8I will never again remove the feet of Israel from the land that I appointed for your ancestors, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the ordinances given through Moses.”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Chronicles 33:8:
Kupsabiny: “If the people of Israel follow all the words that I have told them and keep all my laws and wishes that I gave them through Moses, I shall not chase them away again from that land which I gave to their forefathers.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “If by obeying all my commands, they are careful to observe all the rules and decrees given to them by my servant Moses, I will not drive the Israelites from the land I gave to their ancestors."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “If only the people of Israel will-obey all my laws and rules which was-given to them by Moises, I will- not -allow them to leave from this land which I gave to their ancestors.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “If they will obey all the laws and decrees and regulations that I told Moses to give to them, I will not again force the Israeli people to leave this land that I gave to their ancestors.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The Greek, Hebrew, and Ge’ez that is translated in English as “Law” or “law” is translated in Mairasi as oro nasinggiei or “prohibited things” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Noongar with a capitalized form of the term for “words” (Warrinya) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang), in Yucateco as “ordered-word” (for “commandment,” it is “spoken-word”) (source: Nida 1947, p. 198), and in Central Tarahumara it is “writing-command” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
McKnight’s English translation (publ. 2023) has it as Covenant Code. He explains (p. 301): “The law of Moses was a covenantal arrangement by God with the people of Israel. This code of conduct expected of them was not the same as law in the Roman world or what law means to us today. It is a revelation of God’s will for God’s covenant people but requires ongoing interpretation and adjustments.”
American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here ).
In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:
The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).
In Swiss-German Sign Language (and Hungarian Sign Language) it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).
In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the eye make up he would have worn as the adopted son of an Egyptian princess. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)
“Moses” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL
In Korean Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the arms held up by Moses to assure the Israelites victory over the Amalekites (see Exodus 17:11).
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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 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).
And I will no more remove the foot of Israel from the land which I appointed for your fathers: This idiomatic expression means “I shall not again displace Israel from the land which I assigned to their forefathers” (Revised English Bible). In some languages it will be perfectly appropriate to retain the word foot (or, the plural “feet”) in an expression having this meaning, but in others it will be more natural to abandon this image and say “I will never again make the Israelites leave the land I gave to their ancestors” (New Century Version).
If only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the ordinances given through Moses: The Hebrew noun for law may be translated “teaching” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). For the Hebrew words rendered statutes and ordinances, see the comments on 1 Chr 22.13. Given throughMoses is literally “by the hand of Moses” (An American Translation), which means “by means of Moses.”
In some languages it may be necessary to reverse the order of the elements in this verse so that the condition is stated before the result (so Good News Translation). In order to express the quotation of what God said to David and Solomon as indirect discourse, the following model may be used:
• God had told David and his son Solomon that he had chosen Jerusalem above all other places in Israel and the Temple as the place where the people of Israel should worship him always. 8 He promised that he would never again remove the Israelites from the land that he had set aside for their ancestors if they would only obey all the commands, all the teachings, the ordinances, and the regulations he had given through Moses.
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 .
33:8a I will never again cause the feet of the Israelites to leave the land that I assigned to your fathers,
I will not again force the people of Israel to leave the land that I have given to your ancestors. -or-
I will not make the Israelites go out of this land again. This is the land that I have given to their fathers.
33:8b if only they are careful to do all that I have commanded them
But they must carefully obey everything that I have told them -or-
They must only observe all my laws,
33:8c through Moses—all the laws, statutes, and judgments.”
about the laws, commands and rules that I gave them through Moses.” -or-
my commandments, my instructions and my teachings about how they must live. These things are written in the law of Moses.”
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