complete verse (Genesis 37:19)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 37:19:

  • Kankanaey: “They said, ‘There-comes the one with many dreams.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Newari: “They said to one another — ‘Look! Here comes the dreamer.'” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “They said, ‘Here now the dreamer.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “They said to each other things like, ‘Here comes that dreamer!'” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Genesis 37:19

Said to one another is literally “said man to his brother,” which is an idiomatic way of describing a group of people saying the same thing together.

Here comes this dreamer is literally “Behold, master of dreams.” This is an idiomatic expression that is paralleled in 49.23, where “master of arrows” are archers; in 2 Kgs 1.8, where “master of hair” is a hairy man; and in Pro 29.22, where “master of anger” is an angry kind of man. Here Joseph is a dreamer. A number of languages have the same or a similar idiom; several translations have “man of dreams” here. In this context the expression is clearly intended as mockery or ridicule. This in this dreamer establishes Joseph as the person who has been talked about and ridiculed in his absence.

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 .