3I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my ancestors’ graves, lies waste and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
The Hebrew and Aramaic that is translated in English as “long live” or “live forever” and the Greek that is translated as “Hail” in English is translated in Mandarin Chinese as wànsuì (万岁 / 萬歲) or “(may you live) 10,000 years” which was used to hail Chinese emperors and, more recently, the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong (Máo Zhǔxí Wànsuì [毛主席万岁] or “May Chairman Mao live for ten thousand years!”).
Likewise it is also used in these verses in other East Asian languages, including Japanese with ban zai (ばんざい / 万歳), Korean with man se (만세), Vietnamese with vạn tuế or muôn tuổi, or Mongolian with mandtugai (мандтугай). (Note that Mongolian does not use that term for the New Testament renderings.) (Source: Zetzsche)
For more information on this phrase, see 10,000 years .
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Nehemiah 2:3:
Kupsabiny: “But I said, ‘Long live, oh, king/ruler! Now that the town/city where (our) grandfathers were buried has become desolate/ruined, and the gates have been burned, what would make me not become sad/dejected?’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “but I replied to the king, ‘May you (sing.) live long, the Beloved King. I am sad because the city where my ancestors were-buried is ruined and its entrance/gates are burned.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “but I said to the king, ‘Sir King, may you (sing.) live-and-live (connotes good life) forever! I am not able-to-hide my sorrow/mourning because the city where- my ancestors -are-buried, it is totally ruined and its doors are burned.’” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
English: “I replied, ‘Your majesty, I hope you will live a very long time! But how can I prevent myself from being sad, because the city where my ancestors are buried has been destroyed and is in ruins?/I cannot keep myself from looking sad, because the city where my ancestors are buried has been destroyed and is in ruins. Even the city gates have been completely burned.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:
Ninia Yali: “big brother with the uplifted name” (source: Daud Soesilio in Noss 2007, p. 175)
Nyamwezi: mutemi: generic word for ruler, by specifying the city or nation it becomes clear what kind of ruler (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Ghomála’: Fo (“The word Fo refers to the paramount ruler in the kingdoms of West Cameroon. He holds administrative, political, and religious power over his own people, who are divided into two categories: princes (descendants of royalty) and servants (everyone else).” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn))
Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo (Dinė) was determined:
“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iki-rare-ru (生きられる) or “live” is used.
Nehemiah answers the king very carefully to advance his plan to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the city. Let the king live forever! was the standard address to a Babylonian or Persian king (see Dan 2.4; 3.9; 5.10; 6.6, 21). The Good News Translation expression is an equivalent English rendering: “May Your Majesty live forever!” Some versions retain a third person form similar to the Hebrew for addressing the king; for example, “May His Majesty live forever!” (similarly Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). Bible en français courant uses a more informal style with the second person singular pronoun: “Majesty, I wish for you to live forever!” If the receptor language has a form for royal address, it would be appropriate to use it here.
Why should not my face be sad? is a rhetorical question that conveys Nehemiah’s strong emotions. He was not asking for an answer from the king, but was justifying himself before the king. This question repeats the second of the three expressions used in the previous verses to describe his appearance before the king. Nehemiah’s response should not be translated in such a way that it implies that he was disrespectful or arrogant before the king. Contemporary English Version therefore restructures the response in the form of a declaration: “I feel sad because….” Good News Translation retains the rhetorical question but rephrases it in a form that is more common in modern-day English: “How can I keep from looking sad…?”
Nehemiah attributes his sadness to his concern for his city. His appeal to the king is to win the king’s sympathy for himself personally without specifically referring to the name of his city Jerusalem. This avoids any political thoughts that might be raised in the king’s mind from any negative reports about Jerusalem from the local officials.
Nehemiah’s request is made even more personal by identifying the city as the place of my fathers’ sepulchres. This a reference to his family ancestry, and is literally “my fathers’ house of tombs.” Achaemenian royal tombs were constructed in the form of houses. Nehemiah’s use of this phrase probably made the king think of the tombs of his own ancestors. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible uses the word “tombs” in place of the more archaic sepulchres. New Revised Standard Version uses the more common word “graves.” Good News Translation refers to “the city where my ancestors are buried,” and New International Version says “the city where my fathers are buried.” Both these versions use natural English expressions without referring explicitly to the tombs that Nehemiah mentions (also Contemporary English Version). Unless explicit reference to burial places is taboo in the receptor culture, the translator should not omit this reference.
Nehemiah then speaks of the city itself. He gives a picture of a city that is completely defenseless without walls or gates for protection. First, he describes the state of the city. He says that it lies waste. It has been destroyed (Nouvelle version Segond révisée), it has been devastated (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), it is desolate and in ruin (Bible en français courant); that is, the walls of the city and the houses have been broken down. Second, he repeats a specific part of the message that he had received, namely, that its gates have been destroyed by fire (see Neh 1.3). This is literally “its gates have been eaten by fire” (so New American Bible, Chouraqui). The verb “eat” is used metaphorically to speak of the destruction of the gates by fire. Equivalent usage in English is “consumed by fire” or “devoured by fire.” Translators should not supply the name of the city at this point in the account because Nehemiah himself does not do so. He wants to gain the king’s personal sympathy before letting him know which city he is talking about.
Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Nehemiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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