mourn

The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “mourn” or similar in English is translated in Newari as “have one’s heart broken” or “have a bursting heart” (source: Newari Back Translation).

In Cherokee it is translated as “going around feeling badly” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 16).

joy

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The Greek, Latin, Ge’ez, and Hebrew that is translated with “joy” or “gladness” in English is translated with various strategies:

  • Baoulé: “a song in the stomach” (see also peace (inner peace))
  • Bambara: “the spirit is made sweet”
  • Kpelle: “sweet heart”
  • Tzeltal: “the good taste of one’s heart”
  • Uduk: “good to the stomach”
  • Mískito: “the liver is wide open” (“happily letting the pleasures flooding in upon it”) (source for this and above: Nida 1952)
  • Mairasi: “good liver” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Noongar: koort-kwabba-djil or “heart very good” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “refreshed heart” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.).
  • Hausa Common Language Bible: farin ciki or “white stomach.” Other languages that use the same expression include Southern Birifor (pʋpɛl), Dera (popolok awo), Reshe (ɾipo ɾipuhã). (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

See also Seat of the Mind for traditional views of “ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling,” happiness / joy, and exceeding joy.

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Lam 5:15)

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.

complete verse (Lamentations 5:15)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Lamentations 5:15:

  • Kupsabiny: “We do not have joy
    and the song/dance has been changed to mourning.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Happiness has disappeared from our hearts.
    Our dancing has turned to sorrow.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “We no-longer have joy. Instead we will-dance, we are-mourning.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “We are no longer joyful;
    instead of dancing joyfully, we now mourn.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Lamentations 5:15

The poet now speaks again for the whole community. Since community life is so totally disrupted that the old men have ceased to advise, and the young men to play their instruments, The joy of our hearts translates the Hebrew literally and clearly for English. Heart is here taken as the center of emotions. The expression refers to the feeling of happiness. Ceased translates the same verb used in “old men have quit” in verse 14. Good News Translation says this effectively: “Happiness has gone out of our lives,” or Bible en français courant “Our hearts have ceased to be happy.”

The expression our dancing has been turned to mourning may have to be expressed differently in some languages, particularly where dancing is associated with particular occasions or purposes such as healing or rain making, but not principally with the celebration of happiness. Accordingly we may sometimes say, for example, “We used to dance because we were happy; now we only mourn because we are sad.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on Lamentations. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Lamentations 5:15

5:15a Joy has left our hearts;

We are not happy any longer. (Easy English Bible)
-or-
We are sad

5:15b our dancing has turned to mourning.

Instead, we are very sad, so we do not dance any longer. (Easy English Bible)
-or-
and we mourn instead of dance.

5:15a-b (combined)

We used to dance because we were happy. Now we only mourn because we are sad.
-or-
We are very unhappy. Instead of dancing for joy we cry about the dead.

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