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)
The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “Sabbath” in English is rendered as “day we rest” in Tzotzil, in Mairasi as “Jew’s Rest Day,” in Quiotepec Chinantec as “day when people of Israel rested,” in Shilluk as “day of God,” in Obolo as Usen Mbuban or “Holy Day,” and in Mandarin Chinese as ānxírì (安息日) or “rest day” (literally: “peace – rest – day”). (Sources: Tzotzil: Marion Cowan in Notes on Translation with Drill, p. 169ff; Mairasi: Enggavoter 2004; Quiotepec Chinantec: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.; Shilluk: Nida 1964, p. 237; Obolo: Enene Enene; Chinese: Jost Zetzsche)
In Matumbi it is translated as Sabato ya Ayahudi or “Sabbath of the Jews,” to distinguish it from the Islamic Sabbath (which is Friday) or the Christian Sabbath (which is Sunday). (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
In the old Khmer version as well as in the first new translation this term was rendered as “day of rest” (Thngai Chhup Somrak / ថ្ងៃឈប់សំរាក). Considered inadequate to convey its religious meaning (not only about cessation of work, but also in honor of Yahweh as the Creator), the committee for the Today’s Khmer Version (publ. 2005) decided to keep the Hebrew word and use its transliterated form Thgnai Sabath (ថ្ងៃសប្ប័ទ). “The Buddhist word Thngai Seil ‘day of merits’ used by some Catholics was once under consideration but was rejected because it did not receive unanimous support.” (Source: Joseph Hong in The Bible Translator 1996, p. 233ff. )
In Spanish, the translation is either día de reposo (“day of rest”) or sábado (usually: “Saturday,” derived from the Greek and Hebrew original). Nida (1947, p. 239f.) explains that problem for Spanish and other languages in its sphere of influence: “In translation ‘Sabbath’ into various aboriginal languages of Latin America, a considerable number of translators have used the Spanish sábado, ‘Saturday,’ because it is derived from the Hebrew sabbath and seems to correspond to English usage as well. The difficulty is that sábado means only ‘Saturday’ for most people. There is no religious significance about this word as the is with ‘Sabbath’ in English. Accordingly the [readers] cannot understand the significance of the persecution of Jesus because he worked on ‘Saturday.’ It has been found quite advantageous to use the translation ‘day of rest,’ for this accurately translated the Hebrew meaning of the term and resolves the problem in connection with the prohibitions placed upon some types of activities.”
In French Sign Language it is translated with a sign that depicts closing of the blinds of a store:
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Hosea 2:11:
Kupsabiny: “I shall end all her joys. (She) shall never celebrate the festival of the new moon and the festival that is celebrated every week. I shall make an end to all the appointed festivals.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “I will stop all her festivals of rejoicing, monthly new moon festivals, her Sabbath days — all her prescribed festivals.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I will- now -stop all the special/unique times/seasons of worship which she celebrates every year, every month, and every week.” (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 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.
And I will put an end to all her mirth …: The Hebrew verb for put an end to means “cause to cease.” The same verb is used in 1.4. The repeated use of the pronoun her in this verse emphatically implies that the festivals in view here are not in honor of Yahweh. He clearly dissociates himself from these celebrations. He views them as Israel’s own doing. They are used for pagan worship. This is confirmed by 2.13. Apparently the feast days were used to worship Baal. Her mirth refers to the rejoicing or exulting that Israel did at the festivals mentioned in the following lines. This phrase may be rendered “her festivities” (Good News Translation), “her merrymaking” (New English Bible), “her celebrations” (New International Version), or “her rejoicing” (Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Bible en français courant, Bible de Jérusalem).
