The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated in English as “joy” or “happiness” is translated in the HausaCommon Language Bible idiomatically as farin ciki or “white stomach.” In some cases, such as in Genesis 29:11, it is also added for emphatic purposes.
Other languages that use the same expression include Southern Birifor (pʋpɛl), Dera (popolok awo), Reshe (ɾipo ɾipuhã). (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, the Adamawa Fulfulde translation uses the exclusive pronoun, excluding the Lord.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Habakkuk 3:14:
Kupsabiny: “You killed with your spear the leader of soldiers and you destroyed (him/them) when those soldiers attacked like a whirlwind wanting to come and crush weak people who had hid themselves.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “When those with intent to swallow up the destitutes hiding, and their soldiers come like a storm to drag us out by force, You will, with his own spear, perforate his head.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “You (sing.) pierced the head of the commander of his soldiers and the bow himself of the commander is what you (sing.) used. You (sing.) did this when they attacked us (excl.) just as-if-like a storm in-order-to scatter us (excl.). For their happiness is to destroy us (excl.) who (are) pitiful, who are-hiding in fear.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “You (sing.) shot-with-an-arrow the head of their leader when they came like a typhoon to mutually-separate us (excl.). They were also made-very-happy in hardshipping us (excl.) who were to-be-pitied in our (excl.) places-of-hiding.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
English: “With his own spear you destroyed the leader of those soldiers who rushed like a whirlwind to attack and scatter us, thinking that they could conquer us Israelis easily.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Translators of different languages have found different ways with what kind of formality God is addressed.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight
Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or modern English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.
As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.
In these verses, in which humans address God, the informal, familiar pronoun is used that communicates closeness.
Voinov notes that “in the Tuvan Bible, God is only addressed with the informal pronoun. No exceptions. An interesting thing about this is that I’ve heard new Tuvan believers praying with the formal form to God until they are corrected by other Christians who tell them that God is close to us so we should address him with the informal pronoun. As a result, the informal pronoun is the only one that is used in praying to God among the Tuvan church.”
In Gbaya, “a superior, whether father, uncle, or older brother, mother, aunt, or older sister, president, governor, or chief, is never addressed in the singular unless the speaker intends a deliberate insult. When addressing the superior face to face, the second person plural pronoun ɛ́nɛ́ or ‘you (pl.)’ is used, similar to the French usage of vous.
Accordingly, the translators of the current version of the Gbaya Bible chose to use the plural ɛ́nɛ́ to address God. There are a few exceptions. In Psalms 86:8, 97:9, and 138:1, God is addressed alongside other “gods,” and here the third person pronoun o is used to avoid confusion about who is being addressed. In several New Testament passages (Matthew 21:23, 26:68, 27:40, Mark 11:28, Luke 20:2, 23:37, as well as in Jesus’ interaction with Pilate and Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well) the less courteous form for Jesus is used to indicate ignorance of his position or mocking.” (Source Philip Noss)
In the most recent Manchu translation of 1835 (a revision of an earlier edition from 1822), God is never addressed with a pronoun but with “father” (ama /ᠠᠮᠠ) instead. Chengcheng Liu (in this post on the Cambridge Centre for Chinese Theology blog ) explains: “In Manchu tradition, as in Chinese etiquette, second-person pronouns could be considered disrespectful when speaking to superiors or spiritual beings. Manchu Shamanist prayers avoided si [‘you’] and sini [‘your’] for this very reason. To use them for God would be, in Lipovzoff’s [one of the two translators] words, ‘the most uncouth and indecent way to speak to the Almighty — as if He were a servant or slave.’ There was also a grammatical problem. In Manchu, si and sini could refer to both singular and plural subjects. For a faith that insisted on the singularity of God, this was potentially confusing. By contrast, repeating ama removed any ambiguity.”
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, sas-are-ru (刺される) or “stab” is used.
The description of the defeat of God’s enemies continues, and as in the previous verse, there are some problems with the text.
Thou didst pierce with thy shafts the head of his warriors: the Hebrew word translated thy shafts in Revised Standard Version is literally “his own staves” (Revised Version). It is the same word as that translated “arrows” in verse 9 and can be interpreted in the same way here. Many modern versions change one letter of this Hebrew word to alter the possessive suffix and have “your arrows” instead of “his arrows” (Moffatt, Bible de Jérusalem, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, New English Bible, Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible). This has the support of one manuscript of the Septuagint. However, the traditional Hebrew text also makes good sense (Revised Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New International Version, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project) and supplies an element of poetic justice, and even makes the punishment fit the crime in a manner similar to that which occurred frequently in the taunts of 2.6-20.
The word head may be taken literally (New American Bible, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible) but is usually understood to mean “leader” (Moffatt, Revised Standard Version, Bible de Jérusalem, Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible, Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), and this seems to fit the context better, especially if verse 13 is understood as in the comments above.
The Hebrew word translated warriors in Revised Standard Version occurs nowhere else, and its meaning is uncertain. The rendering warriors is based on the understanding shown in the ancient Latin Vulgate version. It is accepted in most modern versions and makes good sense.
