neighbor

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The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “neighbor” in English is rendered into Babatana as “different man,” i.e. someone who is not one of your relatives. (Source: David Clark)

In North Alaskan Inupiatun, it is rendered as “a person outside of your building,” in Tzeltal as “your back and side” (implying position of the dwellings), in Indonesian and in Tae’ as “your fellow-man,” in Toraja-Sa’dan it is “your fellow earth-dweller,” in Shona (translation of 1966) as “another person like you,” in Kekchí “younger-brother-older-brother” (a compound which means all one’s neighbors in a community) (sources: Bratcher / Nida and Reiling / Swellengrebel), in Mairasi “your people” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Mezquital Otomi as “fellow being,” in Tzeltal as “companion,” in Isthmus Zapotec as “another,” in Teutila Cuicatec as “all people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), and in most modern German translations as Mitmensch or “fellow human being” (lit. “with + human being”).

In Matt 19:19, Matt 22:39, Mark 12:31, Mark 12:33, Luke 10:27, Luke 10:29 it is translated into Ixcatlán Mazatec with a term that refers to a person who is socially/physically near. Ixcatlán Mazatec also has a another term for “neighbor” that means “fellow humans-outsiders” which was not chosen for these passages. (Source: Robert Bascom)

In Noongar it is translated as moorta-boordak or “people nearby” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

complete verse (Jeremiah 22:13)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 22:13:

  • Kupsabiny: “The man is in a bad position who builds (his) house by/through evil (means)
    and prepares the upper floor in a way that is not true/right.
    He makes the people of his own land struggle hard for nothing,
    so that he does not give (them) their money for the work.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Woe to you (sing.), Jehoyakim, who build-up your (sing.) palace through/by unrighteous way(s). You (sing.) have- your (sing.) fellowman -work without payment.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 22:13

Woe to him is rendered “Doomed is the one” by Good News Translation and “Disaster for the man” by New Jerusalem Bible. See 4.13, 31. In this verse translators can try “How terrible for the person” or “The person who builds … is doomed.”

Who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice: In the context unrighteousness and injustice would seem to carry the same meaning. For the combination “justice and righteousness,” see verse 3 and 9.24. The two words “justice” and “righteousness” (“uprightness” in Revised Standard Version) first occur in 4.2, in combination with “truth.” Builds … by unrighteousness can be translated “Without regard for justice, you have had a palace built.” Traduction œcuménique de la Bible has “builds his palace while scorning justice.” The upper rooms were apparently constructed on the flat roof of the house and would have had latticed windows (as in 2Kgs 1.2), allowing a breeze to blow through. Such rooms would have been a sign of luxury. Translators can say “rooms on the upper level [or, floor],” “rooms on the roof,” “rooms upstairs,” or “rooms at the top of the house.”

For the first two lines, translators can also say “How terrible for the one who is unjustly making people build his house [or, his palace], who ignores people’s rights and makes them build the upper rooms [in the palace].”

Who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing, and does not give him his wages: Commentators emphasize the ancient Israelite concept of equality among people, including the king. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates his neighbor as “the people,” and Good News Translation has “his people.” Serve him for nothing is explained by and does not give him his wages. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “You make the people work for you, and you give them no wages.”

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 .