complete verse (Deuteronomy 32:23)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 32:23:

  • Kupsabiny: “I shall send sufferings to those people,
    and I shall shoot my arrows at (them)” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “I will send on them one disaster after another.
    I will shoot all my arrows at them. ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “I will-send them calamities, and I will-shoot/hit them with my bows-and-arrows.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “I will cause them to experience many disasters;
    they will feel as though I am shooting all my arrows at them.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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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.

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

See also pronoun for “God”.

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 32:23

I will heap evils on them: this means misfortunes, “endless disasters” (Good News Translation), or “disaster after disaster” (Contemporary English Version).

I will spend my arrows upon them: see verse 42. Here spend means to use or to use up; God will shoot all his arrows at his people. He will use up all possible disasters or calamities that are available to him. This is a vivid figure for disasters, epidemics, famines, and other misfortunes. The figure may not make sense in a culture that does not know of bows and arrows; but it would not be proper to say “shoot my bullets” as a cultural equivalent. Since arrows here refers back to evils in the first line, we may simply say “I will bring on you one disaster after another to strike you,” or “I will cause all kinds of disasters to come upon you,” or “I will cause you to experience one disaster after another,” or even “I will use up all the disasters available to me to strike you with.”

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 .