51because both of you broke faith with me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, by failing to maintain my holiness among the Israelites.
Low German translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006: “steppe”
Yakan: “the lonely place” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “a land where no people lived” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “the place with no inhabitants” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Cherokee: inage or “far away downstream” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 16)
Matumbi uses various term: lubele (desert, sandy place without water) — used in John 11:54, lupu’ngu’ti (a place where no people live, can be a scrub land, a forest, or a savanna) — used in Mark 1:3 et al.), and mwitu (a forest, a place where wild animals live) — used in Mark 1:13 et al.) (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
Chichewa Contemporary translation (2002/2016): chipululu: a place uninhabited by people with thick forest and bush (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Adioukrou: loj or “savannah” — “land that is not village, nor forest, nor field (source: Hill 2006)
Note that in Luke 15:4, usually a term is used that denotes pastoral land, such as “eating/grazing-place,” in Tagbanwa (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 32:51:
Kupsabiny: “It is like that, because you both refused to trust in me in front of the people of Israel when you were at the water of Meribah in the place near the city of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “For in the wilderness of Zin both of you broke trust with me before the Israelites at the waters of Meribah near Kadesh and you did not honor my holiness among the Israelites.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “For the two of you (plur.) had-lost hope on me before/[lit. in front-of] the Israelinhon when you (plur.) were there in the spring of Meriba Kadesh, in the desolate-place of Zin. You (plur.) did- not -honor my holiness before them.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “You will die because both of you disobeyed me in the presence of the Israeli people, when you all were at Meribah Springs near Kadesh town in the Zin Desert. You did not honor and respect me in the presence of the Israeli people in the way that I deserve because I am God.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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.
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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
For the parallel to this passage, see Num 27.12-14.
You broke faith with me: the verb is plural, and the meaning is that both Moses and Aaron broke faith with God. New Jerusalem Bible takes the plural to mean Moses and the other Israelites; it seems better, however, to understand it to mean the two brothers. See the account of this in Num 20.1-13. To “break faith” means to be disloyal, unfaithful, disobedient.
The waters of Meribath-Kadesh: Good News Translation expands this to say “the waters of Meribath, near the town of Kadesh.” In this context waters means springs of water. So Contemporary English Version has “Meribah Spring.” We may also say “at Meribah where the water pours out of a rock.”
The wilderness of Zin: on the southern border of Judah, toward the Dead Sea. For wilderness see 1.1.
You did not revere me as holy: again the verb is plural, referring to Moses and Aaron. God’s holiness is his way of being God, separated from all that is morally and spiritually unclean. To revere God as holy is to show him the respect and honor due to him. The two men did not respect the holiness of the God of Israel when they disobeyed him. Contemporary English Version translates holy as “I am God,” and renders the final sentence as follows: “I am God, but there in front of the Israelites, you did not treat me with the honor and respect that I deserve.”
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 .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.