shiny

In Gbaya, the notion of something that shines dazzingly is emphasized in the referenced verses with the ideophones zar-zar or bar-bar.

In Job 28:17, it refers to the glass, in Lamentations 4:1 it is used in a negated form (“grown dim”), and in Luke 23:11 it refers to “elegant robe” (which is translated as “bright clothing” [vêtement éclatant] in the French Traduction œcuménique de la Bible).

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

being in large numbers

In Gbaya, the notion of being in large numbers is emphasized in the referenced verses with the ideophone hakaka.

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

chariot

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:

  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “cart pulled by horses” (source: Larson 1998, p. 98)
  • 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.)
  • Hausa Common Language Bible as keken-doki or “cart of donkey” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
  • Mairasi: “going-thing [vehicle]” (source: Enggavoter 2004)

It is illustrated for use in Bible translations in East Africa by Pioneer Bible Translators like this:

Image owned by PBT and Jonathan McDaniel and licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

See also cart.

complete verse (Nahum 2:4)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Nahum 2:4:

  • Kupsabiny: “The young men who come in those chariots through the streets are ready to fight. They are moving forward and coming back on the open space of the city. They shine on people like torches and flash like lightning.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “The chariots race along the roads,
    rushing back and forth through the courtyards.
    They look like burning torches
    Like lightning they speed around.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Their chariots howls-strongly in the streets, rushing-back-and-forth in the plazas. They flame like a torch and flash like lightning.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Their chariots will dash through the streets of Nineveh
    and rush furiously through the plazas.
    Going as quick as lightning,
    they will resemble flaming torches.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Nahum 2:4

The majority of commentators take this verse as continuing to describe the attackers, though Good News Translation seems to treat it as referring to the defenders by linking it with the first part of verse 5. The majority view seems more probable. Since the assault on the city walls is not mentioned until verse 5, the streets and squares here must refer to areas in the suburbs of Nineveh that were outside the main fortifications. The squares were more open areas where the chariots would have more room to turn (compare New American Bible “wheel in the squares”).

The terms used for the movements of the chariots are very vivid. (See comments on verse 3 for other ways to translate chariots.) For rage Good News Translation uses the expression “dash wildly.” The actual type of movement involved is not so important as the picture the words create of a situation which is frantic and disorderly. Translators should try to create a similar impression by the terms they choose; for example, “run in a confused way,” “race madly,” or “run in an uncontrolled way.”

They gleam like torches, they dart like lightning: these words probably refer again to the way the sun was reflected from the polished metal of the chariots. A torch was a long pole with rags that were soaked in olive oil and then attached to one end of the pole. When the rags were set on fire, the torch gave out light. The comparison with torches stresses brightness, and the comparison with lightning stresses both brightness and speed. These two sentences can be rendered “They gleam like the light from flaming torches, and dart about like flashes of lightning.” The word dart refers to very fast movement, first in one direction and then in another. In languages which do not have a single term for the idea of dart, translators may have to use a phrase; for example, “they rush in one direction and then in another.”

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A . A Handbook on the Book of Nahum. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1989. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .