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 37:4)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 37:4:

  • Kupsabiny: “In those days I had not yet been captured and put in prison.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “That time Jeremias was not yet imprisoned, therefore he was free to go anywhere.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “At that time I had not yet been put in prison, so I could come and go wherever and whenever I wanted to, without being hindered.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 37:4

Going in and out is a Hebrew way of indicating freedom of movement. “Moving about freely” (as in Good News Translation) is certainly more natural in English.

Prison is literally “house of prison,” also a Hebrew way of speaking.

Good News Translation reverses the order of the two clauses in this verse, in order to put them in their proper sequence in time: “I had not yet been put in prison and was still moving about freely among the people.” New American Bible and New Living Translation also follow this restructuring. Translators should do whichever is the more natural in their language.

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 .