The Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Greek that is transliterated as “Jacob” in English 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 49:1:
Kankanaey: “When that was so, Jacob whose name-was also Israel called his children and he said, ‘Gather-around, my children, so-that you will hear what I will say, because I will make-known what will happen to you in a future day (lit. in the addition of days).’ Then Jacob blessed his ten and two children starting with the firstborn. This is what he said in blessing Juda. (49:3-7)” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Newari: “Jacob summoned all his sons and said — ‘All of you come here. I will tell you what will happen to you later on.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Then Jacob called for his children/(sons) and told-(them), ‘[You (pl.)] gather-together for I will-tell you (pl.) what will-happen to you (pl.) in the future.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Jacob summoned all his sons, and said to them,” (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 second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.
In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Then Jacob called his sons: Then, which translates the common Hebrew connective, allows us to conclude that this poetic discourse follows directly from the previous chapter. Regardless of the origin and time of writing of chapter 49, the material has been placed in the setting of Jacob’s final words from his death bed and so is suitably said to follow the blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh in chapter 48. Therefore we may open this chapter as in Revised Standard Version. Some translators may find it clearer to say, for example, “After Jacob had blessed Ephraim and Manasseh, he called all his sons to him and said….” Since the new chapter begins after a new heading, it may not be necessary to open with a time expression. See Good News Translation.
Called his sons may need to be rendered as “sent someone to bring his sons” or “called his sons to come to him.”
Gather yourselves together: that is, “Come near me” or “Gather around me.”
That I may tell you: since the words that follow are the last words of Jacob, some translations say “I want to tell you before I die….”
Befall you in days to come: befall means “happen” or “take place.” Days to come is an expression that is used in prophetic literature to mean the last days or the end of time (see Isa 2.2 and Ezek 38.16, for example). In this context Driver understands it to mean “the period of Israel’s occupation of Canaan—in particular of the period of the judges and early years of the monarchy.” In translation it is sufficient to render this as “in the future,” “a time in the future,” or “a time still to come.”
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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