formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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 choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, 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).

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

Translation commentary on 1 Chronicles 29:20

Then David said to all the assembly: The common Hebrew conjunction, which begins this verse, introduces a new development in the narrative and is correctly rendered Then in many translations. In this context the Hebrew verb for said may be translated “commanded” (Good News Translation, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). Moffatt uses the verb “added,” showing that what David now says to his people is an addition to what he had already said to the LORD. Revised English Bible expresses this shift from praying to God to addressing people by beginning the verse as follows: “Turning to the whole assembly, David said….”

Bless the LORD your God: In this context Bless is better rendered “Praise” (Good News Translation, New International Version). See the comments on verse 10. Your God does not mean that Yahweh was not David’s God also. If this is the impression that would be given in the receptor language, it may be necessary to say “our God.”

The God of their fathers may be rendered “the God their ancestors worshiped” (International Children’s Bible).

And bowed their heads: The Hebrew verb here is almost always used with the following Hebrew verb rendered did obeisance since bowing down is necessary before prostrating oneself on the ground.

And worshiped the LORD, and did obeisance to the king: Worshiped and did obeisance translate a single Hebrew verb that has the LORD and the king as objects (see the comments on this verb at 1 Chr 21.21). This clause may be translated more literally as “and prostrated themselves to the LORD and to the king” or “fell prostrate before the LORD and the king” (New International Version). But since two different objects are involved, the verb may be legitimately translated in two different ways. Translators certainly should not give the impression that the people worshiped David, which King James Version seems to do by saying “and worshipped the LORD, and the king.”

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on 1 Chronicles 29:20

29:20a Then David said to the whole assembly, “Blessed be the LORD your God.”

King David said to the people, “Praise Yahweh your(sing) God.”
-or-
Then David told all the people there to worship Yahweh their God,

29:20b So the whole assembly blessed the LORD, the God of their fathers.

Then they all praised Yahweh the God of their ancestors
-or-
the God of their forefathers. So/immediately they worshipped him.

29:20c They bowed down and paid homage to the LORD and to the king.

and bowed down to him. They lay face down on the ground to honour Yahweh and King David.
-or-
They all bowed their heads in reverence and prostrated themselves on the ground submitting to Yahweh and the king.

29:20a–c (reordered)

They all praised Yahweh, the God of their ancestors. They bowed down, prostrating themselves before Yahweh and the king, because David had said to everyone gathered there, “Praise Yahweh your(sing) God.”

© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.