complete verse (Jeremiah 39:2)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 39:2:

  • Kupsabiny: “And on the ninth day of the fourth month in the eleventh year of Zedekiah having ruled, the wall of the city was broken through.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “And on the ninth day of the fourth month of the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah, those whose-from-Babilonia broke-through the walls of the city.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “One and a half years later, after Zedekiah had been ruling for almost eleven years, on July 18, soldiers from Babylonia broke through the city wall. Then they rushed in and captured the city.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 39:2

In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month; that is, June/July of 587 or 586 B.C. This phrase could also be expressed as “After Zedekiah had been king ten years, on the ninth day of the fourth month.”

A breach was made in the city is better expressed as “the city walls were broken through” (Good News Translation). In languages that have to name an agent, translators can say, for example, “the Babylonians [or, they] broke through the walls of the city.”

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 .