complete verse (Jeremiah 49:24)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 49:24:

  • Kupsabiny: “Damascus has become so weak that it wants to flee,
    because the shock has hit (them).
    They are going through pain and anxiety,
    like a woman who is about to give birth.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Those from-Damascus became-weak and fled because of fear. What they felt were-troubled and pain like a woman about to give-birth.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The people of Damascus have become very weak,
    and they all have panicked/fled because they are very afraid.
    The people are anguished and in pain
    like a woman experiences who is about to give birth.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 49:24

Damascus is better rendered “the people of Damascus” (Good News Translation). Hebrew may be able to speak of a city becoming weak with terror and fleeing, but many languages can only say that the people of the city experienced these things.

Panic seized her can be expressed as “they have panicked.”

Anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her, as of a woman in travail: If translators cannot speak of anguish and sorrows taking hold of the people, then they can say “They are anguished and in pain like a woman in labor.” For anguish see 6.24; for sorrows see 13.21, where Revised Standard Version has “pangs.” For the imagery of a woman in travail, see 4.31; note also 6.24; 13.21; 22.23; 31.8; 50.43.

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 .