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 32:20:
Kupsabiny: “He said, ‘I am turning my back to them so that they can later suffer the consequences. These people have gone much astray so that they cannot be trusted at all.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “He said, "I will abandon them, and watch, what will happen to them. They are a crooked people, and untrustworthy children.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “He said, ‘I will-turn-back from them, and I will-see what will-be- their -destined-to, for they are wicked generation, unfaithful children.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “He said, ‘They are very wicked/stubborn people, very unfaithful; so I will no longer help them, and then I will watch and see what happens to 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 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, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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.
And he said: this marks the beginning of Yahweh’s words, which continue almost to the end of the song; from this point to the end of verse 42, “I” and “me” refer to Yahweh. But see comments below about problems in translating third person references to Yahweh within this direct speech.
I will hide my face from them: see 31.17-18.
I will see what their end will be: that is, “I will see what will happen to them.” God speaks here as a spectator; he does not affirm that he himself will be responsible for what becomes of them. Contemporary English Version translates “I’ll just watch and see what happens to you” (similarly Good News Translation).
A perverse generation: see verse 5.
Children in whom is no faithfulness: that is, “unfaithful children,” who do not respect or obey God their Father.
We may restructure this verse as follows:
• You are unfaithful people
and I can’t trust you.
So I won’t help you any longer;
I’ll just watch
and see what happens to you.
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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