The Exact Proper Name Baca/Bakkah
Verse 6 ‘Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.’ points out the exact proper name of the place from which the pilgrims have to pass through for the accomplishment of their pilgrimage at ‘Arafāt.It is to be noted that some of the translations have changed the word ‘Baca’ with some other word. The New Jerusalem Bible (p. 900, 901) has translated it as ‘Balsam’ and has remarked in the footnote, ‘In seven MSS and in versions, ‘the valley of Tears’ (the Hebrew words for these two words are identical when spoken).’ Some other translations have not taken the word ‘Baca’ as a proper noun and have translated it to ‘misery’[1], ‘Weary-glen’[2], ‘thirsty valley’[3], etc. All the 26 translations of Dr. Curtis Vaughan’s ‘The OT Books of Poetry from 26 Translations’ have basically considered the original Hebrew word as ‘Baca’. The 7th Day Adventist Bible Com. reports:
The LXX[4] and the Vulgate[5] translate the phrase ‘valley of Baca’ as ‘valley of Tears.’[6]
It means that according to these Greek and Latin translations of the Bible as well, the original Hebrew word here is ‘Baca’. Here is a list of some more translations, versions, and commentaries of the Bible that have used the word ‘Baca’ at this place:
1 Bible Knowledge Com., p.855.
2 Dummelow’s Bible Com., p.363.
3 GNB, p. 585.
4 Gray & Adams Bible Com., 1:612.
5 Matthew Henry’s Exposition, 4:324.
6 NAB, p. 615.
7 NASB, p. 747.
8 NBC, p. 472.
9 NBC (Rvd), p. 504.
10 New Catholic Com., p.473, (Baka).
11 New Com. on Holy Scripture, p.364.
12 NIV, p. 621.
13 NKJV (Nelson Study Bible), p. 966.
14 New Oxford Annotated Bible, p. 747.
15 Paragraph Bible, p. 621.
16 Peake’s Bible Com., p. 431.
17 Readers Digest Bible, p.306.
18 RSV, p. 539.
19 TEV, p. 607.
20 Thompson’s Bible, p. 666.
21 7th Day Adventist Bible Com., 3:827.
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[1] From the Psalms in the Book of Common Prayer of the Anglican Church (as quoted by OT Poetry 26 Tr; 334).
[2] James Moffatt, A New Trans. of the Bible, quoted in OT Poetry 26 Tr; 334 (‘glen’ means ‘deep narrow valley’).
[4] ‘Septuagint’ or ‘LXX’ (meaning ‘seventy’, the number of the scholars who undertook the translation task), the Greek translation of the MT [Massoretic Text] of the Bible made at Alexandria during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC.
[5] ‘Vulgate’ means ‘common’. It is the name of the Latin translation of the Bible made by St. Jerome and was commonly used by the Christians of that time. It was completed in ca. AD 450.
[6] The 7th Day Adventist Bible Com., 3:828.