Her feasts, her new moons, her sabbaths refers to the annual, monthly and weekly festivals of Israel, followed by the summary and all her appointed feasts. The Hebrew uses singular nouns to name these festivals, but they have a collective sense here and are properly rendered in the plural form in most languages. The feasts or “annual festivals” (New Living Translation) included the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Harvest Festival, and the Festival of Shelters (Exo 23.14-17; 2 Chr 8.13). The new moons were the “monthly festivals” (Good News Translation) at the beginning of every month, which always began with the new moon (Num 10.10; 28.11-15). The sabbaths were the weekly days of rest, with special sacrifices and sacrificial meals. The Hebrew term for sabbaths comes from a verb meaning “to rest” or “to abandon work.” It is similar to the word for “seven,” and it was on the seventh day that Yahweh rested, following the work of creation (Gen 2.2-3). The Hebrew word for appointed feasts is a general term covering all the festival days mentioned here. It is not entirely clear what will stop these festivities. Some commentators think that the festivities will be impossible because the animals and vegetables for sacrifices and for food are not available. However, others note that such disasters stimulated rituals in order to overcome the problems. It may therefore point at the total disintegration of society in which such rituals do not play a role anymore.
Modern translations express the feasts in various ways. Andersen and Freedman say “her annual, monthly, and weekly celebrations—all her assemblies.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (1982) combines mirth and appointed feasts as summary terms, rendering this verse as “I will make an end to all her joyous festivals, the new moon and sabbath celebrations and the great annual festivals.”
A translation model for this verse is:
• I will make an end to all her joy
—her annual festivals, her monthly feasts, her sabbaths—
to all her celebrations.
Quoted with permission from Dorn, Louis & van Steenbergen, Gerrit. A Handbook on Hosea. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2020. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
I will put an end to all her exultation: In Hebrew, the phrase all her exultation is literally “all her joy/rejoicing.” Some versions translate this phrase literally as “mirth,” “merrymaking,” or “gaiety.” In many languages, general terms like these may be wrongly interpreted as rejoicing in general. However, the parallel line (2:11b) specifies that this rejoicing refers to all the special festivals, feasts, and days that the LORD originally told the Israelites to celebrate in order to honor him.
Translate in a way that makes this connection clear. For example:
I will end all the ⌊religious ⌋ celebrations that she enjoys. -or-
cause her to stop all the ⌊special events ⌋ ⌊that I previously told her ⌋ to celebrate.
2:11b
her feasts, New Moons, and Sabbaths: The first three terms refer to annual, monthly, and weekly celebrations. The last term summarizes the preceding terms.
her feasts: The nation of Israel celebrated three main festivals once each year; the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (see Exodus 23:14–19). They also celebrated a number of other less important festivals. The Hebrew word that is used here refers to all yearly festivals.
New Moons: In addition to yearly festivals, the people celebrated the feast of the New Moon at the beginning of each month (see 1 Samuel 20:5).
Here is another way to translate this term:
monthly new moon celebrations (NET Bible)
In some languages, it may be more natural to use a general term to translate the name of this festival and to combine the first two festivals into one phrase. For example:
her annual and monthly festivals (Good News Translation)
and Sabbaths: The “Sabbath” celebration was observed on Saturday, the seventh day of each week. This was the special day in the week when the people of Israel rested and worshiped God.
Here are some ways to translate Sabbaths :
weekly Sabbath festivities (NET Bible) -or-
celebration each week of the day for resting
all her appointed feasts: In Hebrew, this phrase begins with a conjunction that some versions translate as “and.” For example:
and all her appointed feasts (English Standard Version)
However, this last term serves as a final summary rather than a separate item, so the Berean Standard Bible and some other versions leave it untranslated. For example:
—all her religious meetings (Good News Translation) -or-
I will stop all of her special feasts. (New Century Version)
This phrase refers to all the festivals that Israel celebrated at set times, either yearly, monthly, or weekly. These festivals included feasts, but they included other activities also. Some versions make this clear by using a description other than feasts. For example:
all her festive seasons (Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures) -or-
all her appointed festivals (New Living Translation (2004))
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