plenty

In Gbaya, the notion of plenty (of torrents, flesh/meat, food, or wine) is emphasized in the referenced verses with lata-lata, an ideophone that describes a spreading out, an abundance, of things placed on the ground in disorder.

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

complete verse (Psalm 78:27)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 78:27:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “He dropped them meat like dust,
    flying birds like the sand along the lake.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “Innumerable like sand in the desert, He sent birds.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “And he caused- birds -to-rain-down as- great-in-number -as the sand on the seashore.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “He poured on them meat like dust,
    he poured out birds that fly up,
    which they stay like sand of the bank of the sea.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Akawangushia nyama nyingi, kama vile vumbi,
    ya ndege wengi, kama vile mchanga wa katika bahari.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “and the wind brought birds
    which were as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

sea / lake

The various Greek, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin and Hebrew terms that are translated as “sea,” “ocean,” or “lake” in English are all translated in Chichewa with one term: nyanja. Malawi, where Chichewa is spoken, has a lot of lakes but does not share a border with the ocean. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Psalm 78:26 - 78:28

It is possible that the east wind in verse 26a and the south wind in 26b are a poetic way of speaking of the southeast wind (Briggs, Anderson). Numbers 11.31 speaks of “wind from the LORD” which blew in “quails from the sea” (Revised Standard Version), by which is meant the Gulf of Aqaba, which was to the south and east of the camp of the Hebrews. In some languages east wind must be designated by a local directional term; for example, “He caused the wind to blow from the mountainside,” “… from the waterside,” or “… from the side of the rising sun.” Similar terminology also applies to south and other directions. In some languages the direction from which the wind blows is related to the seasons of the year.

In verse 26a Revised Standard Version in the heavens probably should be “from heaven” (New English Bible, New International Version; see Dahood, Anderson). Biblia Dios Habla Hoy combines the two lines, as follows: “The east wind and the south wind blew in the sky; God brought them with his power!” Good News Translation considers in the heavens to be redundant information and so does not represent it formally. But a translation can do so, either by following New English Bible, or else by translating “He caused the east wind to blow high above the camp; by his power he stirred up the wind from the south.”

“Sent down” in verse 27a translates the same verb used in verse 24a “rained down”; Revised Standard Version uses the same verb rained. The use of flesh here is most inappropriate; “meat” (New Jerusalem Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible, etc.) is the right word in English. Good News Translation “birds” combines “meat” in line a and winged birds in line b.

In verse 27 like dust … like the sand of the seas refers to the huge quantity of quails that fell on the Israelite camp.

In verse 28 a translation should not give the impression that the birds fell in two distinct locations, their camp and their habitations; the two refer to the tents of the Hebrews in the camp. “They fell in the camp where the people had their tents” or “they fell around the people’s tents where they were camped.” (It should be noted that in verse 28 Revised Standard Version their … their could mistakenly be taken to refer to winged birds of verse 27b.)

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .