witness

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “witness” in English is translated as “truly have seen” in Highland Popoluca, as “telling the truth regarding something” (Eastern Highland Otomi), as “know something” in Lalana Chinantec, as “verily know something to be the truth” in San Mateo del Mar Huave, as “we ourselves saw this,” in Desano, as “tell the truth about something” in Eastern Highland Otomi, as “know something is true because of seeing it” in Teutila Cuicatec. (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

elder (of the community)

The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated as “elders” in English is translated in the Danish Bibelen 2020 as folkets ledere or “leaders of the people.”

Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators, explains: “The term ‘elder’ turned out to pose a particularly thorny problem. In traditional bibles, you can find elders all of over the place and they never pose a problem for a translator, they are just always elders. But how to find a contemporary term for this semi-official, complex position? This may have been our longest-standing problem. A couple of times we thought we had the solution, and then implemented it throughout the texts, only to find out that it didn’t work. Like when we used city council or village council, depending on the context. In the end we felt that the texts didn’t work with such official terms, and throughout the years in the desert, these terms didn’t make much sense. Other suggestions were ‘the eldest and wisest’, ‘the respected citizens’, ‘the Israelites with a certain position in society’, ‘the elder council’ –- and let me point out that these terms sound better in Danish than in English (‘de fremtrædende borgere,’ ‘de mest fremtrædende israelitter,’ ‘alle israelitter med en vis position,’ ‘de ældste og de klogeste,’ ‘ældsterådet’). In the end we just said ‘leaders of the people.’ After a lot of hand-wringing, it turned out that we actually found a term that worked well. So, we had to give up conveying the fact that they were old, but the most important point is that they were community leaders.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )

The German das Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022) translates likewise as “leader of the people” (Anführer des Volkes).

Naomi

The Hebrew that is transliterated as “Naomi” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “changed identity” referring to the many life changes that Naomi goes through in the book of Ruth. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


“Naomi” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

Translation commentary on Ruth 4:9: A Cultural Commentary for Central Africa

The reference to “buying from Naomi” is difficult for receptors to grasp, not only due to the cultural disparities which lay behind this conclusion of Boaz (as outlined above), but also because there is no previous hint in the text that Naomi was actually “selling” her land.
In fact, this would seem to be a very strange thing for a poor widow to do, for how then did she expect to support herself?

Source: Wendland 1987, p. 183.

complete verse (Ruth 4:7 - 4:10)

Following are a number of back-translations of Ruth 4:7-10:

  • Noongar: “Long ago, when the people of Israel divided land, one man must take off his shoe and give it to the other man. So the other right-way man said to Boaz, ‘Take this land yourself,’ and he took off his shoe. And Boaz said to all the people, ‘This day, you become my witnesses. I take from the hands of Naomi, all the land of Elimelech and Chilion and Mahlon. I also take Ruth of Moab, widow of Mahlon, to become my wife, so the name of the dead man stays with his land, so his name will not be lost to his people and will not be forgotten in this place. This day you become my witnesses.” (Source: Bardip Ruth-Ang 2020)
  • Eastern Bru: “Before in the country of Israel, the custom was this: if someone wanted to exchange things or wanted to agree about the inheritance of a kinsman who had died, then that person would give a sign. The sign was to take off one shoe and give it to the person who owned that thing or that inheritance. So the kinsman of Boaz said to Boaz: ‘Now you buy the inheritance for yourself.’ After that the kinsman took of one shoe and gave it to Boaz.And Boaz told the leader and all the people: ‘This day you have heard, I will buy from Naomi all the inheritance of Elimelech and his sons Kilion and Mahlon. And I will take also Ruth, the Moabitess, to be my wife. Before she was the wife of Mahlon who died. Now I will take her to be my wife so that she may have a son to carry on the name of her former husband. So then the inheritance of her former husband will remain in the village and in his clan. This day you have heard these things with me.’” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “That time in Israel, to make-sure/ensure the buying/purchase of the land or the transferring of the rights to buy the land, a man will-take-off his sandal and give-(it) to the other-(party/one). This is what-is-being-done in Israel to prove/attest that the transaction is now sure/certain. So when the man said to Boaz, ‘You(sg) just buy the land,’ he then took-off one of his sandals and gave-(it) to Boaz. Then Boaz said to the rulers of the town and to all the people there, ‘You(pl) are witnesses today that I will-buy now from Noemi all the lands of Elimelec, which were-inherited by Kilion and Mahlon. And one more (thing), I will-marry Ruth the Moabnon, the widow of Mahlon, so-that if we(incl) have now a child, the land of Mahlon will-remain to his family. And so-that his descendants will- not -disappear from his fellow-countrymen.’ Then Boaz said to the people, ’You(pl) are witnesses today!’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “At that time, it was the custom in Israel, when a person bought property that belonged to another person, that the man who was selling the property would take off one of his sandals and give it to the one who was buying the property. That was the way they finalized sales in Israel. So that close relative said to Boaz, ‘You buy the field yourself!’ And he took off one of his sandals and gave it to Boaz. Then Boaz said to the elders and all the other people who were there, ‘Today you have all seen that I have bought from Naomi all the property that belonged to her dead husband Elimelech and his dead sons Mahlon and Chilion. I am also taking Ruth, the woman from Moab, Mahlon’s widow, to be my wife, in order that she may give birth to a son who will inherit the property of the dead man. In that way, Elimelech’s name will continue among the members of his family and among all the people of this town. Today you all are witnesses of what I have done.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ruth 4:9

The sequence of events is clearly marked here by the particle Then, which may be rendered somewhat more specifically in some languages as “and next” or “and after that.”

And all the others there is in Hebrew literally “and all the people.” It will be necessary to understand with one manuscript of Wright, Septuagint, Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate: “and to all the people.” This does not refer to all the people of the town, but to “all the people present” or “all those who were there.” This is appropriately rendered in English as all the others there.

You are all witnesses today may be translated in some languages as “You have all seen today.” In other languages, however, the role of a witness must be explained not only in terms of what people have seen, but also what they can later confirm; for example, “You have all seen today that I have bought from Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelech and to Chilion and Mahlon, and later you can tell folks that you have seen this happen” or “You have all seen today, and later you can explain how I have bought from Naomi everything….”

That I have bought indicates that the action belongs to the past, but the Hebrew tense of the verb shows quite clearly that this is an action which is accomplished at the very moment the words are spoken See Joüon, par. 112-113: “j’acquiers (hic et nunc, par mes paroles).” (cf. Smith-Goodspeed “I am buying”).

From Naomi is in Hebrew literally “at (from) the hand of Naomi.” This is a typical Hebrew idiom which can rarely be translated literally into other languages. The “hand” is a symbol for possession.

The relation of Chilion and Mahlon to the property is somewhat different from that of Elimelech, since the two sons inherited from their father. This must be made somewhat more explicit in some languages as “everything that belonged first to Elimelech, and accordingly to Chilion and Mahlon” or, even more explicitly, “everything that belonged first to Elimelech and then to his sons, Chilion and Mahlon.”

Quoted with permission from de Waard, Jan and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Ruth. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

formal second person plural pronoun

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 show different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.

In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English). (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )