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)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Hosea 7:3:
Kupsabiny: “People make the king happy with their sins and they delight the leaders with words of lies.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “With their evil deeds they please the king and with their false words they please the princes. ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “They made- their king and officers -happy/glad with their wickedness and lies.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Their king is delighted with the wicked things that the people do; his officials are happy about the people’s lies.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:
Ninia Yali: “big brother with the uplifted name” (source: Daud Soesilio in Noss 2007, p. 175)
Nyamwezi: mutemi: generic word for ruler, by specifying the city or nation it becomes clear what kind of ruler (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Ghomála’: Fo (“The word Fo refers to the paramount ruler in the kingdoms of West Cameroon. He holds administrative, political, and religious power over his own people, who are divided into two categories: princes (descendants of royalty) and servants (everyone else).” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn))
Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo (Dinė) was determined:
“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”
Good News Translation explicitly identifies the speaker here by beginning with the quote frame “The LORD says.” Although this verse continues the LORD’s speech in the previous verses, it may be helpful to follow this model, especially if a section heading is inserted before this verse.
By their wickedness they make the king glad, and the princes by their treachery: Revised Standard Version arranges these two lines into a chiasmus, but the Hebrew text has a parallel structure, which is literally “With their wickedness they make glad [the] king, and with their treacheries [they make glad] princes.” The choice for chiasmus or parallelism depends on the receptor language. What is the most effective way to express the meaning?
The meaning of the Hebrew text here is ambiguous. It is unclear whether the Israelites are deceiving the rulers by their evil plots or convincing them to join in their evil plans. However, the context and history seem to favor the first option: the act of making the king and other leaders rejoice is done deceitfully. Good News Translation has made this meaning explicit: “People deceive the king and his officers by their evil plots.” However, this model loses the parallel structure that is present in the Hebrew text.
Wickedness renders a general Hebrew term for “evil” (translated “evil deeds” in 7.1 and “evil works” in 7.2), and the word for treachery refers to a form of lying or deception to bring harm to someone. These words are combined by Good News Translation into “evil plots.” However, in order to maintain thematic coherence, it is recommended to use the same lexical item for wickedness that was used in 7.1-2.
The English word princes may wrongly imply that these are children or relatives of the king. The Hebrew word for princes can refer to government officials or army commanders (see comments on 3.4). Here it probably refers to highly positioned civil servants who served in the palace. Good News Translation says “officers,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch uses “ministers.”
Bible en français courant restructures this verse, saying “They hide their evil purposes while amusing king and ministers.” A model that keeps the parallelism is:
• People make the king happy with their wickedness,
and the [other] leaders with their lies.
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 .
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