Targumim (or: Targums) are translations of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic. They were translated and used when Jewish congregations increasingly could not understand the biblical Hebrew anymore. Targum Onqelos (also: Onkelos) is the name of the Aramaic translation of the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) probably composed in Israel/Palestine in the 1st or 2nd century CE and later edited in Babylon in the 4th or 5th century, making it reflect Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. It is the most famous Aramaic translation and was widely used throughout the Jewish communities.
In many, but not all, cases the translation of Targum Onqelos avoids anthropomorphisms (attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions) as they relate in the original Hebrew text to God.
The Hebrew of Deut. 31:17, 18, and 32:20 that is typically translated in English as “face” is translated in Targum Onqelos as “presence” (note that in Exodus 33:14 and 15, the same translation is made in Targum Onqelos, but in those cases English translations also often have translated the Hebrew as “presence.”) (Source: Schochet 1966, p. 15)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 31:18:
Kupsabiny: “It is true that I shall turn my back to those people on that day on account of their sins when they abandon me and worship/bow to the idols of other communities.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “On that day I will surely hide my face, because of their wickedness of going after other gods.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I will- surely -turn-back from them at that time because of all the wickedness which they have-done by worshipping other gods.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “And because of all the evil things that they will have done, and especially because they will have started to worship other gods, I will refuse to help them.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
This verse is a summarizing conclusion, using terms and expressions of the previous verses.
I will surely hide: this translates the emphatic Hebrew phrase, the double use of the verb, meaning “I will refuse to help them” (Good News Translation), or “I will pay no attention to them.”
Because they have turned to other gods: this is precisely the evil that they have done; so New Revised Standard Version says “by turning to other gods.” To “turn” to other gods is to abandon Yahweh in order to worship and serve them. So it is possible to express this as “Because they have abandoned me and started worshiping other [or, false] gods.”
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 .
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