fortress

The Hebrew that is translated in English as “fortress” (or: “stronghold”) is translated in Khoekhoe with ǁkhui-omga or “strong house.” (Source: project-specific notes in Paratext)

See also stronghold.

calamity for many / destructive fire

In Gbaya, the notion of a calamity affecting a large groups of people at the same time and/or a destructive fire is emphasized in the referenced verses with the ideophone gbɔyɛɛ.

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

complete verse (Amos 1:7)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Amos 1:7:

  • Kupsabiny: “So, I shall send fire to the walls of Gaza
    to destroy that protected city.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “I will put fire on the wall of Gaza,
    It will destroy all their fortresses completely.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Therefore I will-burn the stone-walls of Gaza and the very strong/firm portions of this city.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “I will cause a fire to completely burn the walls of Gaza
    and also destroy its fortresses.” (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 Amos 1:7

(4) I will send fire upon the city walls of Gaza and burn down its fortresses. See Amos 1.4.

Quoted with permission from de Waard, Jan & Smalley, William A. A Handbook on Amos. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1979. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .