gentiles / nations

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).

Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).

In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

See also nations.

complete verse (Zephaniah 2:1)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Zephaniah 2:1:

  • Kupsabiny: “Gather (plur.) yourselves you community that has no shame and pray.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “O without shame people of nation,
    you all gather one place,” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Zefanias said to those- (who) -come-from-Juda, ‘A nation without shame, you (plur.) gather and repent” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Zephaniah 2:1 - 2:2

The verbs translated Come together and hold assembly are forms of the same root in Hebrew. The root is derived from a word for “stubble” and is used elsewhere of gathering straw (Exo 5.7, 12) or sticks for firewood (Num 15.32; 1 Kgs 17.10). This fits a setting in which the LORD’s anger has been compared to fire (1.18), but the allusion can hardly be kept in translation. The meaning of neither form of the root is certain, nor is it clear whether any difference is intended between them. Some translations render both forms identically, and some give them different meanings. Jerusalem Bible leaves a blank space in its translation and lists the various possibilities in a footnote. These are stated as “assemble together,” “enter into yourselves,” “bow down,” and “heap yourselves up” (that is, for the threshing mentioned in verse 2). The first interpretation for both Hebrew verbs is followed by Revised Standard Version, New American Bible, New English Bible, New International Version, and New Jerusalem Bible (usually using the English verb “gather”), though it is not easy to see how this is relevant to the context. Moffatt seems to give the first meaning to the first verb (“huddle”) and the third meaning to the second verb (“cower”). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch gives the second meaning (“enter into yourselves”) to the first verb, and the third meaning (“bow down”) to the second verb. Presumably the action of cowering or bowing down is seen as a symbol of repentance, which fits the context quite well. Bible de Jérusalem and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible follow the fourth possibility (“heap yourselves up”). Good News Translation and Bible en français courant give the second meaning to both verbs. Bible en français courant translates “take the trouble to consider (the situation), take hold of yourselves.” Good News Translation understands the verbs to have the meaning expressed idiomatically in English as “pull yourselves together” and translates only once, saying in plain language “come to your senses.” This fits the context of a call to repentance and is probably the course which most translators will want to follow. In some languages the clause “come to your senses” may have to be expanded to “think about the evil things you have done, and repent….”

The term translated shameless (Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation; compare New American Bible “without shame,” New International Version “shameful”) may perhaps mean “without desire” and is translated thus in Jerusalem Bible. It would have to mean “without desire for God,” but the problem is that God is not mentioned. The ancient Greek and Syriac translations understood it differently again, and their understanding is apparently followed in New English Bible, “you unruly nation.” All these translations fit the context fairly well, but translators should probably follow the majority of English versions in understanding the meaning as shameless (compare Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Shameless does not mean “having no cause for shame” but rather “having reason to be ashamed, but failing to show shame.” In certain languages it will be necessary to render this phrase as “you people who have no shame,” “you people who will not admit your evil deeds,” or idiomatically in certain languages as “you hard-faced people” or “you thick-faced people.”

The term translated nation is a word which in Hebrew normally refers to non-Jewish nations. It has been argued above that this paragraph is addressed to Judah, and if this is true, then the use of this word may imply that the people of God have become no different from heathen nations.

The opening words of verse 2 are very difficult to understand. A literal translation of the traditional Hebrew text is given in the Revised Standard Version footnote, “before a decree is born; like chaff a day has passed away.” The first part of this, “before a decree is born,” can perhaps be taken to mean “before the events decreed by the LORD take place” (compare Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). This interpretation seems to underlie New International Version, “before the appointed time arrives.” Many modern translations make a change in the Hebrew text and obtain a meaning similar to that in Revised Standard Version, before you are driven away like the drifting chaff (Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, New English Bible). Earlier editions of Good News Translation at this point followed the Septuagint and rendered “before you wither and die like a flower,” which makes good sense in the context. However, later editions of Good News Translation are closer to Revised Standard Version and have “before you are driven away like chaff blown by the wind,” with no footnote.

The second half of verse 2 says the same thing twice in almost identical words: before there comes upon you the fierce anger of the LORD, before there comes upon you the day of the wrath of the LORD. Good News Translation also uses two clauses in English but varies the wording slightly to make the expressions more natural: “before the burning anger of the LORD comes upon you, before the day when he shows his fury.” Translators should consider what is natural in their own language before deciding how to translate. Some will perhaps follow the example of Good News Translation in having two clauses with variant words. Others will prefer to stay closer to the Hebrew structure and say the same thing twice in very similar words. Others again may prefer to avoid repetition and put the two clauses into one which expresses all the distinctive material from both, such as “before the day when the burning anger of the LORD comes upon you” or “before the day when the LORD shows his great anger by punishing you the way a fire burns” (see comments on “wrath” in 1.18 for ways to translate “burning anger”).

An alternative translation model for the two verses is:

• You people (or, nation) without shame, think about your sins and repent before you are driven away like chaff blown by the wind, before the day comes when the LORD shows his great anger and punishes you just as a fire burns everything in front of it.

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on the Book of Zephaniah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1989. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .