feeble, limp

The Hebrew in Jeremiah 47:3 that is translated as “limp” or “feeble” in English is translated as “their hearts beat within them” in Bassa.

chariot

The Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, 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. )
Other translations include:

  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “cart pulled by horses” (source: Larson 1998, p. 98)
  • Chichicapan Zapotec: “ox cart” (in Acts 8) (ox carts are common vehicles for travel) (source: Loren Bliese)
  • 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.)
  • Hausa Common Language Bible as keken-doki or “cart of donkey” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
  • Mairasi: “going-thing [vehicle]” (source: Enggavoter 2004)

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.

complete verse (Jeremiah 47:3)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 47:3:

  • Kupsabiny: “Those people hear horses running downhill,
    and the chariots of war are making noise,
    and the wheels of the chariots are squeaking
    Parents will forget children there/then
    and (they) will feel weak from fear
    until the hands/arms are lame.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “They will-hear the noise of the galloping of the horses and the noise of the chariots. Fathers will- no-longer -look-back to help their children. Their hands will- just -hang-limp.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “They will hear the sound of the hooves of the enemy horses,
    and they will hear the rumble/noise of the wheels of their enemies’ chariots.
    Men will run away;
    they will not stop to help their children;
    they will be completely weak and helpless.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

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 .