Honorary "rare" construct denoting God ("raise")

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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 morpheme rare (られ) is 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, age-rare-ru (上げられる) or “raise” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 28:1

It will be helpful at this point to introduce Moses again as the speaker; for example, “Moses said to the people….”

If you obey the voice of the LORD your God: Hebrew has the compound “[if] obeying you obey,” to make the statement more emphatic; this is expressed in BÍBLIA para todos Edição Comum as “If you really obey,” and in Contemporary English Version as “If you completely obey.”

Being careful to do: an expression often used (see 27.16).

All his commandments which I command you this day: see 27.1.

Set you high above all the nations of the earth: see 26.19.

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 .