14Then all the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah son of Shelemiah son of Cushi to say to Baruch, “Bring the scroll that you read in the hearing of the people, and come.” So Baruch son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them.
The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is transliterated as “Baruch” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign depicting “Assistant to Jeremiah,” referring to Jeremiah 36:4 et al. For Jeremiah as the “crying prophet” in sign language translation, see here. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
The Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek that is translated in English as “scroll” is translated in Khoekhoe with xamiǂkhanisa or “rolled-up book” (source: project-specific notes in Paratext) and in Newari as “paper that has been rolled up” (source: Newari Back Translation).
“Son of x, son of y” must be rendered as “son of x or grandson of y” in Tibetan or else it will sound like two different people. (Source: David Clark in Clark / Desnitsky 2009 , p. 21).
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.
The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “son of” in English is translated in all Icelandic Bible versions of the Icelandic Bible Society (latest edition 2007) in parallel with the Icelandic naming system . This means that for instance in Matthew 16:17 the name that is transliterated and translated in English as “Simon son of Jonah” becomes “Simon Jónasson” or in Isaiah 8:2 “Zechariah son of Jeberechiah” becomes “Sakaría Jeberekíason” where in both cases the “-son” means “son of.”
In cases where “son of” does not refer to a literal father or perhaps stepfather but to lineage, however, this system is not used. So in Matthew 1:1 “Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham” is translated as “Jesú Krists, sonar Davíðs, sonar Abrahams.”
The referenced verses all have at least one instance where the Icelandic patronymic or matronymic naming system is used. (Source: Halldór Elías Guðmundsson)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 36:14:
Kupsabiny: “Then those leaders sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah who was son of Shelemiah of the house of Cushi. He went to tell Baruch that, ‘Take those writing that you have been reading in front of people and bring (them) here.’ Baruch took the writings and with them.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Then the officials commanded Jehudi the child of Netania and grandchild of Shelemia and great-grandchild of Cushi to go to Baruc and to say, ‘Bring the rolled-up writing which you have read to the people and [you (sing.)] go here to us.’ Then Baruc went there carrying the scroll/rolled-up writing.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “the officials sent Jehudi, who was the son of Nethaniah and grandson of Shelemiah and great-grandson of Cushi, to tell Baruch to come and read the messages to them, also. So Baruch took the scroll and went to them.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Jehudi: This person is otherwise unknown. Notice that Good News Translation lists his ancestry in a natural way for English: “the son of Nethaniah, grandson of Shelemiah, and great-grandson of Cushi.”
The expression take in your hand … and come is more naturally expressed in English as “bring” (Good News Translation).
Scroll: The same word is used in verse 6, but not in verse 13; see the comment at verse 2.
Again, Baruch has now been sufficiently identified that in English and many other languages it is not necessary to repeat the son of Neriah.
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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