ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἐλυπήθη ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ καὶ ἔκλαυσεν καὶ ἀναβᾶσα εἰς τὸ ὑπερῷον τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτῆς ἠθέλησεν ἀπάγξασθαι. καὶ πάλιν ἐλογίσατο καὶ λέγει Μήποτε ὀνειδίσωσιν τὸν πατέρα μου καὶ ἐροῦσιν αὐτῷ Μία σοι ὑπῆρχεν θυγάτηρ ἀγαπητὴ καὶ αὐτὴ ἀπήγξατο ἀπὸ τῶν κακῶν· καὶ κατάξω τὸ γῆρας τοῦ πατρός μου μετὰ λύπης εἰς ᾅδου· χρησιμώτερόν μοί ἐστιν μὴ ἀπάγξασθαι, ἀλλὰ δεηθῆναι τοῦ κυρίου ὅπως ἀποθάνω καὶ μηκέτι ὀνειδισμοὺς ἀκούσω ἐν τῇ ζωῇ μου.
Sarah’s Prayer for Death
10Overcome with emotion at that time, she wept and went up to her father’s upper room, intending to hang herself. But she thought it over and said, “Let no one ever reproach my father, saying to him, ‘You had only one beloved daughter, and she hanged herself out of distress!’ I would bring my father in his old age down in sorrow to Hades. It is better for me not to hang myself but to beg the Lord that I may die, so that I will not have to listen to these reproaches for the rest of my life.”
The Greek, Latin and Hebrew that is translated in English as “painful” or “sorrow” is translated in Huba as “cut the insides.” David Frank explains: “Huba has just one expression that covers both ‘angry’ and ‘sad.’ They don’t make a distinction in their language. I suppose you could say that the term they use means more generically, ‘strong emotional reaction.’ (Source: David Frank in this blog post )
In Noongar it is translated as koort-warra or “heart bad.” (Source: Bardip Ruth-Ang 2020)
In Enlhet it is translated as “going aside of the innermost.” “Innermost” or valhoc is a term that is frequently used in Enlhet to describe a large variety of emotions or states of mind (for other examples see here). (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
See also grieving / sorrowful.
The Hebrew adonai in the Old Testament typically refers to God. The shorter adon (and in two cases in the book of Daniel the Aramaic mare [מָרֵא]) is also used to refer to God but more often for concepts like “master,” “owner,” etc. In English Bible translations all of those are translated with “Lord” if they refer to God.
In English Old Testament translations, as in Old Testament translations in many other languages, the use of Lord (or an equivalent term in other languages) is not to be confused with Lord (or the equivalent term with a different typographical display for other languages). While the former translates adonai, adon and mare, the latter is a translation for the tetragrammaton (YHWH) or the Name of God. See tetragrammaton (YHWH) and the article by Andy Warren-Rothlin in Noss / Houser, p. 618ff. for more information.
In the New Testament, the Greek term kurios has at least four different kinds of use:
In the first and fourth case, it is also translated as “Lord” in English.
Most languages naturally don’t have one word that covers all these meanings. According to Bratcher / Nida, “the alternatives are usually (1) a term which is an honorific title of respect for a high-ranking person and (2) a word meaning ‘boss’, ‘master’, or ‘chief.’ (…) and on the whole it has generally seemed better to employ a word of the second category, in order to emphasize the immediate personal relationship, and then by context to build into the word the prestigeful character, since its very association with Jesus Christ will tend to accomplish this purpose.”
When looking at the following list of back-translations of the terms that translators in the different languages have used for both kurios and adonai to refer to God and Jesus respectively, it might be helpful for English readers to recall the etymology of the English “Lord.” While this term might have gained an exalted meaning in the understanding of many, it actually comes from hlaford or “loaf-ward,” referring to the lord of the castle who was the keeper of the bread (source: Rosin 1956, p. 121).
Following are some of the solutions that don’t rely on a different typographical display (see above):
We have come to rely on another term which emphasizes God’s essential nature as YHWH, namely jukurrarnu (see tetragrammaton (YHWH)). This word is built on the same root jukurr– as is jukurrpa, ‘dreaming.’ Its basic meaning is ‘timelessness’ and it is used to describe physical features of the land which are viewed as always being there. Some speakers view jukurrarnu in terms of ‘history.’ In all Genesis references to YHWH we have used Kaatu Jukurrarnu. In all Mark passages where kurios refers to God and not specifically to Christ we have also used Kaatu Jukurrarnu.
