Abimelech's downfall (image)

Hand colored stencil print on momigami by Sadao Watanabe (1972).

Image taken with permission from the SadaoHanga Catalogue where you can find many more images and information about Sadao Watanabe.

For other images of Sadao Watanabe art works in TIPs, see here.

making implicit plural form explicit (Judges 9:50)

In many, if not most of the languages in the Philippines, proper nouns, such as personal names, are tagged with a marker that signals their grammatical role within a sentence. For Tagalog and the Visayan languages , this typically includes si to mark the proper noun as the actor or subject (nominative case), ni to mark the proper noun as an owner (genitive case), and kay to mark the proper noun as as an indirect object, i.e. the one to or toward whom an action is directed (dative case). All of these also have plural forms — sina, nina and kina respectively — and unlike in the biblical languages or in English, the plural form has to be used when only a single proper name is mentioned but implicitly that proper name includes more than just one.

In this verse, where English translates “Abimelech (went),” the Tagalog translation translates “sina Abimelec” because the context of the text makes clear that Abimelech was with his troops. (Source: Kermit Titrud and Steve Quakenbush)

complete verse (Judges 9:50)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Judges 9:50:

  • Kupsabiny: “After that, Abimelech surrounded Thebez, fought against it and took it.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Abimelech went to Thebez city and besieging it, conquered it.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Afterwards Abimelec and-company went to Tebez and they also put- it -under- (their) -jurisdiction.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Then Abimelech and his men went to Thebes city. They surrounded it and captured it.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

SIL Translator’s Notes on Judges 9:50

Section 9:50-57

Abimelek died

9:50 Then Abimelech went to Thebez, encamped against it, and captured it.

After that, Abimelek went to Thebez town. He and his men surrounded it and conquered it.
-or-
From there, Abimelek ⌊and his men⌋ went to Thebez town. They surrounded the town and ⌊fought its people. They defeated them and⌋ took control of the town.

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