The Hebrew, Greek, and Ge’ez that is translated as “provoke (to anger)” in English is translated in Newari as “causing one’s anger to come out” (source: Newari Back Translation).
anger
The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “anger” or similar in English in this verse is translated with a variety of solutions (Bratcher / Nida says: “Since anger has so many manifestations and seems to affect so many aspects of personality, it is not strange that expressions used to describe this emotional response are so varied”).
- Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “be warm inside”
- Mende: “have a cut heart”
- Mískito: “have a split heart”
- Tzotzil: “have a hot heart”
- Mossi: “a swollen heart”
- Western Kanjobal: “fire of the viscera”
- San Blas Kuna: “pain in the heart”
- Chimborazo Highland Quichua: “not with good eye”
- Chichewa: “have a burning heart” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation) (see also anger burned in him)
- Citak: two different terms, one meaning “angry” and one meaning “offended,” both are actually descriptions of facial expressions. The former can be represented by an angry stretching of the eyes or by an angry frown. The latter is similarly expressed by an offended type of frown with one’s head lowered. (Source: Graham Ogden)
In Akan, a number of metaphors are used, most importantly abufuo, lit. “weedy chest” (the chest is seen as a container that contains the heart but can also metaphorically be filled with other fluids etc.), but also abufuhyeε lit. “hot/burning weedy chest” and anibereε, lit. “reddened eyes.” (Source: Gladys Nyarko Ansah in Kövecses / Benczes / Szelid 2024, p. 21ff.)
See also God’s anger and angry.
complete verse (2 Kings 21:15)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Kings 21:15:
- Kupsabiny: “I am doing like that because they have done a bad matter to me from the day when their forefathers left Egypt until today.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
- Newari: “For they have done evil work that is not pleasing to me. From the time their ancestors came out of Egypt ’till today, they have provoked my anger."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
- Hiligaynon: “This will-happen to them because they have-done evil in my sight and they have-caused- me -to-be-angry, since/[from] (the day) their ancestors came-out of Egipto until now.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
- English: “I will do this because my people have done things that I consider to be very evil, things which have caused me to become very angry. They have caused me to become angry continually, ever since their ancestors left Egypt.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
1st person pronoun referring to God (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 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.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
See also pronoun for “God”.
Translation commentary on 2 Kings 21:15
Because …: In Revised Standard Version the sentence begun in verse 14 continues to the end of this verse. Since this is a rather long and complex sentence, it may be advisable to begin a new sentence at this point as Good News Translation has done. This may require a summary statement such as “I will do this because…” or something similar.
Provoked me to anger: See verse 6, where the same verb is used.
Since the day their fathers came out of Egypt: The word day is used here as a general time reference and does not refer to any particular twenty-four-hour period. So it may be better to translate “since the time….”
In this context the word fathers refers to “ancestors” and should probably be translated in that way (so Good News Translation).
Even to this day emphasizes the fact that the rebellion and evil behavior that began during the Exodus continued up to the time of Manasseh.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
SIL Translator’s Notes on 2 Kings 21:15
21:15a because they have done evil in My sight
The Israelites have done what is evil in my sight.
-or-
⌊For⌋ I have seen/watched my people doing wrong.
21:15b and have provoked Me to anger
They have made me angry
-or-
They have continually/frequently angered me.
21:15c from the day their fathers came out of Egypt until this day.’”
from the time when their ancestors left Egypt until today.’”
-or-
It started when their ancestors came out of ⌊slavery in the land of⌋ Egypt and has continued even until now.’”
21:15b-c (reordered)
Since the first day that their predecessors left Egypt, until now, they have been making me more and more angry.’”
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