NJV. when I said, ‘Lord Yahweh, stop, I beg you. How can Jacob survive, being so small?’
Wardaman. Ŋayanarri: “Jinjiyujba Ñanayi dawag bu, waray ŋaŋgan. Yiŋgiyayi jandarrma Yiljoŋ wudu yajiŋiyan?”
I said, “Lord Yahweh, stop, I beg you. = Ŋayanarri: “Jinjiyujba Ñanayi dawag bu, waray ŋaŋgan.
Ŋayanarri = I said
Jinjiyujba = Lord
Ñanayi = Yahweh
dawag = stop
bu = hit!
waray = ask
ŋaŋgan = I take you
Some of you may be wondering: Why does Amos appeal on behalf of Jacob, and not Israel?
The name Israel translates to Standing with God.
God is showing Amos how He will punish Israel for her sins, i.e. for neither walking nor standing with God.
We explore the meaning of the name “Jacob” below.
How can Jacob survive, being so small?” = Yiŋgiyayi jandarrma Yiljoŋ wudu yajiŋiyan?”
Yiŋgiyayi = who will do
jandarrma = erect
Yiljoŋ = Jacob
wudu = small
yajiŋiyan = will sit him
jandarrma yajiŋiyan is my translation of help (Jacob) stand, or roughly set (Jacob) standing erect.
“Jacob” comes from the Hebrew yahakobe’ (יעקב).
This comes from the Noun awkabe’ (עקב), which means heel or footprint.
When Rebekah gave birth to her and Isaac’s twin sons, Esau came out first, and Jacob (later Israel) was holding his elder brother’s foot.
Yiljoŋ is a combination of two Wardaman words:
yijeŋ = foot
yiwol = shadow.
The first appearance of the Hebrew awkabe’ (עקב) occurs in Genesis 3:14-15, which goes:
So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field. On your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (BSB)
KJV. Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.
Wardaman. Ŋayanarri: “Jinjiyujba Ñanayi dawag bu, waray ŋaŋgan. Yiŋgiyayi jandarrma bula Yiljoŋ wudu yajiŋiyan?”
How will Jacob stand, being so small?
Amos 7:2 Yiŋgiyayi jandarrma bula Yiljoŋ yajiŋiyan
Amos 7:5 Yiŋgiyayi jandarrma Yiljoŋ wudu yajiŋiyan
There is only one difference between these two versions – my translation of Jacob, being so small:
7.2 bula Yiljoŋ lit. little boy Jacob
7.5 Yiljoŋ wudu lit. Jacob small
The placement of bula and wudu are deliberate.
bulawula is the word for drawing and cave painting.
God made the world. He can unmake it.
One day He will take our world and make it anew.
What is the House of Jacob to him, other than a picture He can rub out?