complete verse (Deuteronomy 21:9)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 21:9:

  • Kupsabiny: “If you have done that, you will sweep away that sin, because you must do good words/matters before God.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “In this way, you will remove from among you the guilt of the shedding of an innocent person’s blood.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “By obeying it, the LORD will- not -demand-payment for killing, for he has seen that you (plur.) are righteous.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “By doing that, you will be doing what Yahweh considers to be right, and you will not be considered to be guilty for murdering that person.’” (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 21:9

You shall purge … from your midst: see 13.5, and especially 19.13. However, the reference in these two passages is to purging the land of a killer by executing him. Since the killer is not known in this case, the people purge their guilt by doing what Yahweh requires, namely killing a young cow. So the translation may be “Yahweh will not hold you responsible for the murder of this person.”

You do what is right: here, what is right is what God tells them to do. The Septuagint has the compound phrase “good and proper,” which is what the Hebrew text in 6.18 has.

In the sight of the LORD: this goes with what is right, not with when you do. This is what Yahweh considers the right thing to do.

In many languages it will be better to place the second clause at the beginning, as Good News Translation has done.

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 .