“Navajo (Dinė) distinguishes between a man’s son or daughter and a woman’s son or daughter by the use of different terms for each. So the gender of Zion had to be determined. The problem was settled when a friend called to our attention a number of verses in the Old Testament where Zion is referred to as “she” or “her”, e.g. Ps. 87:5, 48:12, Is. 4:5, 66:8. The term for a woman’s daughter is biché’é, so the “daughter of Zion” became Záiyon biché’é ‘Zion her-daughter’.” (Source: Faye Edgerton in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 25ff. .)
In the English translation by Goldingay (2018) it is translated as Miss Tsiyyon (or: Zion).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 6:23:
Kupsabiny: “Those people are very arrogant/brutal and they carry their arrows and spears. They sound like a roaring ocean when they come on their horses and (they) are ready to fight against Zion!"” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “They are armed with arrows-and-bows and spears. They are violent and without mercy. Their noise is like the strong wave as they ride on their horses. They will-arrive ready to attack you (plur.), (who)-come-from-Jerusalem. ’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “They have bows and arrows and spears; they are very cruel, and do not act mercifully to anyone. As they ride along on their horses, the horses’ feet sound like the roaring of the ocean waves; they are riding in battle formation to attack you people of Jerusalem.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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)
Lay hold on must be understood in the sense of “fight with,” although a good translation is “They are armed with bows and swords [or, spears].”
The Hebrew noun translated spear (so also New Jerusalem Bible) is now believed by many scholars to refer to either a short sword used for thrusting or a crescent shaped sword. Thus Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “Their soldiers fight with bows and curved swords….” New English Bible has “sabre” (a heavy sword with a slightly curved blade), and Bright has “blade” (with a note indicating that it was a sword 68.7 centimeters long).
The verb rendered have mercy here and elsewhere is sometimes translated “have compassion” by Revised Standard Version (12.15; 13.14; 21.7; 30.18). In this verse translators can say “are without compassion” or “show mercy to no one.”
The sound of them … upon horses may be more naturally expressed as in Good News Translation, “They sound like the roaring sea, as they ride their horses.” Revised English Bible is dramatic, though high-level: “bestriding their horses, they sound like the thunder of the sea….”
Daughter of Zion (see 4.31) refers to Jerusalem. Set in array … O daughter of Zion is translated by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch as “They are ready to attack—to attack you, Jerusalem!” Good News Translation has “They are ready for battle against Jerusalem.”
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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