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 2:8:
Kupsabiny: “You (sing.) have plundered many people for their things. But those people who are left will also plunder things from you. It is like that because you have destroyed many lands and cities and you have spilled the blood of people.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “You plundered many nations, so the peoples who are left will plunder you. for you have shed human blood, you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in all their dwellings.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Because many nations you (plur.) have-plundered things/properties, in-return you (plur.) will be-plundered by the people who are-left on these nations. This will-happen to you (plur.) because in your (plur.) killing people and in your (plur.) harming their lands and towns.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
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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. )
In this verse more details are given of the punishment that is to come upon the Babylonians. As they have greedily robbed other nations, so they in turn will be robbed. The punishment will fit the crime.
Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation treat the whole verse as one sentence, but many translators will find it more natural to break it into two sentences, as New International Version has done.
The first two clauses in Revised Standard Version state the fairness of the punishment: Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you (compare Isa 33.1). Good News Translation makes it explicit that many nations means “the people of many nations.” Good News Translation also makes it clear that all the remnant of the peoples means “those who have survived” the cruelties of the Babylonians. “Those who have survived” may also be phrased as “Those who did not die.”
The second half of the verse may well be translated as a separate sentence, especially since it is repeated in verse 17. One can show the relationship with the first half of the verse by beginning “This will happen because….”
The blood of men in Revised Standard Version is made clearer in Good News Translation as “the murders you have committed.” In a similar way violence in Revised Standard Version can be expanded to “the violence you have done.” In some languages translators may need to render these two clauses as “This will happen because of all the people you have killed, and because of your cruel acts against…” (see 1.2 for comment on violence).
Those who suffered the violence of the Babylonians are stated as the earth … cities and all who dwell therein. This is not very natural English, and so Good News Translation has expressed it in a smoother way as “the people of the world and its cities.” Both “the people” and the “cities” had been harmed by the Babylonian attacks. “City” here refers to a large group of houses surrounded by a strong wall (see Nahum 3.1).
The Hebrew word translated as the earth in Revised Standard Version and “the world” in Good News Translation may also mean “the land,” as in the Good News Translation footnote. The translation in the footnote, “the land, the city, and those who live in it,” refers primarily to the land of Judah and the city of Jerusalem. However, although the words for “land” and “city” are singular in Hebrew, it seems more probable in this context that they are collective in meaning (compare New International Version “lands and cities”). Many other countries besides Judah were attacked by the Babylonians. The translation in the text of Good News Translation is therefore to be preferred.
An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• You have taken by force the possessions of the people of many nations, but now those who are still alive will take your possessions by force. This will happen because you have killed many people and have acted so cruelly against the people of the world and its cities.
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 .
Because you (sing.) robbed many nations, -or-
You (plur.) have taken everything that many countries had. That is why -or-
They have taken by force the possessions of the people of many nations. So
2:8b the remnant of the people will plunder you—
all the remnant of the peoples will rob you (sing.). -or-
all those who survived in those countries will take everything that you (plur.) have. -or-
all who are left among the nations will take their possessions by force.
2:8c because of your bloodshed against man and your violence against the land, the city, and all their dwellers.
That is because you (sing.) committed murders, and acted violently against lands, cities and all their residents. -or-
⌊This will happen to you (plur.)⌋ because you killed people, and acted violently against the people and their lands and cities. -or-
This is the punishment for all the people they killed, and for all the lands and cities they destroyed.
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