vision

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin and Greek that is translated as “vision” in English is translated in a variety in the following languages:

  • Chol: “as if in a dream” (source: Robert Bascom)
  • Obolo: ilaak ọkpọchieen̄ or “dreaming awake” (source: Enene Enene)
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “a showing like dreams”
  • Desano: “see in a dream what God will send”
  • Rincón Zapotec: “see what God shows”
  • Mayo: “see things from God as in a dream”
  • Lalana Chinantec: “dream how it is going to be”
  • Chuj: “like dreaming they see”
  • San Mateo del Mar Huave: “understand what they see as if in a dream”
  • Ayutla Mixtec: “see that which will happen” (source for this and seven above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Tagbanwa: “being caused to dream by God” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Chichewa: azidzaona zinthu m’masomphenya: “they will see things as if face-to-face” (interconfessional translation, publ. 1999) (Source: Wendland 1998, p. 69)
  • Mandarin Chinese: yì xiàng (异象 / 異象), lit. “different (or: strange) appearance.” (Source: Zetzsche)

The Greek in the books of Revelation and Acts is translated as obq-rmwible: “look-dream” in Natügu. Brenda Boerger (in Beerle-Moor / Voinov, p. 162ff.) tells the story of that translation: “In the book of Revelation, the author, John, talks about having visions. Mr. Simon [the native language translator] and I discussed what this meant and he invented the compound verb obq-rmwible ‘look-dream’ to express it. Interestingly, during village testing no one ever had to ask what this neologism meant.”

See also see a vision.

Translation commentary on Sirach 40:6

He gets little or no rest is rendered “We get little rest” by Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version.

And afterward in his sleep, as though he were on watch: As though he were on watch is literally “as on a day of watching.” That is the reading of most Greek manuscripts, but there is considerable confusion here. For this whole line we prefer the reading of a few Greek manuscripts (and the Armenian version), which is “he toils in sleep as in daytime.” There is little difference between the Greek noun for “watching” and the verb for “he toils,” so it is an easy source of confusion. (The Hebrew of this line is defective.) New English Bible reads “he begins to struggle as hard in his sleep as in the day.” We suggest the following model for the first two lines: “We get little rest, if any at all. While we sleep, we struggle just as hard as we do during the day.”

He is troubled by the visions of his mind may be rendered “he is disturbed by imaginary troubles.” The Greek verb here indicates extreme disturbance. New English Bible has “Disturbed by nightmares.” That is good. We may also say “disturbed by frightening dreams.”

Like one who has escaped from the battle-front is literally “like one who has escaped from the face of war.” This gives an example of a disturbing nightmare. The translation should not hint of a soldier running away from his post during battle or even running in retreat, as Good News Translation seems to say. This pictures a civilian; he dreams that the area of his home is caught in a fierce battle, and he is just trying to get to safety, somewhere out of the way. Something like this might work, beginning a new sentence: “In a frightening nightmare [or, In one of these frightening dreams], we dream that we are trying to run away from a battle.”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Sirach. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.