enemy / foe

The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “enemy” or “foe” in English is translated in the Hausa Common Language Bible as “friends of front,” i.e., the person standing opposite you in a battle. (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

In North Alaskan Inupiatun it is translated with a term that implies that it’s not just someone who hates you, but one who wants to do you harm (Source: Robert Bascom), in Tarok as ukpa ìkum or “companion in war/fighting,” and in Ikwere as nye irno m or “person who hates me” (source for this and one above: Chuck and Karen Tessaro in this newsletter ).

In Cherokee it is either translated as “the one(s) who reprimand(s) you” or “the one(s) feared.” (Source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 47)

complete verse (Deuteronomy 32:42)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 32:42:

  • Kupsabiny: “I shall shoot so that their blood shall drip from my arrows
    and cut to pieces their bodies with my sword.
    The blood of those who are speared shall drip
    and that of those fierce/strong men.’ ’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
    while my sword eats flesh
    I will kill all the enemies, even the captives
    and cut off the heads of the enemy leaders."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “My arrow-(and-bow) will-be-soaked/stained with their blood, and my sword will- smite/cut their bodies.
    Those who will-be-captured among them will-die and their leaders/[lit. heads].’ ’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “I will kill all of my enemies with a sword;
    it will be as though I had arrows that will be covered with their blood.
    I will kill all those whom I capture
    and cut off their leaders’ heads.’” (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 32:42

The vivid figure of making his arrows drunk and of his sword eating flesh may be kept in certain languages. Contemporary English Version offers an alternative model using such a figure:

• My arrows will get drunk
on enemy blood

In a number of languages, however, this figure and the following one may be too strange to translate literally (see the same figures in Jer 46.10). Good News Translation offers a good model. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy has “I will drench my arrows with blood, and my sword will kill them [his enemies] off.”

The blood of the slain and the captives: this means that even the captives will be slain; the Hebrew text says “all the slain….” Bible en français courant offers a good model: “None of the enemy warriors will escape; wounded or captive, they will all be victims.”

The long-haired heads of the enemy: see Judges 5.2. When consecrated for military service, warriors would not cut their hair while at war; this is the long hair of dedicated warriors. Num 6.5 and Ezek 44.20 speak of the long hair of dedicated priests. It will be good to keep “long-haired heads” in the translation, with a footnote explaining this custom, and the last two lines may be alternatively rendered as:

• I will kill all the captives
and cut off the long-haired heads of the enemy.

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 .