5I will give all the wealth of this city, all its gains, all its prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon.
The name that is transliterated as “Judah” or “Judea” in English (referring to the son of Jacob, the tribe, and the territory) is translated in Spanish Sign Language as “lion” (referring to Genesis 49:9 and Revelation 5:5). This sign for lion is reserved for regions and kingdoms. (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. and Steve Parkhurst)
The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “enemy” or “foe” in English is translated in the HausaCommon Language Bible as “friends of front,” i.e., the person standing opposite you in a battle. (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
In North Alaskan Inupiatun it is translated with a term that implies that it’s not just someone who hates you, but one who wants to do you harm (Source: Robert Bascom), in Tarok as ukpa ìkum or “companion in war/fighting,” and in Ikwere as nye irno m or “person who hates me” (source for this and one above: Chuck and Karen Tessaro in this newsletter ).
In Cherokee it is either translated as “the one(s) who reprimand(s) you” or “the one(s) feared.” (Source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 47)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 20:5:
Kupsabiny: “And again, I shall hand over to the hands of their enemies all the wealth of the city, everything famous in the city, all the things, everything expensive. together with all the money of the rulers of Judah. Those people shall plunder all those things and heap them up to go to Babylon.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I will-have- the enemies -take-by-force all the wealth of this city of Jerusalem — all what they have-toiled-for, all the expensive things as-well-as all the wealth of the kings of Juda. All this will-be-brought by the enemies to Babilonia.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “And I will enable their soldiers to take away other things in Jerusalem. They will take to Babylon all the very valuable things that belonged to your kings.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Ge’ez, 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.”
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
Moreover, I will give … into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them is restructured by Good News Translation to “I will also let their enemies plunder….”
The noun translated wealth is found elsewhere in the Old Testament only in Pro 15.16; 27.24; Isa 33.6; Ezek 22.25. Its basic meaning is “treasure” or “stores.” In the other passages Revised Standard Version translates it as “treasure” or “riches.”
Gains refers primarily to what a person benefits through toil or labor; in 3.24 the Hebrew “gains of our fathers” is rendered by Revised Standard Version as “all for which our fathers labored.” Translators can also use “products” (New International Version) or “all they have earned.”
Prized belongings (Good News Translation “property”) derives from a word that means “precious” or “honored.” Note its usage in Ezek 22.25, where Revised Standard Version has “precious things.”
All the treasures of the kings of Judah can usually be translated fairly literally, but translators in some languages need to say “the valuable [or, precious] things that belong to the kings of Judah.”
Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders the four nouns wealth … gains … prized belongings … treasures as “riches … possessions … valuables … treasures.” It is doubtful that the biblical writer would have distinguished too sharply between the usage of the various terms.
If there is a distinction to be made between plunder and seize, then plunder may suggest an element of wastefulness. But it is often difficult to make any real distinction here, and translators often end the verse with something such as “They will seize all these things by force, and carry them away to Babylon.”
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 .
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