survive / escape / save

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “survive,” “escape,” “save,” or similar in English is translated in the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) in these verses with pulumuka, describing someone whose life was in danger but who has freed himself or herself. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

complete verse (Jeremiah 31:2)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 31:2:

  • Kupsabiny: “I God am saying: I will show mercy to the people in the wilderness who escaped death, and I will give the people of Israel rest.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “I, the LORD, am-saying that I will-take-good-care the-ones who were left alive while they were-journeying in the desert. I will-return to give rest to Israel.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “This is what Yahweh says:
    ‘Those people who remained alive and were not killed by their enemies’ swords
    were blessed by me even in the desert;
    I enabled them to have peace.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 31:2

Thus says the LORD: See 2.2.

The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness: In Hebrew the sentence begins with “found grace in the wilderness,” so that this clause is in focus. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “I have shown mercy to my people. In the desert I brought together all of them who had escaped the sword.” Bible en français courant is similar to the restructuring of Good News Translation. As the restructurings of Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Good News Translation and Bible en français courant indicate, the people … found grace is the equivalent of “I [the LORD] showed grace to the people.”

Sword: See the comments at 2.30. Sword is used numerous times in Jeremiah in the sense of death, especially violent death or death in war.

For the translation of wilderness, see 2.2. The reference here is to the period of wanderings after the escape from Egypt.

When Israel sought for rest is not altogether clear in Hebrew, though this is the way the meaning is expressed in most translations. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh renders “When Israel was marching homeward.”

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 .