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king

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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:

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  • Piro: “a great one”
  • Highland Totonac: “the big boss”
  • Huichol: “the one who commanded” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Ekari: “the one who holds the country” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Una: weik sienyi: “big headman” (source: Kroneman 2004, p. 407)
  • Pass Valley Yali: “Big Man” (source: Daud Soesilo)
  • 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 If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior.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.”

(Source: Faye Edgerton in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 25ff. )

See also king (Japanese honorifics).

Translation commentary on Nehemiah 3:25 - 3:26

The verse break in the Hebrew text between verse 24 and verse 25 comes at the end of and to the corner. Most translations begin verse 25 with Palal the son of Uzai and translators should do the same.

Verses 25-26 are a continuation of verse 24 so that even though the verb repaired is not in the Hebrew text, it is understood from the previous verse.

The tower projecting from the upper house of the king at the court of the guard: The tower was a part of the court of the guard, which was included in the house of the king (see Jer 32.2). A tower is a tall building or an extension on top of a wall that can serve as an observation post (see verse 1 above). Grammatically, upper can refer to either the tower or the house of the king. There is archaeological evidence that Solomon’s palace was higher up the hill than David’s palace. So upper here could refer to the palace farther up the hill. This Handbook takes upper to refer to the palace, but “upper tower” is equally acceptable and can be mentioned in a footnote.

Pedaiah was the name of one of the men who stood beside Ezra when he read the Law (Neh 8.4) and of a Levite in charge of storerooms (Neh 13.13). His association with temple servants makes it likely that he was a Levite.

And the temple servants living on Ophel is parenthetical in the Hebrew text and appears to interrupt the statement about Pedaiah. It is literally “and the Temple servants were living on Ophel.” This clause is therefore presented in Good News Translation as a parenthetical statement. This is supported by Hebrew Old Testament Text Project with an A rating, which also judges “were living on Ophel” to be a gloss. Some commentators believe that this clause was copied here from Neh 11.21. So versions like Revised English Bible and New Jerusalem Bible omit it completely here. The two words “were living” in Hebrew can be contracted to form the participle living. This makes the temple servants to be builders along with Pedaiah (Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, New International Version). But it is recommended to translate the unchanged Hebrew text as Good News Translation represents it.

For temple servants, see the comments at Ezra 2.43-54.

Ophel means “swelling, bulge” and refers to the rise that extends southward from the Temple area into the Kidron Valley. Good News Translation makes explicit that Ophel was the name of a part of the city. According to verse 31 below, the house of the Temple servants was further north than this point.

Opposite the Water Gate on the east and the projecting tower: The Water Gate was located close to the Gihon Spring. It was situated in the old pre-exilic wall that was then down in the ravine above the spring. The section of the wall being built here was opposite the Water Gate; that is, it was “in front of the Water Gate” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “near the Water Gate” (Good News Translation). It was between the Water Gate, which was on the eastern side of the city, and the projecting tower. The phrase on the east may also be understood to mean that the section of wall that was being built here ran in an east-west direction between the Water Gate, which was to the east, and the projecting tower, which was to the west.

The projecting tower may be a different tower from the one in verse 25 above. The Hebrew describes it as “the tower that extends forth” (so Nouvelle Bible Segond, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), but it does not indicate what shape this is. It may have been a projection out from the wall. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh calls it “the jutting tower.” A tower by its nature extends upwardly, but this one may have been especially remarkable in this way. In verse 27 it is described as being big. Good News Translation identifies it as a “the tower guarding the Temple,” but most translations do not do so. Translators should attempt to describe it in a way that expresses the sense of the original text.

Good News Translation restructures verses 25 and 26 to fit the pattern of the other verses in this section. It therefore sets the explanation about Ophel apart in parentheses at the end. Another possible model is:

• and to the corner of the wall. Next Palal the son of Uzai repaired the wall opposite the escarpment and the tower of the court of the guard of the upper palace. Next to him Pedaiah the son of Parosh and the Temple servants who lived in the Ophel Hill area of town repaired the wall up to a point opposite the Water Gate on the east and the tower that jutted out.”

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 .