complete verse (1 Samuel 8:17)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 8:17:

  • Kupsabiny: “He will be removing a tenth of your animals and make you suffer.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “He will take a tenth of the best sheep and goats from your flock and you also will become his male and female servants.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “He will- yet -take a tenth of your (plur.) livestock/animals, and you (plur.) yourselves will-become his slaves.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “He will take one tenth of your sheep and goats. And you will become his slaves!” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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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 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 Samuel 8:17

He will take the tenth: see the comments on this expression in verse 15.

The word flocks may refer in some contexts to sheep alone, but in some cases it is a general term for both sheep and goats, as in Lev 1.10. Bible en français courant reflects this broader understanding of the term, translating “flocks of sheep and goats.” It is very likely that goats were included in the meaning in this passage.

Israelites were forbidden by their laws to take other Israelites as slaves (so Lev 25.39-46). But Samuel now summarizes the meaning of all he has said up to this point: the people of Israel will become slaves to their new king. The term used here is the same as that translated servant in 3.9 and 10, but the context indicates that slaves may not be too strong a translation here. In Hebrew the verb form you shall be indicates that the subject is second person plural. The presence of the second person plural pronoun adds emphasis, which Good News Translation correctly expresses as “you yourselves” (so also Revised English Bible, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible).

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .