Jeremiah

The name that is transliterated as “Jeremiah” in English is translated in American Sign Language with the sign signifying “prophet (seeing into the future)” and “crying.” (Source: Phil King in Journal of Translation 16/2 2020, p. 33ff.)


“Jeremiah” in American Sign Language (source )

In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with a sign that depicts to lament often.


“Jeremiah” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Jeremiah .

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

complete verse (Jeremiah 37:15)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 37:15:

  • Kupsabiny: “Those leaders became very angry with me and beat me, and after that they locked me up in the house of the secretary Jonathan which they had turned into becoming a house of prisoners.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “They were furious/angry with Jeremias, and they had him beaten and then imprisoned there in the house of Jonatan the secretary. That house they made into a prison-cell.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “They were very angry with me. They commanded the guards to beat me and then to put me in the house where Jonathan the king’s secretary stayed. They had changed Jonathan’s house to make it become a prison.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 37:15

Enraged: The verb occurs only here in Jeremiah; however, the noun form is found in 10.10 (Revised Standard Version “wrath”); 21.5 (Revised Standard Version “wrath”); 32.37 (Revised Standard Version “indignation”); 50.13 (Revised Standard Version “wrath”). The meaning is “angry” (New International Version, Contemporary English Version) or “furious” (New Jerusalem Bible, Good News Translation, and others).

Beat … imprisoned: The verbs are best taken as causative, as in Good News Translation “had me beaten and locked up” or “ordered the guards to beat him and lock him in prison.”

For secretary see 36.10.

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 .