“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).
The Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated into English as “chariot” is translated into Anuak as “canoe pulled by horse.” “Canoe” is the general term for “vehicle” (source: Loren Bliese). Similarly it is translated in Lokạạ as ukwaa wạ nyanyang ntuuli or “canoe that is driven by horses.” (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )
Other translations include:
Chichicapan Zapotec: “ox cart” (in Acts 8) (ox carts are common vehicles for travel) (source: Loren Bliese)
Chichimeca-Jonaz, it is translated as “little house with two feet pulled by two horses” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
HausaCommon Language Bible as keken-doki or “cart of donkey” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is typically translated as “sin” in English has a wide variety of translations.
The Greek ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō) carries the original verbatim meaning of “miss the mark” and likewise, many translations contain the “connotation of moral responsibility.”
Loma: “leaving the road” (which “implies a definite standard, the transgression of which is sin”)
Navajo (Dinė): “that which is off to the side” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
Toraja-Sa’dan: kasalan, originally meaning “transgression of a religious or moral rule” and in the context of the Bible “transgression of God’s commandments” (source: H. van der Veen in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 21ff. )
Bariai: “bad behavior” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
Sandawe: “miss the mark” (like the original meaning of the Greek term) (source for this and above: Ursula Wiesemann in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 36ff., 43)
Nias: horö, originally a term primarily used for sexual sin. (Source: Hummel / Telaumbanua 2007, p. 256)
In Shipibo-Conibo the term is hocha. Nida (1952, p. 149) tells the story of its choosing: “In some instances a native expression for sin includes many connotations, and its full meaning must be completely understood before one ever attempts to use it. This was true, for example, of the term hocha first proposed by Shipibo-Conibo natives as an equivalent for ‘sin.’ The term seemed quite all right until one day the translator heard a girl say after having broken a little pottery jar that she was guilty of ‘hocha.’ Breaking such a little jar scarcely seemed to be sin. However, the Shipibos insisted that hocha was really sin, and they explained more fully the meaning of the word. It could be used of breaking a jar, but only if the jar belonged to someone else. Hocha was nothing more nor less than destroying the possessions of another, but the meaning did not stop with purely material possessions. In their belief God owns the world and all that is in it. Anyone who destroys the work and plan of God is guilty of hocha. Hence the murderer is of all men most guilty of hocha, for he has destroyed God’s most important possession in the world, namely, man. Any destructive and malevolent spirit is hocha, for it is antagonistic and harmful to God’s creation. Rather than being a feeble word for some accidental event, this word for sin turned out to be exceedingly rich in meaning and laid a foundation for the full presentation of the redemptive act of God.”
Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the DanishBibelen 2020, comments on the translation of this term: “We would explain terms, such that e.g. sin often became ‘doing what God does not want’ or ‘breaking God’s law’, ‘letting God down’, ‘disrespecting God’, ‘doing evil’, ‘acting stupidly’, ‘becoming guilty’. Now why couldn’t we just use the word sin? Well, sin in contemporary Danish, outside of the church, is mostly used about things such as delicious but unhealthy foods. Exquisite cakes and chocolates are what a sin is today.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Micah 1:13:
Kupsabiny: “You who live in Lachish, prepare your horses and carts, since you were those who first held on to sin and spread it to the city of Jerusalem. The sins of Israel were found in/among you.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Oh, inhabitants of Lachish, tie your horses to the chariots. It is you who are the beginning of the sin to the daughter Zion. Because it was with you that the transgressions of Israel were found.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Residents of Lakish, [you (plur.)] hitch-up your (plur.) horses with chariots and flee. You (plur.) have-followed the sin of those (who) come-from-Israel, and because of you those (who) come-from-Jerusalem have- also -been-led-to-sin.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
In this verse the wordplay is between Lachish and to the chariots, in Hebrew larekesh. Again the prophet speaks directly to the people of the town, and Good News Translation places You that live in Lachish first, where it sounds best in English. Translators should follow the natural way of addressing people in their own languages.
A chariot is a two-wheeled cart pulled by two horses and normally used in war. Usually two or three people would ride in it, one to drive and the others to fight. The people of Lachish are told to hitch the horses to the chariots in order to run away from the enemies, not to fight them. The idea is that the enemies are very close and are about to capture the town. In some languages it may be clearer to talk about “fastening (or tying) the chariots to the horses.”
The charge brought against Lachish is that it was the first town in Judah that imitated the sins of Israel. The way in which this was done is not clear. The suggestions that scholars accept as most probable is that Lachish was the Last Judean town on the road to Egypt, and thus grew rich through trading with Egypt in horses (see 1 Kgs 10.28-29). Its prosperity then encouraged its people to follow the example of the northern kingdom and trust in material wealth rather than in the Lord. (A similar attitude, also connected with horses and with Egypt, is condemned in Isa 31.1-3.) Such an attitude would soon have spread to the capital city of Jerusalem, and in this way Lachish could have been the evil influence that caused Jerusalem to sin.
You imitated the sins of Israel is literally “in you were found the transgressions of Israel” (Revised Standard Version). You here refers to the people of Lachish. They committed the same sort of sins that the people of Israel, the northern kingdom, had been committing and which brought God’s punishment on them. It is probably enough to say “You did the same evil things that the people of Israel did.” However, if the translator wants to follow Good News Translation and suggest that they were actually imitating or copying the people of Israel, it may be necessary to go into more detail: “You saw the evil things that the people of Israel were doing, and you decided to do them too.”
The sins of the people of Lachish caused Jerusalem to sin, presumably because the people of Jerusalem copied what they saw the people of Lachish doing. The text says literally that Lachish was “the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion” (Revised Standard Version). Jerusalem was built around the hill called Mount Zion, so the city and its inhabitants were known figuratively as “the daughter of Zion,” and this term is common in the writings of the prophets. It is not likely that this literal expression would be understood in many languages; here it simply means “the people of Jerusalem.”
The people of Lachish did not of course force the people of Jerusalem to sin, but they were simply the bad example that the people of Jerusalem followed. Therefore in some languages it may be better to say “The people of Jerusalem saw your evil deeds and did the same things, and so they sinned because of you.”
Note that the two ideas in this sentence (You imitated the sins of Israel and you caused Jerusalem to sin) are connected in opposite ways by Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version, though the meanings are the same. In the order of Good News Translation, the action that came first in time is put first, followed by the result of this action (and so). In Revised Standard Version (which follows the Hebrew) the prophet’s main point is put first (“you caused Jerusalem to sin”), followed by the explanation of how it was that they did this (“because you imitated the sins of Israel”). Each translator will need to decide which order is best in his own language.
Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. et al. A Handbook on Micah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1982, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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