swords,” referring to the traditional Jewish symbol for the tribe. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is transliterated as “Levi” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign that signifies a menorah referring to the temple service of the tribe of the Levites. The same sign is also used for the tribe. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
The name that is transliterated as “Jacob” in English means “he will supplant,” “he that follows after,” “a heeler,” “one who trips up,” “takes hold by the land.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )
It is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign that signifies “lentil,” referring to the soup he gave his brother in exchange for his birthright (see Genesis 25:34). Note that another Spanish Sign Language sign for Jacob also users the sign for Jewish. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the signs signifying “smooth arm” (referring to the story starting at Genesis 27:11). (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 34:30:
Newari: “Jacob said to Simeon and Levi — ‘You have made trouble for me. Now the Canaanites, Perizzites, and all who live here will be hostile towards me. There are not many in our name. If they all join together and come to fight with us we will all die.'” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Now, Jacob said to Simeon and to Levi, ‘You (pl.) have-given me a big problem. The Canaanhon and the Periznon in this place will- now -hold-a-grudge-against us (incl.). We (incl.) will- surely all -die if they will-unite/[lit. will-become-as-one] to-attack us (incl.) because we (incl.) (are) only a-few.'” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, ‘You have caused a lot of trouble for me! Now the Canaan people-group and the Perizzi people-group and everyone else who lives in this land will hate me/say my name stinks! I do not have many men to fight for us, so if they all gather together and come to me and attack us, they will destroy us and all our household!'” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
In this verse Jacob, who appears to have had nothing to do with the massacre and pillage of Shechem, expresses his fear that the local tribes will seek revenge for his sons’ murderous misconduct.
You [plural or dual] have brought trouble on me by making me odious: brought trouble translates a verb meaning “made me turbid,” that is, “stirred up” (as water made muddy). See Josh 6.18; 7.25. The Hebrew expression is figurative for causing pain, unhappiness, trouble. Making … odious translates a verb form meaning to cause something to stink; see Exo 5.21 (“offensive”); Pro 13.5 (“act shamefully”). English odious means hateful, that is, “hated by the people of the country.” See Good News Translation. Various English translations say “You have brought my name into bad odor.” New English Bible has “You have made my name stink.”
Perizzites: see 13.7
My numbers are few may be rendered, for example, “I don’t have many men” or “I can’t count on many men to fight for me.”
If they gather … attack me: they refers to the people of the land, namely, other tribes and clans of Canaanites and Perizzites. Gather themselves against has the sense of uniting or joining together to fight against.
I shall be destroyed: destroyed renders a verb meaning to “be annihilated,” “exterminated,” “done away with.” Anchor Bible says “wiped out.”
Both I and my household: Jacob concludes by saying what he means by “I” in the previous sentence. The Hebrew ʾani ubethi expresses the finality of it all in rhyming form.
A common translation of the last part of this verse is “if these tribes join together and fight against us, they will finish us all off, me and all my family.”
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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