hungry

The Hebrew, Ge’ez, Latin, and Greek that is translated in English as “hungry” (or: “famished”) is translated in a number of ways:

  • Noongar: “without stomach” (koborl-wirt) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Kölsch translation (Boch 2017): nix zo Käue han or “have nothing to chew on” and singe Mage hät geknottert wie ne Hungk or “his stomach growled like a dog” (source: Jost Zetzsche)
  • German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): Hunger überfiel ihn or “Hunger overtook (lit.: “attacked”) him” (in Matthew 4:2)
  • Kupsabiny: “hunger ate him” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Mairasi: “feeling tuber pains” (tubers are the main staple) (source Enggavoter 2004)
  • Chechen: “blinded by hunger” (Source: David Clark in The Bible Translator 2015, p. 117ff. )

horn

The musical instrument that is most often translated as “(ram’s) horn” or “trumpet” in English is translated in the following ways:

  • Yakan: tabuli’ (big sea shell used to give signals) (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Apal: “bamboo bugle” (source: Martha Wade in The Bible Translator 2022, p. 26ff.)
  • Tibetan “yak’s horn” (a traditional instrument in Tibetan culture) (source: David Clark in Clark / Desnitsky 2009 , p. 23)
  • Mairasi / Bariai: “Triton shell trumpet” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • German Luther translation: Posaune, today: “trombone,” originally with the meaning of a wind instrument made from cow horn (from Latin bucina [bovi- / “cow” + the root of cano / “sing”]. Incidentally, bucina is also used in the Latin Vulgate translation). By the time of Luther’s translation it referred to the natural trumpet or a fanfare trumpet (see also trumpet). Once the meaning morphed to “trombone” in the 19th century, trombone ensembles started to play a central role in Protestant German churches and do so to the present day. In 2016, “Posaunenchöre” became added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list . (Note that Exodus 19:13 is the only exception in the Luther Bible. From the 1956 revision on, Widderhorn or “ram’s horn” is used here) (source: Zetzsche)

In the UBS Helps for Translators‘ Human-made Things in the Bible (original title: The Works of Their Hands: Man-made Things in the Bible) it says the following:

Description: The horn was a wind instrument made from the horn of an animal, usually a male sheep.

Usage: The animal horn was softened so that it could be shaped. The point of the horn was cut off to leave a small opening through which the user blew. The vibration of the lips produced the sound.

The ram’s horn served two general purposes:

1. It was blown in certain religious contexts, not as musical accompaniment to worship but as a signal for important events. Some of these events were the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, the Day of Atonement, the bringing of the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, and the coronation of kings.

2. It also served as a signal or alarm when war was approaching. Such references are particularly common in the prophetic books, when the prophets are calling the people to repent (Hosea 5:8; 8:1; Joel 2:1; 2:15; Amos 3:6).

Translation: In many passages the purpose of the ram’s horn called shofar in Hebrew was to sound an alarm. This will be easy to express in those cultures where the horns of animals are used as musical instruments to give signals to large groups of people. In other cultures it may be possible to find another instrument that is used for an equivalent purpose. In some languages, for example, instruments such as bells or drums are the warnings for war. Some translations have transliterated the word shofar. Unless the instrument is well known, such a borrowing should normally be accompanied by a footnote or a glossary entry.

In some passages it will be necessary to expand the translation in order to indicate that the blowing of the ram’s horn was not just for music; for example, in Ezekiel 7:14 Contemporary English Version has “A signal has been blown on the trumpet,” and the German Contemporary English Version says “An alarm is sounded” [elsewhere, the same German version refers to the horns as Kriegshörner or “war horns.”]

Man blowing ram’s horn (source: Knowles, revised by Bass (c) British and Foreign Bible Society 1994)

Quoted with permission.

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Jeremiah 42:14)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, the Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation both use the exclusive pronoun, excluding the Lord.

complete verse (Jeremiah 42:14)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 42:14:

  • Kupsabiny: “and you say that you will go and live in the land of Egypt where you will not see war, or hear the horn be blown, or miss food,” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “but we will-go to Egipto and live there for there is never war or famine there,’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “instead, we will go to Egypt. There we will not experience any wars, we will not hear trumpets signaling our soldiers to prepare for battles, and we will not be hungry,’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 42:13 - 42:15

Many translations begin a new paragraph at verse 13. Bible en français courant keeps the flow of the passage with “Jeremiah continued.”

In order to achieve a more logical order and at the same time to omit unnecessary repetition, Good News Translation places verses 13-15 together. Bible en français courant retains the order of the verses, but rearranges the clauses in verse 13:

• Jeremiah continued: “Suppose that you refuse to obey the orders of the Lord your God and that you say, ‘No, we will no longer live in this land, 14….’ ”

Another possibility is:

• But if you decide to disobey the LORD your God and say, “We will not stay here in this land” [or, by saying that you will not stay here in this land], 14….

However, we recommend that translators break down these verses into short, clear sentences that express all the meaning of the passage, that they sort out how these relate to each other, and then translate them together in as natural a discourse as possible. See more discussion below.

Disobeying the voice of the LORD your God (see verse 6 and 40.3) is the equivalent of “disobeying the LORD your God.”

And saying at the beginning of verse 14 marks the continuation of the direct discourse begun in verse 13, and so it may be omitted, as in Bible en français courant. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders 13 and 14 as follows:

• 13 But you must obey the Lord your God and not leave this land. 14 You must not say: We will go to Egypt….

See war: Languages have different ways of describing this experience; in English it is more natural to say “experience war” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) or “face war” (Good News Translation).

The sound of the trumpet was a signal for war, as Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch indicates: “war trumpet.” Good News Translation makes a slight shift, saying “the call to battle.”

Be hungry for bread: In the Jewish culture bread, made from either barley or wheat, was the main source of food. If translators retain the form here, readers may miss the meaning. “Go hungry” (Good News Translation) is therefore better in most cultures.

Then at the start of verse 15 is a continuation of the if clause of verse 13 (But if you say …). For most readers the connection will have been lost, unless careful attention is given to transitionals within the discourse. Good News Translation handles this by moving the if much closer in the sentence to the then clause: “But you … must not disobey … You must not say … If you say this, then….” As noted above, Bible en français courant begins Jeremiah’s words to the people with “Suppose you say….” This sentence is continued to the end of verse 14. Then verse 15 begins “Then….” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch begins verse 14 with “You must not say,” which is followed immediately by what the people are warned against saying; then verse 15 opens with “In this case….” Translators can also make this relationship clear with a construction similar to this:

• 13 If you say … 14 and say, “No, we will go to Egypt … and live there,” 15 then, if you say all this, here is what the LORD says to you, you of Judah who are left….

Hear the word of the LORD: See 2.4.

Remnant: See the comments at verse 2 and 6.9.

Thus says the LORD of hosts: See 2.2, 19.

If you set your faces is an idiom that means “If you are determined” (New American Bible, New International Version, Good News Translation) or “If you insist” (New Living Translation). The idiom occurs again in 44.12. See also 21.10; Luke 9.51.

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 .