New Testament references to Christ as kurios are handled differently. At one stage we experimented with the term Watirirririrri which refers to a ceremonial boss of highest rank who has the authority to instigate ceremonies. While adequately conveying the sense of Christ’s authority, there remained potential negative connotations relating to Warlpiri ceremonial life of which we might be unaware.
Here it is that the Holy Spirit led us to make a chance discovery. Transcribing the personal testimony of the local Warlpiri pastor, I noticed that he described how ‘my Warlaljamarri called and embraced me (to the faith)’. Warlaljamarri is based on the root warlalja which means variously ‘family, possessions, belongingness’. A warlaljamarri is the ‘owner’ or ‘possessor’ of something. While previously being aware of the ‘ownership’ aspect of warlaljamarri, this was the first time I had heard it applied spontaneously and naturally in a fashion which did justice to the entire concept of ‘Lordship’. Thus references to Christ as kurios are now being handled by Warlaljamarri.” (Source: Stephen Swartz, The Bible Translator 1985, p. 415ff. )
Law (2013, p. 97) writes about how the Ancient Greek Septuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew adonai was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments: “Another case is the use of kurios referring to Jesus. For Yahweh (in English Bibles: ‘the Lord‘), the Septuagint uses kurios. Although the term kurios usually has to do with one’s authority over others, when the New Testament authors use this word from the Septuagint to refer to Jesus, they are making an extraordinary claim: Jesus of Nazareth is to be identified with Yahweh.”
See also Father / Lord.
She was grieved in spirit and wept uses language very close to that of 3.1. This is another way the author forces us to see that the situations of Tobit and Sarah are parallel.
When she had gone up to her father’s upper room, she intended to hang herself: The text says that Sarah went to “an upstairs room of her father.” New American Bible takes this to mean “an upstairs room in her father’s house.” Good News Translation also assumes this, but takes it as self-evident that she lives with her father, and omits any mention of him. New Jerusalem Bible presents the picture of Sarah going up to her father’s own room, which, if intended, would make her second thoughts more understandable; after all, she is not trying to strike back at her father for anything. It is not clear why she goes upstairs. Perhaps it is to hang herself from a window. Or is it simply to get away from the household servants? Good News Translation “determined to hang herself” may be a bit too strong; intended to hang herself is all that is necessary. In translating hang herself some languages must show the instrument used in hanging; for example, “intended to take a rope and hang herself.” Or it is possible to give even more detail: “intended to put a rope around her neck and hang from it till she died.”
Never shall they reproach my father: Good News Translation expresses Sarah’s change of mind in words with “No, I won’t do it!” (similarly Contemporary English Version). Reproach means “to insult” (Good News Translation) or even “talk about … behind his back” (Contemporary English Version).
Because of her distress may be rendered “because she felt so sad” or “because she had so many troubles.”
New Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation have the insulting words of people as direct speech in single quotes. Translators must decide what is the most natural way in their languages to show quotations within quotations like this. One way to handle this problem is to put a colon () before the initial quote and then double quote marks before the words of the people; for example,
• she said to herself: No, I won’t do it! People would insult my father and say, “You had only one child….”
It is also possible to use indirect speech to express what the people said; for example,
• … insult my father by saying that he had only one child….
I shall bring my father in his old age down in sorrow to Hades: Good News Translation has “Such grief would bring my gray-haired father to his grave”; or we may say “I would cause my aged father to be so sorrowful that he would die.” For I shall bring my father …, compare Gen 37.35; 42.38; 44.29, 31. Hades is the realm of the dead, equivalent to the Hebrew Sheol. In some languages this is expressed as “the land of the dead” or “the land where dead people go.” However, in most languages something like “grave” is an adequate translation. There are no overtones of hell here.
It is better for me not to hang myself: In many languages it will be more natural style to say “I won’t kill myself” rather than repeating the word hang.
Listen to these reproaches: See the note on 3.7.
Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Tobit. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.
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