complete verse (Deuteronomy 12:1)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 12:1:

  • Kupsabiny: “Moses continued to say, ‘These are the decisions and laws that you must follow well in that land which the God of your forefathers shall give you to take to yourselves to become yours for all days.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “As long as you live in the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors has given you to possess., these are the commands and decrees that you must carefully obey.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘These are the commands and statutes that you (plur.) must obey/follow carefully while you (plur.) live there in the land the LORD, the God of your (plur.) ancestors is-giving you (plur.).” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “‘I will now tell you again/These, again, are the rules and regulations that you must faithfully obey in the land that Yahweh, the God whom our ancestors worshiped, is giving to you to occupy. You must obey these laws all the time that you are alive.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (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 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).

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

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 12:1

With the beginning of a new section, it will be helpful to start with something like “Moses said to the Israelites” or “Moses continued to speak to the Israelites, saying, ….”

Statutes and ordinances: see 4.1.

Be careful to do: this expression occurs frequently (5.1, 21; 6.3, 25; 7.11; 8.1; 11.22, 32).

The language of this verse is like that of other passages (see especially 1.8; 6.1, 18). The last clause, all the days that you live upon the earth, may go with the command you shall be careful to do (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Bible en français courant, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy) or with the verb to possess (so, apparently, Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible). It is better to link it quite clearly with the command be careful to do.

Live upon the earth: Good News Translation, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, and BÍBLIA para todos Edição Comum take the Hebrew noun ʾadamah in this expression to mean “the land,” that is, the land of Canaan, and not the earth. In the first part of the verse the Hebrew word translated land is a different word, ʾerets. It seems better to take the word ʾadamah here to mean the earth, meaning, of course, “as long as you live” (see Contemporary English Version).

The God of your fathers means “the God whom our [inclusive] ancestors worshiped.” For fathers see 1.8.

The following model for this verse may be useful:

• These are the rules and regulations that you must obey in the land that the LORD, the God of our ancestors, is giving you. You must obey them as long as you live [or, always].

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .