complete verse (Deuteronomy 28:60)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 28:60:

  • Kupsabiny: “And again, God will cause all the illnesses to return to you, those that scared people in the land of Egypt, and those illnesses shall follow you always.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “The various kinds of dreadful diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, He will send on your bodies, and you will continue having those diseases.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “He will-have- you (plur.) -experience the dreadful diseases which he sent to Egipto, and these will-stay/cling to you (plur.).” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “He will cause you to experience the plagues that he sent on the people of Egypt, and you will never be healed.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Honorary "are" construct denoting God ("bring about")

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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 are (され) 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, motaras-are-ru (もたらされる) or “bring about” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 28:60

All the diseases of Egypt: this means all the plagues God sent on the Egyptians; see verse 27; 7.15.

They shall cleave to you: a vivid way of saying that the Israelites will not be healed; these illnesses are incurable.

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 .