Japanese honorifics (2 Chronicles 30:9)

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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 usage of an honorific construction where the morphemes rare (られ) or are (され) are 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, somuke-rare-ru (背けられる) or “turn away” is used.

Also, when the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) can be used, as here in mi-kao (御顔) or “face (of God).”

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

Translation commentary on 2 Chronicles 30:9

For if you return to the LORD: See the comments on 2Chr 30.6. The Hebrew conjunction rendered For introduces the grounds for obeying the LORD.

Your brethren and your children will find compassion with their captors, and return to this land: If the people of Israel and Judah return to the LORD, the Assyrians who captured their relatives and children will have compassion on them and release them to return to Israel. For your brethren, see the comments on 2Chr 30.7. Revised Standard Version has supplied the verb find as the context requires. New Living Translation renders the first half of this sentence in more idiomatic English by saying “your relatives and your children will be treated mercifully by their captors.” Another possible model is “those who have taken your relatives and children as prisoners will have compassion on them.”

For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful: For renders the same Hebrew conjunction as the one at the beginning of this verse. Here it is also a logical connector. The Hebrew word rendered gracious is related to a verb meaning “to be kind” (so New Century Version). The Hebrew word translated merciful is related to the word for “womb” and suggests a very deep level of compassion.

And will not turn away his face from you: The image of God turning his face toward or away from a group of people is common in the Old Testament. It refers to acceptance or rejection. Instead of a literal translation here, some languages will require a nonfigurative rendering, such as “and he will not reject you” or “and he will welcome you.”

If you return to him: In many languages this conditional clause will come more naturally before stating the result of turning to the LORD. The last half of this verse may be rendered “If you turn back to the LORD, he will not turn away from you, because the LORD your God is gracious and compassionate.”

If the direct quotation of the king’s invitation in verses 6b-9 has to be reworded as indirect discourse in a given language, the following model may be helpful:

• The king’s message urged the people of Israel that they should return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, so that the LORD might return to those remaining after the conquest by the Assyrian kings. 7 The king told them that they should not be stubborn like their ancestors and relatives who abandoned the LORD, the God of their ancestors, and became an object of derision, as everyone knows, 8 and that they should not be stubborn, as those ancestors were, but that they should submit themselves to the LORD. He then invited them to come to the Temple, which the LORD had set apart as holy forever, and to worship the LORD God so that his fierce anger would turn away from them. 9 For if they would return to the LORD, those who had captured their relatives and children would be kind to those people by allowing them to return home. If they would return to the LORD God, he would not continue to turn his face from them, because he is gracious and merciful.

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 2 Chronicles 30:9

30:9a For if you return to the LORD,

If you turn back to Yahweh
-or-
When you come back to Yahweh

30:9b your brothers and sons will receive mercy in the presence of their captors

then your brothers and your children, who are now captives, will be shown mercy.
-or-
the people who have captured your relatives and your children will have mercy on them ⌊and release them⌋.

30:9c and will return to this land.

They will journey back to this land.
-or-
They will come back to the land ⌊of Israel⌋.

30:9d For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful;

For Yahweh your God is kind and merciful towards people.
-or-
⌊All this will happen because⌋ your God Yahweh has compassion on people and shows them his goodness.

30:9e He will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.”

He will not turn away from you if you turn back to him.”
-or-
When you come back to him he will show you his favor.”

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