Thursday, August 20, 2020

swords into ploughshares: espadas en rejas de arado

Having grown up as (and still practicing as) a silent Quaker I don't know much religious terminology in either language. I don't expect that I ever will but there are a few biblical turns of phrase that often come up in social justice work that seem worth knowing. This one comes from:

They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. (Isaiah 2:4).

Forjarán sus espadas en rejas de arado, y sus lanzas en podaderas. No alzará espada nación contra nación, ni se adiestrarán más para la guerra.

Of course there are LOTS of different versions of the bible.  Check out the many versions of just this verse here. Some of those use just espadas en arados - swords into ploughs. I certainly think that is clearer and makes more sense - but I don't think it's what people are used to hearing, in either language. 

But then again, maybe people are getting more used to more updated versions - such as these used by Days of Prayer and Action for Colombia:


2 comments:

Manuel Cedeño Berrueta said...

Hi, Sara,
I am surprised to see that “espadas en rejas de arado” is the translation of this verse in most Spanish versions of the Bible (I also use BibleGateWay).

Google registers a slighter frequent use for “espadas en arados”, which is the version I am used to hear/read (in Venezuelan Spanish).

“ * espadas en rejas de arado”
Cerca de 133,000 resultados (0.42 segundos)
----------
“ * espadas en arado”
Cerca de 192,000 resultados (0.60 segundos)
-----------
“ * espadas en arado”
Cerca de 212,000 resultados (0.45 segundos)
------------
Have a wonderful day,
Manuel

Sara Koopman said...

So helpful, thanks for pointing out the googlage difference!