confused / dismayed

In Gbaya, the notion of confusion or dismay is emphasized in the referenced verses with yelem, an ideophone that expresses becoming confused, not knowing what to think.

Note that for 1 Maccabees 10:74 the Gbaya translators interpreted along the lines of the French Traduction œcuménique de la Bible which has “he was completely shaken by it” ( il en fut tout ébranlé) instead of the New Revised Standard Version, updated edition‘s “his spirit was aroused.”

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

complete verse (Jeremiah 14:4)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 14:4:

  • Kupsabiny: “The soil has dried up and cracked
    because there is no rain in the land.
    Farmers are speechless
    and they have hidden/covered their heads.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The ground cracked for there is no rain. And because of sadness, the farmers were-covering their heads.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The ground is extremely dry and cracked open
    because there has been no rain.
    The farmers are very worried,
    so they also cover their heads.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 14:4

Dismayed translates the verb first used in 1.17. When used of the ground the meaning is more naturally “dried up” (Good News Translation). By a slight revision of the consonants of the Hebrew text, it is also possible to translate “the produce of the land has failed….” (New English Bible). Hebrew Old Testament Text Project suggests still a third possibility: “at harvest season the ground was dried up….” Good News Translation places first the information about the lack of rain, thus creating an arrangement that follows the order in which the events happen: “no rain … ground is dried up … farmers are sick at heart….” Following the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommendation, translators could say “Since there has been no rain, at harvest season the ground was dried up, and the farmers are ashamed.”

The word translated rain is used elsewhere in Jeremiah only in 5.24.

The word translated farmers refers to farm workers on large farms. Thus one possibility in English is “farm hands,” although “farmers” is the usual translation. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible and Bible en français courant use “peasants.”

They cover their heads: See the comment at verse 3.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .