prostitute oneself / play the prostitute

The Hebrew that is translated as “prostitute oneself” or “play the prostitute” in English is translated in Vidunda as “(practice) sexual immorality.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

father and mother (order)

“In Papiamentu the most natural order of the collocation ‘father and mother’ is mama i tata (‘mother and father’). This probably reflects the matriarchal or matrilineal nature of the Curaçaon society, and in fact, of the whole region. The mother (grandmother, aunt, great-aunt) plays a pivotal role in the web of family and social relations. Even when both parents are still alive and have a good marriage, the children will usually speak not of ‘my father’s house,’ but always of ‘my mother’s house.’

“When discussing the sensitivities surrounding the translation of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16) and the many references to them in the NT, this difference between the target language and the source language emerged. It had been taken for granted in other texts. The discussion in the Papiamentu translation team, working on the Papiamentu Common Language (PAPCL) translation, that is, the Beibel Papiamentu Koriente (1995), shows the complexity and sensitivity of the issue. Given the liturgical significance of the Ten Commandments for several churches, what seemed to be a trivial matter soon became a rather crucial decision.

“At first, following the aim of producing a natural translation, there was a general consensus to follow the natural mother-father word order. However, when reviewers from outside the translation team were told that the original order in Hebrew or Greek was often different, a heated debate developed. The underlying assumption in this discussion was that the natural order in Papiamentu reflects not only the preeminent role of women, but also — and perhaps more significantly — the lack of responsibility of the males (fathers) in the home. Thus the main question was whether the Bible translation, in following the natural language pattern, would not be endorsing the social reality of dysfunctional families, a reality caused by absentee and/or negligent fathers. In other words, the dilemma for the translation team was: Would not the translation be sanctioning this ‘deficient’ image of manhood and fatherhood by the mother-father sequence? This was accepted as being the case, and consequently the biblical pattern (father-mother) was interpreted as providing a necessary corrective to the social situation. (…)

“In practice the policy just described resulted in the following practical decisions:
“Maintain the original ‘patriarchal’ order:

  • Genesis 2:24 (NRSV): ‘Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother’ [PAPCL: su tata i mama]
  • Deuteronomy 5:16: ‘Honor your father and your mother’ [PAPCL: tata i mama]
  • [and numerous others]

“Alternatively, in some (less well-known) passages ‘father and mother’ has been translated as mayornan (‘parents’). This solution has the benefit of putting the focus on the equal function of the partners towards their offspring, not focusing on either gender.

“Unfortunately, the natural collocation (mother-father) seems to be so natural that, contrary to the established policy to follow the Hebrew father-mother order, the Papiamentu mother-father still appears in, for example, Judges 14:9; Proverbs 23:25; Luke 2:33; 14.26; Matthew 19:5; Mark 10:7, 19. And the last three cases, in the New Testament, are direct quotations from the Old Testament! This might serve as a warning for translators who are following an idiomatic approach, to be careful with constructions that are very much ingrained in the psyche of the translators.” (Source: Marlon Winedt in The Bible Translator 2007, p. 56ff. )

Note that in Deuteronomy 22:21 “father’s house” is translated as “parents’ house” in the PAPCL translation.

complete verse (Deuteronomy 22:21)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 22:21:

  • Kupsabiny: “the woman is to brought to the entrance to her father’s homestead, and then the men of the city shall throw stones at her until she dies. Those people should be doing this because that woman did a shameful thing in Israel to become a prostitute while staying in her father’s home. Do like that so that you can get rid of sin in your midst.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “she must be brought to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city must stone [her] to death. By being corrupt while in her father’s house, she has done a shameful deed in Israel. You must remove such kind of evil deeds from among you.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “the said woman shall-be-brought to the front of the house of her father and there she shall-be-stoned by the men of the town until (she) died. (It is a) disgraceful thing she did in Israel by having-sexual-intercourse while she is still in her father’s house. You (plur.) must eradicate this wickedness from among you (plur.).” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “they must take that young woman to the door of her father’s house. Then the men of that city must execute her by throwing stones at her. They must do that because she has done something in Israel that is very disgraceful, by having sex with some man while she was still living in her father’s house. By executing her like that, you will get rid of this evil practice among you.” (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 22:20 - 22:21

But if the thing is true: if, however, the father cannot prove that his daughter was a virgin when she was married, she must be put to death.

The door of her father’s house: because she belongs to her father.

The men of her city shall stone her to death: this was the punishment for adultery. For stone … to death, see 13.10.

Wrought folly in Israel: folly is not simply a foolish thing but an immoral action. The fool is someone who disregards God’s commands. Good News Translation has “She has done a shameful thing among our people”; or we may say “She has caused all of our people to be disgraced [or, lose face].”

By playing the harlot: meaning “being promiscuous” (New International Version). New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “committing fornication,” New Revised Standard Version “prostituting herself,” Good News Translation “having intercourse before she was married,” Contemporary English Version “sleeping with someone before she got married.”

In her father’s house: this does not necessarily mean that she was at home when she had sexual intercourse with a man. Rather, she was still under her father’s care when she did this; she was still his daughter. Good News Translation expresses this well.

You shall purge the evil from the midst of you: see 13.5.

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 .