complete verse (Jeremiah 20:15)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 20:15:

  • Kupsabiny: “May the person who brought my father the news be cursed
    the one who made his stomach/heart rejoice
    saying that,
    ‘A boy has been born to you.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “I curse the man who told-the-news to my father [linker], ‘Male is your (sing.) child!’ which really pleased my father.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “And as for that man who brought to my father the news,
    and caused him to be very happy, by saying
    ‘You wife has given birth to a son for you’,
    I hope/desire that he also will be cursed.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 20:15

Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father: It was customary to reward a person who brought good news. But Jeremiah looks upon his birth as bad news for himself. For Cursed see 11.3.

A son translates two words in Hebrew: “a son, a male.” Good News Translation is effective in rendering this with “It’s a boy! You have a son!”

Note that Good News Translation finds it more natural to place making him very glad earlier in the sentence (“Curse the one who made my father glad by bringing him the news”).

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 .