The Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek that is translated in English as “scroll” is translated in Khoekhoe with xamiǂkhanisa or “rolled-up book” (source: project-specific notes in Paratext) and in Newari as “paper that has been rolled up” (source: Newari Back Translation).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 51:60:
Kupsabiny: “I had written in a book all the disasters that I had been announcing to Babylon and other words concerning that city.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Jeremias wrote down on the rolled-up writing all the destructions that would-come to Babilonia-all that would- surely -happen to Babilonia.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Jeremiah had written on a scroll a list of all the disasters that he had written about, disasters that would soon occur in Babylon.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Evil is here used in the same sense as in 1.14. New International Version renders “disasters” and Good News Translation “destruction.”
Quite a few versions take these words that are written to mean “these words written here.” The verse could then be translated:
• Jeremiah wrote in a book an account of the destruction that would come to Babylonia. He wrote all these words here that are about Babylonia.
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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