feeble, limp

The Hebrew that is translated as “limp” or “feeble” in English is translated as “their hearts beat within them” in Bassa.

chariot

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated into English as “chariot” is translated into Anuak as “canoe pulled by horse.” “Canoe” is the general term for “vehicle” (source: Loren Bliese). Similarly it is translated in Lokạạ as ukwaa wạ nyanyang ntuuli or “canoe that is driven by horses.” (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )

In Eastern Highland Otomi it’s translated as “cart pulled by horses” (source: Larson 1998, p. 98) and in Chichicapan Zapotec as “ox cart” (in Acts 8). Ox carts are common vehicles for travel. (Source: Loren Bliese)

In Chichimeca-Jonaz, it is translated as “little house with two feet pulled by two horses” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.) and in the Hausa Common Language Ajami Bible as keken-doki or “cart of donkey” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

It is illustrated for use in Bible translations in East Africa by Pioneer Bible Translators like this:

Image owned by PBT and Jonathan McDaniel and licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

See also cart.

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 47:3

At the noise … rumbling of their wheels: It would seem best to connect this with the calling out for help and the bitter crying of verse 2; for example, “People cry and scream, 3 when they hear the hoofbeats of the horses, the rattle of the war chariots, the noise of the wheels” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). His is used with stallions and chariots. The reference is to the attacker, that is, the king of Egypt. Good News Translation and several other versions believe this is clear enough without these possessives being reproduced in translation. But translators can also say “when they hear the hoofbeats of the Egyptian horses, the noise of their war chariots, and the rumbling of their wheels.” Since it is somewhat confusing about whether it is Egypt or Babylonia who is attacking, translators can say “the enemies’ horses.” Note that Good News Translation uses the more generic term “horses” for stallions, which are male horses (see 5.8). For chariots see 4.13.

Fathers is an inclusive reference for “parents” (Good News Translation).

Look not back to: Good News Translation renders “will not turn back for” and New Jerusalem Bible “forget about.”

So feeble are their hands is more literally “from the slackness of their hands.” The word feeble is used only here in the Old Testament, and the figure gives a sense of discouragement or fear. Some translators have rendered this “so weak are they from fear” or “they are helpless in their fear.” Bassa in Liberia has “their hearts beat within them.”

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 .