6He said to me, ‘It is your son Solomon who shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be a son to me, and I will be a father to him.
In Malay, the pronoun beta for the royal “I” (or “my” or “me”) that is used by royals when speaking to people of lower rank, subordinates or commoners to refer to themselves in these verses. This reflects the “language of the court because the monarchy and sultanate in Malaysia are still alive and well. All oral and printed literature (including newspapers and magazines) preserve and glorify the language of the court. Considering that the language of the court is part of the Malaysian language, court language is used sparingly where appropriate, specifically with texts relating to palace life.” (Source: Daud Soesilo in The Bible Translator 2025, p. 263ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Chronicles 28:6:
Kupsabiny: “God said to me, ‘It is your son Solomon who shall build for me a house. I have chosen him to be my son and I am his father.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “The LORD said to me, ‘Your son Solomon will be the one to build my temple. I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “He said to me, ‘Your (sing.) son Solomon is the (one who) will-build my temple and its yards. For I have-chosen him to be my child, and I will-be his father.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “He said to me, ‘Solomon your son is the one who will arrange to build my temple and the courtyards around it, because I have chosen him to be like my son and I will be like his father.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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. In these verses, where God / 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.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.
Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje introduces this verse with “And David continued,” and in verse 8 it begins with “David also said.” Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje adds these words to indicate that David is still the speaker.
He said to me …: See 1 Chr 22.10 for God’s words in this verse. Some versions replace the pronoun He with the phrase “The LORD” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, Parole de Vie, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). In the Hebrew text David is quoting the words that God spoke to him. Therefore the pronouns my and I refer to God.
It is Solomon your son who shall build my house and my courts: Courts does not refer to a building where legal cases are tried, but rather to the Temple “courtyards” (New Living Translation). See the comments on 1 Chr 23.28. For this whole clause International Children’s Bible says “Your son Solomon will build my Temple. And he will build the area around it.” Good News Translation combines my house and my courts into the single expression “my Temple” (also Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje). Often the references to the Temple include the courtyards as well. But since the writer here mentions both the Temple and its courtyards, translators should not collapse the two into one as Good News Translation has done. For the people of Israel the courtyards of the Temple were the place where festivals were celebrated (see Psa 84.2).
For I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father: See the comments on 1 Chr 17.13. The Hebrew particle rendered for introduces why Solomon will build the Temple. It is because God has adopted him. This reason reinforces what has already been said about God’s choice of Solomon.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
28:6a And He said to me, ‘Solomon your son is the one who will build My house and My courts,
“Yahweh said to me, ‘The one who will build my temple and my courts is your(sing) son Solomon. -or-
“Yahweh said that my son Solomon will build his house ⌊of worship⌋ and its courtyards.
28:6b for I have chosen him as My son, and I will be his Father.
I have chosen him to be like a son to me. Likewise, I will be like a father to him. -or-
Yahweh has selected Solomon and made his relationship with him to be as a father and son.
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