complete verse (Deuteronomy 2:15)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 2:15:

  • Kupsabiny: “God alone fought those people until he had destroyed them all.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “As long as they were not yet all annihilated, the arm of the LORD was advancing against them.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The LORD punished them till he completely killed them in the camp.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “They died because Yahweh opposed them, until he had gotten rid of all of them.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

hand (of God) (Japanese honorifics)

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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) is used here in mi-te (御手) or “hand (of God).”

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

See also hand of the LORD.

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 2:15

The hand of the LORD was against them: this is a vivid way of saying that Yahweh kept punishing them and killing them, until all who belonged to the adult generation that left Egypt had died.

To destroy them from the camp, until they had perished: here the camp stands for the people themselves, the community, and God is portrayed as rooting them out and killing them.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• Yahweh kept punishing them until they were all dead.

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 .