5She gave her maid a skin of wine and a flask of oil and filled a bag with roasted grain, dried fig cakes, and fine bread; then she wrapped up all her dishes and gave them to her to carry.
The Greek and Hebrew that is translated in English as “grain” (or: “corn”) is translated in Kui as “(unthreshed) rice.” Helen Evans (in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) explains: “Padddy [unthreshed rice] is the main crop of the country and rice the staple diet of the people, besides which [grain] is unknown and there is no word for it, and it seemed to us that paddy and rice in the mind of the Kui people stood for all that corn meant to the Jews.” “Paddy” is also the translation in Pa’o Karen (source: Gordon Luce in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 153f. ).
Other translations include: “wheat” (Teutila Cuicatec), “corn” (Lalana Chinantec), “things to eat” (Morelos Nahuatl), “grass corn” (wheat) (Chichimeca-Jonaz) (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), “millet” (Lambya) (source: project-specific notes in Paratext), “food” (Nyamwezi) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)or ntimumma lujia / “seeds for food” (Lokạạ — “since Lokạạ does not have specific terms for maize and rice that can be described as grains”) (source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )
The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that are translated as “wine” in English is translated into Pass Valley Yali as “grape juice pressed long ago (= fermented)” or “strong water” (source: Daud Soesilo). In Guhu-Samane it is also translated as “strong water” (source: Ernest L. Richert in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 198ff. ), in Noongar as “liquor” (verbatim: “strong water”) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang), in Hausa as ruwan inabi or “water of grapes” (with no indication whether it’s alcoholic or not — source: Mark A. Gaddis), in sar as kasə nduú or “grape drink” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin), or in Papantla Totonac and Coyutla Totonac as “a drink like Pulque” (for “Pulque,” see here ) (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1971, p. 169ff. ).
In Swahili, Bible translations try to avoid local words for alcoholic drinks, because “drinking of any alcohol at all was one of the sins most denounced by early missionaries. Hence translators are uncomfortable by the occurrences of wine in the Bible. Some of the established churches which use wine prefer to see church wine as holy, and would not refer to it by the local names used for alcoholic drinks. Instead church wine is often referred to by terms borrowed from other languages, divai (from German, der Wein) or vini/mvinyo (from ltalian/Latin vino/vinum). Several translations done by Protestants have adapted the Swahili divai for ‘wine,’ while those done by Catholics use vini or mvinyo.” (Source: Rachel Konyoro in The Bible Translator 1985, p. 221ff. )
The Swahili divai was in turn borrowed by Sabaot and was turned into tifaayiik and is used as such in the Bible. Kupsabiny, on the other hand, borrowed mvinyo from Swahili and turned it into Finyonik. (Source: Iver Larsen)
In Nyamwezi, two terms are used. Malwa ga muzabibu is a kind of alcohol that people specifically use to get drunk (such as in Genesis 9:21) and ki’neneko is used for a wine made from grapes (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext).
In some Hindi translations (such as the Common Language version, publ. 2015 ), one term (dākharasa दाखरस — grape juice) is used when that particular drink is in the focus (such as in John 2) and another term (madirā मदिरा — “alcohol” or “liquor”) when drunkenness is in the focus (such as in Eph. 5:18).
In Mandarin Chinese, the generic term jiǔ (酒) or “alcohol(ic drink)” is typically used. Exceptions are Leviticus 10:9, Numbers 6:3, Deuteronomy 29:6, Judges 13:4 et al., 1 Samuel 1:15, and Luke 1:15 where a differentiation between weak and strong alcohol is needed. The Mandarin Chinese Union Version (2010) translates that as qīngjiǔ lièjiǔ (清酒烈酒) and dànjiǔ lièjiǔ (淡酒烈酒), both in the form of a Chinese proverb and meaning “light alcohol and strong drink.” (Source: Zetzsche)
Click or tap here to see a short video clip about wine in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
She gave her maid a bottle of wine and a flask of oil, and filled a bag with parched grain and a cake of dried fruit and fine bread: For maid see the note at 8.10. Wine was carried in a “leather bag” (Good News Translation) or “leather bottle” (Contemporary English Version), not a glass bottle (New Revised Standard Version and New English Bible “skin of wine”). Flask of oil is “jar of oil” in Good News Translation and “small jar of olive oil” in Contemporary English Version. Without moving the phrase to carry from the end of the verse forward to this point, as in Good News Translation, the reader might mistakenly think the wine and oil were a gift to the maid. The bag was probably made of cloth. Parched grain translates one word; it more likely refers to barley than other grains, but it may refer not only to loose grain but also to bread made from it. Cake of dried fruit is not plural (Good News Translation “cakes”), but the fruit in question is surely figs, as in Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version. So this cake is not a baked good, made from grain, but it is a mass of dried figs pressed together. Fine bread is literally “pure/clean bread” and can be interpreted either of two ways. New English Bible (“the finest bread”) takes it to mean pure in quality. Good News Translation takes it to mean “baked according to Jewish food laws.” It is surprising to find bread mentioned as an accepted Jewish food. Perhaps unleavened bread is meant, but the special word for that is not used here. Still, Good News Translation‘s interpretation “bread baked according to Jewish food laws” is more likely than New English Bible‘s. While it is necessary to the story for Judith to wear her finest clothes, there is no particular reason for her to take along fine baked goods. It is essential, however, that the food be acceptable to eat; see 12.1-2. There is an important textual variant on this passage which is a viable option for the translator. Some manuscripts and versions read “bread and cheese,” instead of “pure bread.” The two readings look very much alike in Greek writing and could easily be confused. Since “pure/clean bread” is a strange phrase and not otherwise known, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible and New American Bible opt for “bread and cheese.” New Revised Standard Version thinks this option deserves at least a footnote, which it does. If the translator decides to stay with the traditional text, the most likely interpretation is that the bread Judith takes is pure according to Jewish law—or at least not impure (see Ezek 4.14-15). The bread was probably small flat loaves, and we may translate “several small flat loaves of bread baked according to Jewish law.”
She wrapped up all her vessels: “Dishes” (Good News Translation) refers not only to things like plates, but also to jars, pots, any other kind of vessel. The word translated wrapped is not used anywhere else. Perhaps it may refer simply to wrapping, but the idea of “carefully” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) is quite likely there as well.
Good News Translation‘s translation of this verse will be a helpful model for many translators.
Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Judith. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.
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