Honorary "rare" construct denoting God ("order/command")

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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 usage of an honorific construction where the morphemes rare (られ) or are (され) are affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, meiji-rare-ru (命じられる) or “order/command” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 26:14

The vow the offerer makes shows that the tithe is actually offered to Yahweh, though he gives it to the poor and needy.

I have not eaten of the tithe while I was mourning: in some cultures there are terms for mourning for the dead and for the periods of mourning that follow the death of a relative. In others, descriptive phrases will be used; for example, “weep showing sorrow for the death of a person.”

Or removed any of it while I was unclean: an Israelite might accidentally come in contact with a corpse and thus become ritually unclean (Num 19.11, 14). If the man became unclean for this reason or for any other reason, handling the produce would make it unfit to be offered to God.

Removed any of it means “taken it out of the house” for whatever reason, perhaps to give it to someone other than a needy person. An alternative translation model for the first part of this verse is:

• I have not eaten any of it when I was weeping to show my sorrow for the death of a person; in fact I never took any of it out of the house when I was ritually unclean.

Offered any of it to the dead: see the related passage in 14.1. There are various interpretations of this rite:
(1) Placing food and drink on the tomb for the dead person to have while on his or her way to the world of the dead.
(2) Making an offering to the god of the dead, or the vegetation god Baal, as the Canaanites did.
(3) Having a festive meal in honor of the dead person.

There is no way to decide which of these three (or some other explanation) is correct. Most translations make their interpretation known by translating “offer for the dead” or else “offer to the dead” (see Good News Translation text and the alternate translation in its footnote).

To complicate the matter, in English the dead is a collective noun, meaning “dead people”; if a translation wants to make the phrase singular, it will have to say “a dead person.” Bible en français courant has “an offering for a dead person”; Traduction œcuménique de la Bible has “offering to a dead person,” with a footnote explaining that the meaning of this ritual is not known. The Pléiade translation also has “to a dead person” and explains in footnote that this is a sacrificial feast in honor of the dead person. It is impossible to be dogmatic; if the phrase “offering for [or, on behalf of] a dead person” makes sense, this may be used. But where it is possible to do it, an explanatory footnote would be useful.

I have obeyed the voice of the LORD my God: the offerer now repeats his vow of complete obedience to God. He has obeyed God’s laws. Good News Translation says clearly “I have obeyed you, O LORD.”

I have done according to all that thou hast commanded me: or “I have done everything exactly as you commanded concerning the tithe [or, ten percent].” Again this is very emphatic and personal (as in verse 13).

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 .