The Hebrew in Exodus 19:6 that is translated as “priestly kingdom” in English is translated in Manya as “priests in God’s kingdom.” (Source: Don Slager)
a priestly kingdom and a holy nation
For “a priestly kingdom and a holy nation,” see 1 Peter 2:9.
Note that this quote in the New Testament is not taken from the Hebrew Bible but from the Greek Septuagint (LXX) which translates into English as “a royal priesthood and a holy nation.” (Translation by NETS — for the Greek version see the title’s tooltip)
Moses on Mount Sinai
Artwork by Sister Marie Claire , SMMI (1937–2018) from Bengaluru, India.
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gentiles / nations
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).
Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).
In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
See also nations.
complete verse (Exodus 19:6)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 19:6:
- Kupsabiny: “it is you who will be my holy people who shall worship me.’ ’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
- Newari: “You shall be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, these are the words you are to tell the Israelites.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
- Hiligaynon: “but you (plur.) will-be my chosen people, and you (plur.) will-become one kingdom that will-serve me as/like priests.’ This is what you (sing.) are-to-say to the Israelinhon.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
- Bariai: “You will live under my authority (lit. in my hand) and so be doing my work of helping people to believe in me. My mark of ownership (lit. taboo) will be resting on you, and so you will become my upright people amongst the other tribes.’ And Moses, you will bring this talk of mine to the Israel people.’” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
- Opo: “be you that will be my government. you will be priests and chiefs all, and you will be nation which be holy.› These words, that is what you will tell for people of Israel.»” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
- English: “You will be people over whom I will rule, and you will all be like priests/represent me to other nations as priests represent me to one nation , and you will be completely dedicated to me.’ That is what you must tell the Israeli people.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)
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.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
See also pronoun for “God”.
formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)
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).
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Translation commentary on Exod 19:6
And you shall be to me, literally “and you [plural], you will be to me,” may be more correctly translated as “but you shall be for me” (New Revised Standard Version). (The same emphatic form is used in verse 4.) The conjunction waw can mean either “and” or “but,” as well as other things, depending on the context. In this case the meaning of “but” seems more logical. To me may indicate possession—“my kingdom of priests” (New English Bible)—or it may indicate service—“For me you shall be a kingdom of priests” (New Jerusalem Bible).
A kingdom of priests is difficult to translate; this is partly due to the fact that the phrase does not occur elsewhere in the Old Testament. The idea of God’s people being priests, however, does appear several times in the New Testament. (See 1Pet 2.5,9; Rev 1.6; 5.10; and 20.6.) There are different interpretations of what it means. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version interpret it to mean “serve me as priests.” This says nothing about a kingdom, but it is probably correct in suggesting that Israel is to serve Yahweh by fulfilling a priestly mission in the world. Translator’s Old Testament has “You shall belong to me as a priestly kingdom.” But the concept of kingdom will be difficult to express in many languages. In such cases the word for “people” or “nation” will do.
If possible it is better to translate this phrase literally in order to allow for various possible interpretations. However, this will not be possible in languages where both priests and kingdom will be verbal phrases. The probable meaning is that Yahweh’s chosen or holy people will be a nation that serves him as an intermediary (or “go-between”), revealing his power and his will to “all peoples” (verse 5). A possible model therefore is “and you [plural] will serve me as my intermediary [or, go-between] to all the nations.” (For further discussion on priests, see 2.16.)
And a holy nation means a nation that is set apart from other nations because of a special covenant relation with Yahweh. So Good News Translation has “a people dedicated to me alone.” These are the words you shall speak refers to what has just been said beginning with verse 4. This sentence therefore marks the close of the embedded quotation. To the children of Israel is identical with “the people of Israel” in verse 3. Good News Translation has omitted this entire sentence, since it repeats what is said there. Contemporary English Version starts a new paragraph with this sentence, showing that Yahweh is addressing these words to Moses, “Moses, that is what you must tell the Israelites.”
Alternative translation models for this verse are:
• You [plural] will be a nation dedicated to me and will serve me as priests do. Moses, that is what you [singular] must tell the Israelites.”
• You [plural] will be a nation dedicated to me, a nation that will serve me as my intermediary [or, go-between] to all other nations. These words, Moses, are what you [singular] are to say to the Israelites.”
Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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