complete verse (Jeremiah 49:21)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 49:21:

  • Kupsabiny: “Those people will crash to the ground
    to make the land tremble
    and (they) will throw out loud cries
    to be heard at the Red Sea.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “At the terrible destruction of Edom the ground will-shake, and their weeping can-be-heard until the Red Sea.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “When Edom is destroyed, the noise will be extremely great,
    with the result that the earth will shake,
    and the wailing of the people will be heard as far away as the Red Sea.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

sea / lake

The various Greek, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin and Hebrew terms that are translated as “sea,” “ocean,” or “lake” in English are all translated in Chichewa with one term: nyanja. Malawi, where Chichewa is spoken, has a lot of lakes but does not share a border with the ocean. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

In Malagasy culture, the sea is perceived as sacred because it was a path taken by the ancestors. That is why the Malagasy word for the “sea” is ranomasina, which literally means “the sacred water.” The word masina actually has two different meanings: “salted” and “sacred/holy.” Salt is used for the conservation of some foods, such as meat or fish, that are to be set aside for later use. In this sense, the Malagasy phrase for “Holy Spirit” has the literal meaning of “Salted Spirit.” (Source: Brigitte Rabarijaona in The Bible Translator 2022, p. 103ff.)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 49:21

At the sound of their fall the earth shall tremble: Their fall refers to Edom (Good News Translation “When Edom falls…”). Edom is here compared to a heavy object that falls on the ground and causes the earth to shake.

Their cry: The reference is again to Edom.

The Red Sea is more accurately the “Sea of Reeds,” which was somewhere near the northeast boundary of Egypt.

The second part of the verse can be translated “People as far away as the Sea of Reeds will hear their cries.”

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 .