The name that is transliterated as “Chaldean” in English means “astrologer,” “wanderers.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )
In Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) it is translated with the sign that combines “Mesopotamia” (see here) and “spreading out,” since the Chaldeans originated in southern Mesopotamia and spread out from there. (Source: Missão Kophós )
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).
Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).
In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Habakkuk 1:6:
Kupsabiny: “I am going to raise up the people of Babylon to get power over all the world. That community are people who like chaos/revolt and are very disobedient. They will overrun the whole world and rule (it).” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Look! I am raising up the Babylonians, that cruel and reckless nation. They spread everywhere on the earth to snatch away other people’s dwelling places.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “For I will-cause- the Babylonians -to-rule. These people (are) very cruel and they rush to attack other nations in-order to seize places not their-own.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “I will-cause-to-rule in-the-future the cruel/malicious and impetuous ones-from-Babilonia and their soldiers will go-around the entire earth to snatch what is not theirs.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
English: “But soon all those whom they have captured will ridicule the soldiers from Babylonia! They will make fun of them, saying, ‘Terrible things will happen to you who have stolen things from other countries! You got many things by forcing people to give them to you. But you certainly will not keep those things for a long time !’” (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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
This verse gives the content of the surprise promised in verse 5. This relationship is expressed by the first word of the Revised Standard VersionFor. In many languages it will be necessary to show this relationship clearly with an introductory word of some kind.
The next word lo is an old-fashioned word which only draws attention to what follows. In modern English one may say “look” or “see” (New American Bible). However, Good News Translation and several other modern versions (Jerusalem Bible, New International Version, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) simply omit it. Many languages will render For lo as “So look!” or “So pay attention.”
Rousing or “raising up” (New American Bible, New English Bible, New International Version) is expressed in political terms in Good News Translation as “bringing … to power.” One may also say “I am causing the Babylonians … to become powerful (politically)” or “I am causing the Babylonians … to gain political power.”
The Chaldeans were originally the inhabitants of southern Babylonia, but by the time of Habakkuk, this name carried a wider meaning. Thus it is translated by the more general word “Babylonians” in Good News Translation and New International Version. The Babylonians had lived in lower Mesopotamia for many centuries, but their recent conquest of Assyria had made them a major world power for the first time.
The words translated bitter and hasty have similar sounds in Hebrew. Some translators have tried to keep this similarity in English. Moffatt and Jerusalem Bible use “fierce and fiery” for instance. If other languages have two words of similar sound that can be used together here, that will be good. However, if such a pair of words will not sound natural, it should not be forced. Bitter (Good News Translation “fierce”) emphasizes the cruelty of the Babylonians, and the Hebrew word translated hasty emphasizes the speed with which they conquered most of western Asia.
Another translation model for the first half of this verse is “So pay attention, because I am causing those cruel and restless Babylonians to gain political power.”
The pronouns and possessives from verses 6b-11 are singular in Hebrew, agreeing with the singular noun nation. However, they are collective in meaning and are translated as plural in Revised Standard Version and most other English versions. Some translators may be able to use a collective singular, but many will need to use the plural in these verses.
The second half of the verse strengthens the description and adds more detail. March through the breadth of the earth means “march everywhere in the world” (Jerusalem Bible “march miles across country”). To seize habitations not their own means “to capture other people’s homes.” Good News Translation makes this into a more general statement and says “They are marching out across the world to conquer other lands.” Some translators may find it helpful to follow this example. The word march in English always carries the overtones of soldiers on the move. So in some languages it will be helpful to render this sentence as “Their soldiers march everywhere in the world to conquer….”
Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on the Book of Habakkuk. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1989. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
That is because I will cause the Babylonians/Chaldeans to become powerful. -or-
What I will do is give the Babylonians/Chaldeans ⌊⌋ power ⌊to fight against you (plur.)⌋ . -or-
I will cause the Babylonians/Chaldeans to become strong ⌊and attack/punish you⌋ .
1:6b that ruthless and impetuous nation
They are cruel and quickly to become violent people. -or-
They are quick to be cruel. -or-
⌊Their armies⌋ race to opportunities to be violent/fierce.
1:6c which marches through the breadth of the earth
They will march across the world (New Living Translation (2004)) -or-
Their armies will go everywhere in the world -or-
They will go to war against many countries
1:6d to seize dwellings not their own.
to take for themselves houses which do not belong to them. -or-
to conquer/capture other people’s homes ⌊and lands⌋ .
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