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.

Judah, Judea

The name that is transliterated as “Judah” or “Judea” in English (referring to the son of Jacob, the tribe, and the territory) is translated in Spanish Sign Language as “lion” (referring to Genesis 49:9 and Revelation 5:5). This sign for lion is reserved for regions and kingdoms. (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. and Steve Parkhurst)


“Judah” and “Judea” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

See also Judah, Judah (son of Jacob) , and Tribe of Judah .

Jerusalem

The name that is transliterated as “Jerusalem” in English is signed in French Sign Language with a sign that depicts worshiping at the Western Wall in Jerusalem:


“Jerusalem” in French Sign Language (source: La Bible en langue des signes française )

While a similar sign is also used in British Sign Language, another, more neutral sign that combines the sign “J” and the signs for “place” is used as well. (Source: Anna Smith)


“Jerusalem” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Jerusalem .

complete verse (Amos 2:5)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Amos 2:5:

  • Kupsabiny: “So, I will send fire to the people of Judah.
    That fire will destroy the protected city of Jerusalem.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “I will put fire on Judah
    and it will destroy the fortresses of Jerusalem completely.’” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Therefore I will-burn Juda as-well-as the strong/firm portions of Jerusalem.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “So I will cause a fire to completely burn everything in Judah, including the fortresses in Jerusalem.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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 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 2:5

(4) So I will send fire upon Judah and burn down the fortresses of Jerusalem. See 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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Amos 2:5

2:5a So I will send fire upon Judah

So I will set Judah on fire,
-or-
Therefore, I will cause a fire to burn ⌊the people of⌋ Judah.

2:5b to consume the citadels of Jerusalem.”

and it will destroy the walled city of Jerusalem.”
-or-
That fire will burn down the strong walls ⌊of the city⌋ of Jerusalem.”

Section 2:6–16

God will judge/punish Israel

© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.