19Now, therefore, write this song, and teach it to the Israelites; put it in their mouths, in order that this song may be a witness for me against the Israelites.
“know something is true because of seeing it” in Teutila Cuicatec (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
“ones who will confirm that these-things that you have seen are true” in Kankanaey (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
“ones who are to testify about these things, because it all happened before your eyes” in Tagbanwa (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 31:19:
Kupsabiny: “So, write down this song and teach the people of Israel so that it becomes something that reminds them of my words.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Now write this song, teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it. May this song be a testimony for me against them! ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “‘Therefore write this song and teach (it) to the Israelinhon. Have- them -sing it so-that it will-become my witness against them.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “‘o, I am going to give you a song. Write it on a scroll and teach it to the Israeli people and cause them to memorize it. It will be like a witness that accuses 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.
Now therefore write this song: for this song see verse 30 and 32.1-43. In Hebrew write is the second person plural, meaning that Moses and Joshua are to write down the song; but the other two verbs are singular. This makes for an awkward sentence, and only Osty-Trinquet, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, and the le de Jérusalem follow the Hebrew. (In languages like English, that have no different endings to distinguish between the second person singular and the second person plural, a translation such as New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “write” will be read as second person singular.) Bible en français courant uses an impersonal form: “And now, the words of this song that I am going to dictate to you are to be written down.” New International Version attempts to preserve the Hebrew by translating “write down for yourselves this song and teach it”—but this is not natural, and “teach” will read as a plural form also. Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje uses the singular “write,” with a footnote indicating that the Hebrew text has the plural; this is one way to handle the matter. Another possible alternative is “I want you and Joshua to write down this song. Then you, Moses, are to teach it to….”
Teach it to the people of Israel; put it in their mouths: these two commands say almost the same thing. A literal translation of the second command may sound funny in a number of languages. A possible alternative is “have them learn it by heart” or “… memorize it.”
That this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel: the song (32.1-43) is a recital of God’s dealings with the people of Israel, how he led them, provided for them, and protected them. So the song was a witness on God’s behalf whenever he would have to judge and punish the Israelites for forsaking him. See the same statement about the book of the law in verse 24. The Good News Translation translation “so that it will stand as evidence against them” may be difficult to translate in some languages. The longer version of Contemporary English Version may be a good alternative: “they will know what I warn them to do, and so they will have no excuse for not obeying me.”
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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