swear / vow

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The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “swear (an oath)” or “vow” in English is otherwise translated as:

  • “God sees me, I tell the truth to you” (Tzeltal)
  • “loading yourself down” (Huichol)
  • “speak-stay” (implying permanence of the utterance) (Sayula Popoluca)
  • “say what could not be taken away” (San Blas Kuna)
  • “because of the tight (i.e. ‘binding’) word said to a face” (Guerrero Amuzgo)
  • “strong promise” (North Alaskan Inupiatun) (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • “eat an oath” (Nyamwezi) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • “drink an oath” (Jju) (source: McKinney 2018, p. 31).
  • “cut taboos” (Mairasi (source: Enggavoter 2004)

In Bauzi “swear” can be translated in various ways. In Hebrews 6:13, for instance, it is translated with “bones break apart and decisively speak.” (“No bones are literally broken but by saying ‘break bones’ it is like people swear by someone else in this case it is in relation to a rotting corpse’ bones falling apart. If you ‘break bones’ so to speak when you make an utterance, it is a true utterance.”) In other passages, such as in Matthew 26:72, it’s translated with an expression that implies taking ashes (“if a person wants everyone to know that he is telling the truth about a matter, he reaches down into the fireplace, scoops up some ashes and throws them while saying ‘I was not the one who did that.'”). So in Matthew 26:72 the Bauzi text is: “. . . Peter took ashes and defended himself saying, ‘I don’t know that Nazareth person.'” (Source: David Briley)

See also swear (promise) and Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’, or ‘No, No’.

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Judg 21:1)

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 inclusive pronoun, including everyone.

complete verse (Judges 21:1)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Judges 21:1:

  • Kupsabiny: “The people of Israel had sworn in Mizpah that no one of them would ever allow a man from the clan of Benjamin to marry his daughter.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “When the Israelite people had gathered at Mizpah they swore an oath, saying, "None of our daughters will be given to any Benjaminite."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “There in Mizpa the Israelinhon promised that they will- never -cause-to-become-wife their female children/(daughters) with the Benjaminhon.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “When the Israeli men gathered at Mizpah before the battle started, they vowed, ‘None of us will ever allow one of our daughters to marry any man from the tribe of Benjamin!’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Judges 21:1

This verse sets the scene for the two episodes that follow. It is probably a flashback. In verse 20.1-11 the Israelites met together at Mizpah and decided to go to war, but the text does not mention any oath made there. But now this detail is supplied. Now renders the Hebrew waw conjunction, but many versions omit it (New International Version, Revised English Bible). Translators should try to find an appropriate connector. Good News Translation begins this verse with a temporal clause: “When the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah….” Contemporary English Version is similar with “When the Israelites had met at Mizpah before the war with Benjamin….”

The men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah: The men of Israel is literally “a man of Israel,” which occurs often in the previous section (verse 20.11, 17, 20, 22, 33, 36, 38-39, 41-42, 48). As there, this phrase has a collective meaning, “the Israelites” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). Had sworn means “had made a solemn promise [or, vow]” (see verse 2.1), but the context does not say whether they made this promise to God or to each other. Contemporary English Version says “had made this sacred promise.” Like Revised Standard Version, most other English versions use the past perfect tense here to show that this action happened prior to the current time frame. For Mizpah see verse 20.1. In Hebrew this clause ends with an infinitive, literally “saying” (King James Version, NET Bible), but many versions omit this speech formula and introduce the oath as a quote (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version).

No one of us shall give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin is literally “A man from us will/should not give his daughter to Benjamin for a wife.” The pronoun us refers to all the Israelite tribes, with the exception of Benjamin. For give his daughter in marriage, see verse 1.12. At that time in Israel and still in many parts of the world today, parents arrange marriages for their children. Daughters have little or no say in the matter, though there are some exceptions (Gen 24.58; verse 29.23). As in the previous chapter, the name Benjamin refers to the tribe, and not just to an individual. We can simply say “We will not allow our daughters to marry Benjaminites.”

Revised Standard Version follows the Hebrew here by using a direct quote, but some languages may prefer indirect speech (see first model below). Translation models for this verse are:

• When the Israelites had met in Mizpah, they had made a solemn promise not to give their daughters in marriage to the Benjaminites.

• When in Mizpah, the Israelites had vowed [before God], “We will never allow any of our daughters to marry a Benjaminite man.”

Quoted with permission from Zogbo, Lynell and Ogden, Graham S. A Handbook on Judges. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Judges 21:1

Section 21:1-24

The people of Israel helped the men of Benjamin to find wives

21:1a Now the men of Israel had sworn an oath at Mizpah, saying,

When they were together at the town of Mizpah, Israel’s men swore an oath. They said,
-or-
⌊This is what happened before the battle.⌋ The Israelite men made a promise ⌊to Yahweh⌋ at Mizpah town. They said,

21:1b “Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite.”

“None of us will let his daughter marry a man from the Benjamin clan.”
-or-
“We will not give our daughters in marriage to any of Benjamin’s men.”

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