The Hebrew or Greek which are translated into English as “sackcloth” are rendered into Chamula Tzotzil as “sad-heart clothes.” (Source: Robert Bascom)
Pohnpeian and Chuukese translate it as “clothing-of sadness,” Eastern Highland Otomi uses “clothing that hurts,” Central Mazahua “that which is scratchy,” Tae’ and Zarma “rags” (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel), and Tangale as “torn clothes that show contrition on the body” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin). In the English translation by Goldingay (2018), “put on sackcloth” is translated as wrap on sack.
“In Turkana, a woman removes her normal everyday skin clothes and ornaments and wears rather poor skins during the time of mourning. The whole custom is known as ngiboro. It is very difficult to translate putting on sackcloth because even material like sacking is unfamiliar. The Haya, on the other hand, have a mourning cloth made out of the bark of a tree; and the use of this cloth is similar to the Jewish use of sackcloth. It was found that in both the Turkana and Ruhaya common language translations, their traditional mourning ceremonies were used.” (Source: Rachel Konyoro in The Bible Translator1985, p. 221ff. )
Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing what a sackcloth looked like in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “village” or “town” in English is translated in Noongar as karlamaya or “fire (used for “home“) + houses” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
In Elhomwe it is typically translated as “place.” “Here in Malawi, villages very small, so changed to ‘places,’ since not sure whether biblical reference just to small villages or also to bigger towns. (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Greek that are typically translated as “priest” in English (itself deriving from Latin “presbyter” — “elder”) is often translated with a consideration of existing religious traditions. (Click or tap for details)
Bratcher / Nida (1961) say this:
“However, rather than borrow local names for priests, some of which have unwanted connotations, a number of translations have employed descriptive phrases based on certain functions: (1) those describing a ceremonial activity: Pamona uses tadu, the priestess who recites the litanies in which she describes her journey to the upper or under-world to fetch life-spirit for sick people, animals or plants; Batak Toba uses the Arabic malim, ‘Muslim religious teacher;’ ‘one who presents man’s sacrifice to God’ (Bambara, Eastern Maninkakan), ‘one who presents sacrifices’ (Baoulé, Navajo (Dinė)), ‘one who takes the name of the sacrifice’ (Kpelle, and ‘to make a sacrifice go out’ (Hausa); (2) those describing an intermediary function: ‘one who speaks to God’ (Shipibo-Conibo) and ‘spokesman of the people before God’ (Tabasco Chontal).”
In Obolo it is translated as ogwu ngwugwa or “the one who offers sacrifice” (source: Enene Enene), in Mairasi as agam aevar nevwerai: “religious leader” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Ignaciano as “blesser, one who does ritual as a practice” (using a generic term rather than the otherwise common Spanish loan word sacerdote) (source: Willis Ott in Notes on Translation 88/1982, p. 18ff.), and in Noongar as yakin-kooranyi or “holy worker” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
For Guhu-Samane, Ernest Richert (in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. ) reports this: “The [local] cult of Poro used to be an all-encompassing religious system that essentially governed all areas of life. (…) For ‘priest’ the term ‘poro father’ would at first seem to be a natural choice. However, several priests of the old cult are still living. Although they no longer function primarily as priests of the old system they still have a substantial influence on the community, and there would be more than a chance that the unqualified term would (in some contexts particularly) be equated with the priest of the poro cult. We learned, then, that the poro fathers would sometimes be called ‘knife men’ in relation to their sacrificial work. The panel was pleased to apply this term to the Jewish priest, and the Christian community has adopted it fully. [Mark 1:44, for instance, now] reads: ‘You must definitely not tell any man of this. But you go show your body to the knife man and do what Moses said about a sacrifice concerning your being healed, and the cause (base of this) will be apparent.'”
For a revision of the 1968 version of the Bible in Khmer Joseph Hong (in: The Bible Translator 1996, 233ff. ) talks about a change in wording for this term:
Bau cha r (បូជាចារ្យ) — The use of this new construction meaning “priest” is maintained to translate the Greek word hiereus. The term “mean sang (មាន សង្ឃ)” used in the old version actually means a “Buddhist monk,” and is felt to be theologically misleading. The Khmer considers the Buddhist monk as a “paddy field of merits,” a reserve of merits to be shared with other people. So a Khmer reader would find unthinkable that the mean sang in the Bible killed animals, the gravest sin for a Buddhist; and what a scandal it would be to say that a mean sang was married, had children, and drank wine.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 49:3:
Kupsabiny: “Cry, oh, people of Heshbon since Ai has been destroyed. Shout (in pain) loudly, oh, people of Rabbah! Put on sacks and mourn and lament all over the city, because Molek will be caught and taken away with the people who burn sacrifices to it and its leaders.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “‘You (plur.) weep loudly, O people of Heshbon, for Ai has-been-destroyed. [You (plur.)] also weep residents of Raba! [You (plur.)] wear sackcloth and go-to-and-fro beside the wall to show your mourning. For your god who is-Molec will-be-taken-captive with its priests and officials.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “You people of Heshbon city , wail, because Ai town nearby will be destroyed. You people of Rabbah city, weep; put on rough clothing/sackcloth to show you are mourning; run back and forth in confusion inside the city walls, because your god Milcom, along with its priests and officials, will be taken away in exile/to other countries.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Wail, Cry, and lament mean essentially the same thing. They all refer to mourning. Translators should use terms or expressions that are natural in their language, even if it that means repeating a word or collapsing them into one or two words. For Wail see 4.8.
Heshbon was identified as a Moabite city in 48.2.
Ai is laid waste: The site of Ai is unknown; this is definitely not the city of Gen 12.8; 13.3; Josh 7–8. The city is laid waste, that is, “destroyed” (see 4.20). If an agent is needed, translators can say “an enemy has destroyed the city of Ai.”
Daughters is better rendered “Women” (Good News Translation) or “inhabitants” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).
Good News Translation places the terms of address before the commands: “People of Hesbon, cry out! … Women of Rabbah, go into mourning!”
Gird yourselves with sackcloth is a sign of mourning (see 4.8). Good News Translation renders “Put on sackcloth and mourn.” Other translations have said “Put on sackcloth to show you are mourning” or, in some cases, “Put on your mourning clothes.”
Run to and fro among the hedges: By a slight alteration in the Hebrew text, among the hedges (New Jerusalem Bible “among the sheep-pens”) may be made to read “covered with gashes” (Revised English Bible “score your bodies with gashes”). This would be an expression of the figure of mourning (see 48.37), which suits the context. However, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project proposes following the Hebrew, which is interpreted by Good News Translation to mean “Run about in confusion.”
Milcom shall go into exile: This is not by his own choice. He “will be taken into exile” or “enemies will lead him away prisoner.” For exile see “captivity” in 1.3. Once again Milcom is identified by Good News Translation as “Your god Molech” (see verse 1).
His princes refers to others besides the priests who work to serve the god: “others who work for him” or “others who serve him.” See 48.7.
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 .
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