וְעָבְד֤וּ אֹתוֹ֙ כָּל־הַגּוֹיִ֔ם וְאֶת־בְּנ֖וֹ וְאֶֽת־בֶּן־בְּנ֑וֹ עַ֣ד בֹּא־עֵ֤ת אַרְצוֹ֙ גַּם־ה֔וּא וְעָ֤בְדוּ בוֹ֙ גּוֹיִ֣ם רַבִּ֔ים וּמְלָכִ֖ים גְּדֹלִֽים׃
7All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave.
“Son of x, son of y” must be rendered as “son of x and grandson of y” in Tibetan or else it will sound like two different people.
Note: The same translation solution is chosen in many contemporary English Bibles that emphasize easy readability, such as the Contemporary English Version, Common English Bible, Good News Translation, God’s Word, or New Living Translation.
See also father / grandfather.
The Greek, Latin and Ge’ez that is translated as “all the gentiles” or “all nations” in English is translated as “all people” in Tzeltal, as “all mankind” in Highland Totonac, or “the peoples who are everywhere” in Chicahuaxtla Triqui. (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated in English as “serve,” “minister,” “walk with,” or “service” is translated in Igede as myị ẹrụ or “agree with message (of the one you’re serving).” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
In Quetzaltepec Mixe, “serve” is translated as “obey.” (Source: Robert Bascom)
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė)) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).
Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).
In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
See also nations.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 27:7:
(Click or tap here to see details)
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.”
(Source: Faye Edgerton in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 25ff. )
See also king (Japanese honorifics).
His son and his grandson: The Septuagint omits this verse, perhaps because the prophecy was not literally fulfilled. Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son Amel Marduk (“Evilmerodach” of 2Kgs 25.27). Amel Marduk was in turn succeeded by his brother-in-law Neriglissar, not by his son. The prophecy is best understood, not as a detailed interpretation of future events, but rather as an indication that Babylonia would rule for an extended period of time. Nevertheless, translators should retain son and grandson in their translations.
Until the time of his own land comes: The full meaning is “until the time comes for his own nation to fall” (Good News Translation). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch makes the meaning clear by connecting this with the following clause: “until the time comes for his own land to be subject to great nations and powerful kings.”
Most translators do not take the expression make him their slave literally, that is, that he (or his descendants) would become slaves, but rather understand it to mean that his nation would become subject to other more powerful nations. It comes from the same Hebrew verb as “serve” in the previous verse.
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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