Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. Here, where Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

Other uses of honorifics in this verse include:

• The choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms). Here anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
• The usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, oshie-rare-ru (教えられる) or “teaching” and iw-are-ru (言われる) or tsukawas-are-ru (遣わされる) or “send” “say” are used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )