complete verse (Deuteronomy 5:30)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 5:30:

  • Kupsabiny: “Tell them to return to their tents.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “You go and tell them, "Go back to your tents.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Go and tell them to return to their tents.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “So go down and tell them to return to their tents.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (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 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).

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

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 5:30

In this verse Yahweh tells Moses what to say to the people. If the order is given in direct speech, as it is in Revised Standard Version, double quotes enclose the quotation; but an indirect statement may be used, as in Good News Translation, in which case no quotation marks are necessary. Since the command is such a brief one (Return to your tents), Good News Translation may well be followed in most languages. As a general rule, however, each language should do what is natural and easily understood, both by the reader and by those who hear the text being read.

Return to your tents: the people are ordered to disperse, each family going to its own tent (1.27). In some languages the more general “Go back home” may be better.

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 .