Good News Translation “Your arrows pierced the commander of his army” accepts the change from “his” to “your,” and with the word “commander” makes it clear that it understands “head” in the sense of “leader.” Since warriors is rather old-fashioned, Good News Translation uses the modern term “army.” However, in languages which do not have a collective word for army, translators may express the final phrase as “leader (or, commander) of his soldiers.”
Who came like a whirlwind to scatter me translates the traditional Hebrew text (compare Revised Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project), which makes good sense. Some scholars change one letter of the Hebrew to read “us” instead of me (Moffatt, Bible de Jérusalem, Jerusalem Bible, Good News Translation, New International Version, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). However, me can be interpreted as a collective singular, like “anointed” in verse 13, and rendered as the exclusive pronoun “us” on translational grounds rather than by changing the text (Driver, Lehrman).
Other scholars have suggested more extensive changes, so that New English Bible, for instance, translates “their leaders are torn from them by the whirlwind.” New American Bible omits the line altogether. All this seems quite unnecessary. Good News Translation “When it came like a storm to scatter us” expresses the meaning clearly and simply and is an adequate translation model. The words “to scatter us” imply a comparison with grain husks which are blown away by the wind of the “storm.” If translators need to use the word “soldiers” rather than a collective word meaning “army,” it is possible to translate the second line as “when they (or, the soldiers) came like a storm to scatter us.” Scatter can be rendered as “cause to go in all directions.”
The last line adds to the description of the wicked, speaking of their attitude toward God’s people: rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret. In this setting the rejoicing is for bad reasons, and Good News Translation shows this by the word “gloating” (compare New International Version; and see Obadiah 12-13; Micah 7.8 in Good News Translation).
To devour is figurative and implies a comparison with wild animals. Good News Translation expresses this in nonfigurative language as “oppress.” Some versions try to keep the figure of speech in English, but they express it by translating in secret as “in their lair” (Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible). “Lair” in English is used primarily of the home of a fierce wild animal (see Nahum 2.11 on the translation of “lair” or “den”). “Oppress” may be expressed in some languages as “treat cruelly,” “rob,” or “plunder.”
The Hebrew word for the poor meant originally those in physical need. Later it came to be applied to the godly minority, since they were often oppressed by those in power (compare Zeph 3.12). Here the word probably has these religious overtones, but its main reference is to physical need. This is shown by the terms used in various versions: “some poor wretch” (Jerusalem Bible), “the wretched” (New American Bible, New International Version), “their wretched victims” (New English Bible). Poor can also be rendered “poor people,” or even “powerless people.” However, in languages spoken by marginal peoples where most of the population is termed poor by the rest of the world, there may not be precise terms for distinguishing between poor and rich people. In such cases translators will find it helpful to use phrases such as “people who have no possessions” or “people who have only one animal.” Alternative translation models for this final clause are “gloating like those who secretly treat poor people cruelly,” or in the case of translators who wish to follow Revised Standard Version rephrases with modern grammar as “You trampled the sea with your horses.” The various subtle allusions which were understood by the original readers are almost always lost in translation. This is one of the difficulties of translating poetry, but it simply has to be accepted.
Revised Standard Version takes the second line, the surging of mighty waters, to be in apposition to the sea in the first line (compare Jerusalem Bible). However, in other versions the fact that the waters surge is taken as the result of the treading (New English Bible, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible). This may be stated as a cause–effect relationship, or just as two simultaneous events. Good News Translation does the latter: “and the mighty waters foamed.” In this way the cause–effect relationship is implied but not stated explicitly. In some languages it may be necessary to be more explicit and say “You trampled the sea with your horses and made the mighty waters foam” or “You rode your horses over the sea, and they trampled it and made the mighty waters foam.”
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 .
3:14a With his own spear You pierced his head, when his warriors
(English Standard Version) You pierced with his own arrows the heads of his warriors,
You (sing.) hit the heads of his soldiers with the leader’s own arrows. -or-
You will shoot his own arrows into the heads of his soldiers. -or-
You will kill his soldiers with his own weapons.
3:14b stormed out to scatter us,
(Alt) who came like a whirlwind to scatter us,
They come like a storm to scatter us (excl.). -or-
⌊The enemies⌋ will come like a storm and cause/force us to run in separate/different/many directions. -or-
⌊His army⌋ will come like a strong/violent wind and will want to make us go/run in all directions.
3:14c gloating as though ready to secretly devour the weak.
(Good News Translation) gloating like those who secretly oppress the poor.
They proudly rejoice like those who persecute/hurt poor people in secret. -or-
They will shout with joy, because they plan to secretly conquer/rob us (excl.) powerless/weak people. ⌊They will be like wild animals ready⌋ to eat us entirely. -or-
⌊Our (excl.) enemies have a plan to⌋ treat us cruelly when no one sees/knows it. We are weak, and they are excited to think about conquering us.
3:14a-c (reordered)
⌊Our (excl.) enemies⌋ come like a storm ready to throw us (excl.) in all directions. They are excited as they plan to oppress us in our powerless condition when no one sees/knows. But you (sing.), ⌊Yahweh,⌋ pierce their heads with their own arrows.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.