8Yet he demolished all their shrines and cut down their sacred groves, for he had been commissioned to destroy all the gods of the land, so that all nations should worship Nebuchadnezzar alone and that all their dialects and tribes should call upon him as a god.
The term that is transliterated as “Nebuchadnezzar” in English is translated in American Sign Language with the signs for “king” and one signifying a wavy beard, referring to the common way of wearing a beard in Mesopotamia (see here ). (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Nebuchadnezzar” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
In Spanish Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting “idol in my image,” referring to Daniel 3:1. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
The Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek terms that are often translated as “worship” (also, “kneel down” or “bow down”) are likewise translated in other languages in certain categories, including those based on physical activity, those which incorporate some element of “speaking” or “declaring,” and those which specify some type of mental activity.
Following is a list of (back-) translations (click or tap for details):
Obolo: itọtọbọ ebum: “express reverence and devotion” (source: Enene Enene)
Ngäbere: “cut oneself down before” (“This figure of speech comes from the picture of towering mahoganies in the forest which, under the woodman’s ax, quiver, waver, and then in solemn, thunderous crashing bury their lofty heads in the upstretched arms of the surrounding forest. This is the experience of every true worshiper who sees ‘the Lord, high and lifted up.’ Our own unworthiness brings us low. As the Valientes say, ‘we cut ourselves down before’ His presence. Our heads, which have been carried high in self-confidence, sink lower and lower in worship.)
Tzeltal: “end oneself before God.” (“Only by coming to the end of oneself can one truly worship. The animist worships his deities in the hope of receiving corresponding benefits, and some pagans in Christendom think that church attendance is a guarantee of success in this life and good luck in the future. But God has never set a price on worship except the price that we must pay, namely, ‘coming to the end of ourselves.'”) (Source of this and the one above: Nida 1952, p. 163)
Folopa: “die under God” (“an idiom that roughly back-translates “dying under God” which means lifting up his name and praising him and to acknowledge by everything one does and thanks that God is superior.”) (Source: Anderson / Moore, p. 202)
Chokwe: kuivayila — “rub something on” (“When anyone goes into the presence of a king or other superior, according to native law and custom the inferior gets down on the ground, takes a little earth in the fingers of his right hand, rubs it on his own body, and then claps his hands in homage and the greeting of friendship. It is a token of veneration, of homage, of extreme gratitude for some favor received. It is also a recognition of kingship, lordship, and a prostrating of oneself in its presence. Yet it simply is the applicative form of ‘to rub something on oneself’, this form of the verb giving the value of ‘because of.’ Thus in God’s presence as king and Lord we metaphorically rub dirt on ourselves, thus acknowledging Him for what He really is and what He has done for us.”) (Source: D. B. Long in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 87ff. )
In the German New Testament translation Fridolin Stier (1989) it is consistently translated as “bow (to someone) deeply” (tief verneigen)
In Luang it is translated with different shades of meaning:
For Mark 15:19 and Matt. 2:8 and 2:11: “uh’idma-rrama llia’ara” — “to kiss the fingernail and lick the heel”
For Acts 16:14: ra’uli-rawedi — “to praise-talk about”
He demolished all their shrines and cut down their sacred groves: As the Revised Standard Version footnote indicates, it is following the Syriac translation for shrines. The Greek text has “borders.” Most translations adopt the reading of the Syriac here with good reason. The original Hebrew text very likely read “high places” (that is, “places of worship” as in Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version), which Greek could have translated “mountains.” Since the Greek words “mountains” and “borders” are easily confused, “borders” probably replaced “mountains” by mistake. Another argument in favor of reading shrines here is its association with sacred groves (“sacred trees” in Good News Translation). Shrines (“high places”) are often associated with sacred objects, such as sacred groves. Compare 1 Kgs 14.23; 2 Kgs 16.4; and Jer 2.20. Shrines may also be expressed as “places to worship their gods,” and sacred groves as “trees dedicated to their gods” or “tabu trees.”
“High places” and sacred groves are associated with Canaanite worship. They were sometimes destroyed by Israelite reformers; compare 2 Kgs 18.4. Holofernes is here destroying them, but he is not portrayed as doing God’s work. He has been ordered by Nebuchadnezzar to destroy all gods to make way for the worship of Nebuchadnezzar. He represents a religious threat to Israel even though these are Canaanite and Philistine towns he is dealing with. But the reader knows that Holofernes is on the borders of Israel and into Israel he must soon go. There he may be expected to represent the same kind of threat to Israelite freedom and religion. This is the first time in the book that the worship of Nebuchadnezzar as a god has been specifically mentioned, but from the way Nebuchadnezzar has acted and spoken, the reader is prepared for this claim, even though it is made indirectly, and not in the king’s own words. The forces of a god will be coming up the hillsides from the seacoast to challenge the Lord, who to Holofernes is just another of the “gods of the land.” While there is no evidence that Assyrian or Babylonian rulers ever styled themselves gods, the readers of Judith in their own day were certainly familiar with rulers who made just that claim. Compare Dan 11.36 and 2 Macc 9.12.
For it had been given him to destroy all the gods of the land: This passive clause may be rendered in the active voice; for example, “for Nebuchadnezzar had ordered him to destroy all the gods [or, idols] of those peoples.”
So that all nations should worship Nebuchadnezzar only may be rendered “so that the people of all these countries should worship [or, serve] only King Nebuchadnezzar.”
And all their tongues and tribes should call upon him as a god: Tongues refers to languages. However, in some languages it will be difficult to talk about “languages” calling upon Nebuchanezzar as a god. In such cases translators may follow Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version, which both use “nations.” Call upon him as god means “pray to him as god” (Good News Translation; similarly Contemporary English Version).
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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